Bloggers: The Fifth Estate of Journalism

Bloggers have become a challenge and an opportunity for the advertising industry.

Their spontaneous, unedited, sometimes emotional "first takes” on new products are substantially impacting business, according to Pete Blackshaw, chief marketing officer of Nielsen BuzzMetrics, a 100-person division which monitors the blogosphere. He calls bloggers "a kind of Fifth Estate or journalism.”

Blackshaw says bloggers are everywhere, using laptops, video cameras, and digital recorders to publish their comments, reactions, and criticisms. Nowhere was this more evident earlier this month when the Detroit Auto Show, the Consumer Electronics Show, and MacWorld were vying for attention.

Apple's (AAPL) iPhone was the clear winner, Blackshaw said. It was mentioned by more blogs than President Bush and McDonald’s (MCD) for 10 days. Wikipedia had an iPhone entry within minutes of Steve Jobs' announcement of the product, and YouTube had more iPhone-related clips than for Gucci or the Pope.

"Bloggers have become the ultimate news aggregators," Blackshaw said. Major media reporters monitor blogs for tips as well as informed-perspective on product features. A swarm of bloggers posting about new products, often positively, ends up in search engines. "That comes back as search results when consumers do research; the bloggers enthusiasm turns into advertising," Blackshaw said.

Ad agencies and media buyers are trying to gauge what to do about bloggers and other online media. Since bloggers are looking for Web links to include in their reports, marketers are weighing whether to spend all their money in traditional media or to take some to build a fuller Web site for the brand.

Blackshaw cited Apple Inc. for coordinating its online assets for the iPhone introduction. Product photos, specifications, and narrative about the product were available immediately at Apple.com. Blackshaw says advertisers in this weekend's Super Bowl should be following the same road, to build interest in their ads.

So it's no accident that Bowl ads for Doritos (PEP), Nationwide Insurance (NFS), and Budweiser (BUD) are already online. "Don’t waste money on a Super Bowl ad unless you have these other pieces of the mix in place. You can’t just buy media in a vacuum,” Blackshaw said. “You have to think about how others pieces of the marketing mix reinforce, amplify and ultimately drive more return on that investment."

Listen to BuzzMetrics' Pete Blackshaw talk about bloggers and their challenge to the media business.

Disclaimer: I own shares of Apple.

Comments

[Sr. Pessimist:]

Yep. Although there is no democracy in America, we at least have the Internet. That's going to be an unwinding point for the lack of voice Americans feel they have in the Slave Dictatorship of America. Plus, who the hell trusts the newspaper or the TV? I'd rather get my news from a bunch of people at a coffee shop than from CNN or something. Until the Internet was around, I don't think people were quite in touch with just how vicious America has been to the rest of the world. The Internet ends censorship of press and offers voice and information options to people. America is tumbling down because people are waking up to reality, with freedom of communication. Without a monopoly stranglehold like propaganda minister Rupert Murdoch used to maintain for the Fourth Reich, Der Fuerher George W. Bush wouldn't have been able to establish his regime. And, as the Internet grows in influence to meet people's needs where they were not met before, it helps to break down the information oppression necessary to empower the Federal Government over the state governments. I think we will become a confederate nation, reversing the damage that monster Abraham Lincoln caused our country, thanks to the Internet. In fact, I believe it was his North-led censorship of the South's voting powers (shutting the doors and not letting the Southern congressional representatives even enter the Congress building) that led to the split and Civil War, at which point he killed his opposition and broke them into submission, a trend America seems to have continued below the lies in the propaganda machine.

2007 Feb 02 12:32 AM