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Seth Godin Tries Out Brandjacking

outspokenmedia.com

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Re: Seth Godin Tries Out Brandjacking

#21

Post by pbhjpbhj »

patio11 wrote: post #8
MrMatt wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure I understand the legalities of this. What is to stop a company listed on there from suing for trademark infringement?

If they're smart, the fact that precisely nothing would make Seth's day more than being sued by a large corporation trying to stamp down on the little guy trying to expose their horrible business practices. Seth can't get his new business venture onto the front page of the NYT by himself, after all -- he needs your legal department to make that happen. The rest of the Fortune 500 will promptly DDOS his order takers w…

Looking at the site I'd say they've definitely run it past a TM and Copyright lawyer. That site is slick as scumbags, IMO - disclaimers abound from the trademark disclaimer front-and-centre to the "we didn't aggragate this Google did" subtitles.

Re: Seth Godin Tries Out Brandjacking

#23

Post by pbhjpbhj »

Tichy wrote: post #6

Wow, I so don't see the point of Brands In Public. Is it for companies who don't have their own web site? Because otherwise, why would you want to reply on some third party web site, rather than on your own?

You wouldn't, but if your brand is big enough you don't have a choice. It's just a new way to blackmail businesses - as if you went to a corp and said "I'm creating an advert about you that's going to show in all your Google searches, pay me enough and I'll make it friendly, don't pay and we'll make sure everyone hates you".

Re: Seth Godin Tries Out Brandjacking

#24

Post by tamas »

Maro wrote: post #22

"This morning, Seth used his much respected blog..." His blog is not much respected.

Who is this guy anyways? I saw lots of submits to his blogs on HN and other sites, but they seemed short, shallow and uninteresting, so I figured they were posted because Seth Godin is some kind of authority, not because they were so good posts. But I never figured out when and how he became such an authority.

Re: Seth Godin Tries Out Brandjacking

#25

Post by gamache »

reedlaw wrote: post #13

This is just like MerchantCircle, GetSatisfaction, etc. How many of these types of sites can businesses bear before deciding enough is enough? I don't think there's room for many more.

I wonder when fingers will be broken because an internet company thinks they can get into the extortion business without hiring any goons. Seriously. Legal responses are limited, and it's only a matter of time before a targeted company decides to try Plan B because Plan A sucks.

Re: Seth Godin Tries Out Brandjacking

#26

Post by fnid »

Tichy wrote: post #6

Wow, I so don't see the point of Brands In Public. Is it for companies who don't have their own web site? Because otherwise, why would you want to reply on some third party web site, rather than on your own?

The point is for Seth to make money.

Re: Seth Godin Tries Out Brandjacking

#27

Post by Maro »

tamas wrote: post #24
Maro wrote: post #22

"This morning, Seth used his much respected blog..." His blog is not much respected.

Who is this guy anyways? I saw lots of submits to his blogs on HN and other sites, but they seemed short, shallow and uninteresting, so I figured they were posted because Seth Godin is some kind of authority, not because they were so good posts. But I never figured out when and how he became such an authority.

I guess he wrote some books. Also, he has a very distinctive hairstyle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seth_Godin

Re: Seth Godin Tries Out Brandjacking

#28

Post by Tichy »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #23
Tichy wrote: post #6

Wow, I so don't see the point of Brands In Public. Is it for companies who don't have their own web site? Because otherwise, why would you want to reply on some third party web site, rather than on your own?

You wouldn't, but if your brand is big enough you don't have a choice. It's just a new way to blackmail businesses - as if you went to a corp and said "I'm creating an advert about you that's going to show in all your Google searches, pay me enough and I'll make it friendly, don't pay and we'll make sure everyone hates you".

Didn't think of the Google searches. Still, it seems only suckers would pay up.

Re: Seth Godin Tries Out Brandjacking

#29

Post by 10ren »

Great opportunity, poor execution.

Big companies are concerned about their image. The net does change how PR is done, and no-one yet knows how to do it. So making that problem managable is an important contribution. Let's be clear: for a big company, $400 pcm is a rounding error for PR expense. The real question is whether that expense will actually do them any good. And so we move to execution:

The info on the actual pages is not helpful. There's no way to get a sense of "what is being said". It's almost as confusing as trying to get the info by browsing the net. I think a solution would be something like "google trends/news for social media". For example, amazon's PR problem isn't apparent at all: http://www.squidoo.com/amazon-in-public In fact, it looks like mostly amazon PR. For it to be taken seriously, the raw information needs to be clear and neutral (like Google not having pay-for-placement search results).

But the biggest problem is whether anyone will actually look at these pages, apart from PR departments. Consumers don't use brands like that. Before you buy a Coke, do you usually have the urge to see how their branding is going? Possibly, bloggers/reporter will use it, and will see the PR response at the same time, and therefore it helps disseminate the company's message.

But the problem/opportunity is real, and this suggests a startup: a google-for-brands. The technical challenge is to work out how to extract the relevant, valuable information; the marketing challenge is to get known (e.g. quoted by bloggers, by news services). Then, you can work out a way to charge for it. Perhaps like a Gallup poll; or a newswire service.

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