Managed Social Media or Crossing the Line?

[jstoddard]

There's nothing more powerful than a qualified third-party testimonial about your product or service. Check out:

http://haileybrownstone.com/

Hailey has a popular blog where she posts about her family, vacations, driving around snowy Des Moines (where she is a new resident).. "Snow Removal- Another Benefit" how wonderful it is to have the Hubbel management team take care of her during the brutal mid-western winters... She also showed up all over Facebook, on Twitter, on YouTube... interacting with followers, talking about her new life in Des Moines...tweeting about her family back home...and ....how nice her new Hubbel Brownstone is.

There are even videos of Hailey jubilently touring her new Brownstone on both AOLvideo and YouTube. Very amateurish handheld camera "new girl on the block" kind of presentation designed to look DIY.

The only problem... Hailey doesn't exist. Never did.

She's a total fabrication of Philadelphia-based Group2 PR/Advertising's account executive Mollie Elkman. (http://www.mollieonmarketing.com). Part of a very-well thought-out campaign for Des Moines builder Hubbel Homes.

The campaign and how it integrated with Hubbel's website was professional and thorough. It did everything we at Mountain Consulting recommend doing.... integrating all the social media... linking everything back to the main website to drive traffic where you need it... consistent branding throughout.... Twitter, video, Facebook, blogs, banners, website... no stone was left unturned.. it was brilliant. If this effort wasn't effective, NO online campaign could ever be effective. I have to give it two thumbs-up, five stars,

I've been watching Hubbel Homes for some time - holding them up as an example of what to do with new media. But to be honest it never registered that Hailey Brownstone campaign was centered around a fictional character until it was pointed out on a marketing webinar I attended today from BlueTangerine.

In the webinar, Marie (the moderator) even bragged that out of all the videos they produced for the campaign, by far the most clicked-through was the amateur-intentional Hailey Brownstone. (BTW... I told you this... remember? Over-produced videos on YouTube won't get the response that a simple amateur video will get. Why? Because people aren't yet jaded enough to reailze they're being duped.)

And I don't even have a problem with the "Hailey Brownstone" persona... except nobody bothered to mention anywhere that it was a fabrication. There is nothing I can find on any of the associated sites or services that would tip off an average visitor -- EXCEPT for herNathaniel Hawthorne-esque name "Hailey BROWNSTONE" talking about her... Brownstone.

And in a country where only 15% of passersby can tell you who the sitting Vice-President happens to be, I seriously doubt very many of Hailey's 100s of Twitter followers and Facebook friend/fans realized they were following the equivilent of Hannah Montana.

So I ask you... Is this a clever and innovative use of Social Media... or an outright fraud, duping would-be buyers into thinking Hubbel Homes had a "raving fan" of a customer out there blogging on their behalf when in fact it was the fabrication of an ad agency ?

And BTW- I've been holding up Hubbel as an example of absolutely how to do Social Media and GenY marketing the right way. Check out their site - it's very, very good.... video testimonials...nice clean UI... ease of information... a great example of a builder website IMO.
http://www.hubbellhomes.com/home/index.asp

But did they damage themselves with "Hailey Brownstone" ? Does having videos about Hailey out there detract from their REAL raving fan/testimonial videos?

I think the jury is out - and as much as I appreciate what a great job Group2 and BlueTangerine did with the Hubbel campaign....I also think if they didn't actually cross the line they came right up to it ethically. Lots of people were fooled into interacting with a person who doesn't really exist. Hailey Brownstone is no different than the Geico Gekko or Sara Lee.

I also think fake personas probably damage the social media itself. There is a fabric online that has to be based on trust in order for it to work long-term.

It appears that when the campaign was over, the Facebook pages were taken down and Twitter account closed (which in itself is a questionable practice IMO....) But any ethical questions could have been avoided completely with a couple simple disclaimers on the "Hailey Brownstone" pages explaining to people what they were really looking at/ intereacting with.

BlueTangerine and Group2 aren't concerned... they're holding up their Hailey Brownstone campaign as a case study on how to do it right.... and it would be if not for that one nagging issue....

What do you think ? Fair use of the social media? Fraud? Something in-between? Did it help...or harm the builder in the long run ?

JLS

[Allan Edwards]

Re: Managed Social Media or Crossing the Line?

Just got your Tweet on this. Maybe I need to add that my testimonials are "authentic"!

"Paper Tweeter"?



.

[JG1975]

Re: Managed Social Media or Crossing the Line?

Wow Joe, wow. That's all I have. Im going to have to take some time to think about that. I guess I never had considered that a lot of what (or who) we follow may in fact be fictitious. Im not sure that there is a high percentage of social media "fraud" in our industry, but this certainly demonstrates the ability of the masses to engage in this type of so-called marketing.
Perhaps Ill post back when I have a better opportunity to give it some thought.

Jason

[jstoddard]

Re: Managed Social Media or Crossing the Line?

Yeah I mean there is no easy answer. But if you're counting on third-party testimonial video... but you're willing to fabricate some of it.... what does that say about the rest of it ?

I believe the success of social media depends on that fabric of trust... that the people and issues (good and bad) are legitimate. If you can fabricate the good for your own gain... why not fabricate the bad... a negative rant against a competitor? What's the difference ? What about the people who "Hailey" was freely conversing with on "her" Facebook page, etc. ?

All it would have taken in this case was a clear disclaimer that "Hailey Brownstone" was a fictitious character. Group2 may have thought they were doing that by her name... but trust me the bulk of people using Twitter or Facebook would not have picked up on that - not expecting anything but legitimacy for one thing... .and not being experts on architectural terms for another.

JLS

[dmwyatt]

Re: Managed Social Media or Crossing the Line?

I'm completely against this unless it's made very obvious that you've created a fictional character.

I'm against it from a marketing perspective because of the potential huge backlash when it's discovered that your character is fictional. Of course this type of marketing can be really slick and effective, but not all types of effective marketing have the potential huge downside.

[MarkMc]

Re: Managed Social Media or Crossing the Line?

"He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother."
~1984

25 years hence, are we there yet? They are obviously towards the bottom end of the slippery slope. But then they are offering Setpember Specials...

[jstoddard]

Re: Managed Social Media or Crossing the Line?

I wanted to add this...
Group2 could have probably also found a real Hubbel buyer to profile and base the "Hailey Brownstone" campaign around. Hubbel has a good repuation and I don't think it would have been that difficult for them.

There's an ad for some kind of eyedrops on TV right now...featuring an attractive young eye doctor who "also uses the product". And she actually exists, actually is an eye doctor, and actually does use the product. Her blog is very interesting, talks about how taping the commercials was a new experience etc etc. I have no doubt it has been extremely effective in selling lots and lots of eyedrops.

"Hailey Brownstone" was also a very effective campaign.. but think about how much MORE effective it could have been with a REAL buyer behind the Tweets, the Facebook page, the YouTube videos. Only a PR/Ad agency could have ever imagined that a phoney buyer would be better than the real thing to tell the builder's story. Those companies are all about control. Control of the process, control of the brand, control of the outcome. They probably never considered a "real" buyer because you can't control real buyers. Except you can't fool mother nature either. In the social media, NOBODY owns or controls the brand, except the buying public. Trying to do it by fabriating the circumstances is futile. Their approach is destined to fail eventually .

On the webinar today... the PR agency's opinion was that builders don't have the expertise, copywriting skills, etc etc. to undertake a social media campaign. That is why, according to them... you need to hire them to manage the process for you. But then in the next breath they admitted that most amateurish/least polished video got 6x the click-throughs of the professionally produced versions.

So - they don't get it.

I can certainly see the need for a larger company to outsource the management of their social media participation... but there's a difference between that and manufacturing the content.

So what if the salesperson or lead carpenter or superintendent isn't the most polished writer ?
So what if they can't carry the "brand flag" quite as consistently, mentioning every buzz word in every tweet? .... nobody cares about that. What people want (and especially GenY users who are particularly sensitive as a group to being B.S.ed ) ... is authenticity. Not manufactured authenticity (new term :-) , real authenticity.

IMO they blew a great opportunity.

JLS

[jstoddard]

Re: Managed Social Media or Crossing the Line?

I'm completely against this unless it's made very obvious that you've created a fictional character.

I think this is absolutely the key. It could have been just as compelling, just as effective. We all like the Geico Gekko... and I'm willing to bet 99.99% of viewers understand that he's not real.

What kills me - Mollie Elkman used her own picture! Whattsup with that?

[MarkMc]

Re: Managed Social Media or Crossing the Line?

Whattsup with that?

Brand recognition for 15 minutes, where even the bad is good.

[jstoddard]

Re: Managed Social Media or Crossing the Line?

= Maybe I need to add that my testimonials are "authentic"

Until today, I thought "in their own voice" YouTube clips pretty much covered that. You tape your happy buyer with their happy family and happy dog talking about their wonderful experience working with your company.... you tape the principal of the local school or the coach of the HS football team talking about how great the area is.... you've pretty much covered the authenticity issue.

But not if you're willing to fabricate all the characters! I knew it would only be a matter of time before PR/Ad firms got a foothold in social media, but this still took me by surprise. It just illustrates a fundamental lack of understanding of how social networks really operate IMO.

JLS

[Overbuilders]

Re: Managed Social Media or Crossing the Line?

"Paper Tweeter"?

They market male enhancement pharmaceuticals for that particular condition and comes with a puppy and a sunny beach.

[David Meiland]

Re: Managed Social Media or Crossing the Line?

It's fraud, as far as I'm concerned. How is it any different than posting fake testimonials on your website?

[Alex_Saloutos]

Re: Managed Social Media or Crossing the Line?

It is a good question. I listenend to a webinar a couple of months ago that Group 2, who produced this, held. Mollie participated in the webinar. She was at the events they hosted at the property to "play" Ms. Brownstone. I wondered about this same question after listening to that webinar.

My thoughts...

1. I think you'd have to be a rube not to realize it wasn't made up. There's too much there to tip off the viewer. Look at Mollie! They just happened to find a gorgeous young woman whose last name is Brownstone? Look at the website and read the copy. It's clearly a sales pitch. What blogger would write promotional copy like that and include the graphics, like the map with directions?

2. I can't remember their sales numbers, but they were outstanding. Of course, they didn't mention that the largest builder in their market, Regency Homes, recently went belly up, which may have been a factor in their success.

3. I do think Group 2 did a swell job with this social media campaign and are pros at it. This was a well coordinated and executed campaign that delivered great results. The fact they said the amateur video got the most hits just tells me they're on top of it.

4. What buyers and the actual target think is what really counts. There's no evidence I've seen of a backlash. When Mollie talked about the response of prospects and buyers at the on-site event(s) she did for this campaign, they seemed to have fun with the whole thing.

Is it unethical? Not in my opinion. It's certainly cheesy. They certainly could have put some fine print in there somewhere, done in a fun tongue in cheek style, too, that disclosed it was all in good fun.

[dmwyatt]

Re: Managed Social Media or Crossing the Line?

4. What buyers and the actual target think is what really counts. There's no evidence I've seen of a backlash. When Mollie talked about the response of prospects and buyers at the on-site event(s) she did for this campaign, they seemed to have fun with the whole thing.

When we're talking about the general idea, I don't think it matters if there was no backlash this time for this company.

There's been quite a few of these types of things over the past few years that did have a backlash. I don't know of any in the construction industry, but I also follow the tech industry very closely and there's been several "scandals" of this sort that left the companies involved with egg on their face. (Of course, sitting here typing this I can't think of any specific examples. When I remember them, I'll post them.)

[Lavrans]

Re: Managed Social Media or Crossing the Line?

What do you think ? Fair use of the social media? Fraud? Something in-between? Did it help...or harm the builder in the long run ?

JLS

I think it's fraud, I think it shows an inherent lack of understanding of what it means to lie on the part of both the builder and the ad agencies. In my opinion they have no credibility on anything they say from that point on.

There's a point in ethics that a person should know right from wrong, and understand it in a way that they don't need an outside agent telling them whether what they are doing is right or wrong. One example is a young child- that child won't take candy because they know they will be punished for taking it: that's an example of someone who really doesn't have an internal understanding of why it's wrong. As the child grows into an adult, hopefully that child has learned that stealing the candy has affects on other people, and taking it will hurt them to some extent, and that's why the adult doesn't steal the candy. Not because they know they may be punished, but because they understand the harm it can cause.

The builder and the ad agency have both shown in this example that they don't understand the harm that can come from lies. To me that says they probably don't have a strong attachment to truth in any form, whether it's about an ad campaign posing as a real person's opinions, or the quality of the materials and workmanship in their homes.

But it probably won't hurt them much. People will forget quickly, and in a week or two their lie will have never happened for all effective purposes.