March 10, 2005
Snarky on Marqui
Well, they're at it again. They being Marqui. Just read a post over at promofo about the Marqui folks going back to the blogging community to expand the reach of their will-blog-for-pay program. (UPDATE: Scrubber at promofo has been doing a great deal to further this discussion with comments, and Liz from mamamusings -- the Marqui blogger mentioned -- has stopped by, as well. Tune in and toss in your two cents. Or visit Poynter where a similar "ethics" quandary between Jason Calacanis and Nick Denton is covered.)Apparently, all is not rosy in the City of Roses, it seems. For some, it's not worth it. Which raises some questions for me:
1) Was the backlash against the paid bloggers so severe that it made them second-guess their continuing participation?
2) Was the pay not worth the hassle to compromise editorial content with advertorial content?
3) Were the contracts too tight to blog about what's really going on with the program?
4) Am I too lazy to do any more searching, so I'm hoping someone will comment with answers?
Interesting that the last time they did this (the first time), everyone was all up in arms over the decision. News was flying willy-nilly, all over the blogging world. Now, I could have sworn I just heard a pin drop. If I hadn't read it in promofo, I never would have known about it, which is strange, considering:
1) Marqui is in my hometown.
2) I continue to read the same blogs that complained about this the first time.
3) This is a public relations program, isn't it?
Maybe I'm not the target market. Maybe the buzz has buzzed. Maybe it's no fun to complain about the same thing, over and over. (Um. Oopie?) Who knows? Or maybe the world of blog-as-advertorial isn't a working model for the campaign. It just seems like some of the luster may be tarnishing for, what was, an interesting approach to a marketing problem. And it would be really nice to know why the Marqui blog doesn't even have anything about it.
(UPDATE: Marqui has been nice enough to stop by and comment on my questions.)
And let me just say, on a positive note, while I'm not so sure that I'm a fan of the program, I do have to laud Marqui on one respect of their campaign: They have tried, on at least one or two occasions, to use comments to respond to negative posts. I've gone through a number of the blogs that are being supported by Marqui, and some adverse commentary is commented by Marqui staff. This is good. What's not good is that the positive posts are pretty much ignored.
So now comes my gripe on this one: Shouldn't Marqui be taking a more leading position on the commenting front? Shouldn't they be commenting on every single Marqui-related post? I mean, what they have done, in essence, is extend their publishing format to a variety of fronts, enabling them to post their rhetoric or to get others to do it. And if others are doing it, shouldn't Marqui be questioning and commenting on everything they're posting? I mean, seriously. This is about creating a relationship and dialogue, isn't it? If it's not, then why are they blogging?
In my opinion, Marqui should be responding to the kiss-ass posts with inquiries for additional information or refuting the position, the same way they do with the derogatory ones. They should be commenting everywhere. All of the time. Anything Marqui related on any blog with comments enabled should have a response from a Marqui employee. Better yet, Marqui, why don't you start paying people to comment? Then, we'll really see the advertorial/spam line blur.
You'd at least think they would comment on the expansion of the program on one of the sponsored blogs. Seems like their target market would be reading those blogs, looking for the opportunity to milk the cash cow.
Strange, this one. Maybe it's in stealth mode. And my blogging about it isn't going to help that. Apparently, you don't have to pay me. I will complain for free.
What do you think? Would you compromise the editorial content of your blog to get some additional cash? What's the price point for your love? Want me to complain for free about your site or product? Comment, critique, and please, by all means, return.
Snarky on Marqui
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