Guerilla Marketing or Gorilla Marketing

If you're on facebook or twitter, you've probably seen your share of lame, overly-obvious "product placement" and promotion. Here's the scenario...

• Problem: Brand "A" usually a small, sometimes local brand needs some exposure to grow their market-share.
• Solution: Instead of devoting some time and money into an effective marketing or advertising campaign, or better yet improving its products or services, Brand "A" pimps out "Brand Ambassadors" (or insert gimmicky title here) by giving them discounts or free product.

While conceptually this approach is not a horrible idea, as sometimes smaller companies have to find creative ways of reaching the consumer. It does have the potential of turning consumers off. By potential, I mean a really good chance!

Furthermore, what type of message is a company sending to its potential customers? If Brand "A" gives its product for free for following certain steps and becoming a "Brand Ambassador", is your product really worth what you're selling it for? Will Spira be able to sell a pair of running shoes for $105 when Joe-Schmo can get them free for uploading pictures and telling his friends how "great" they are? How do you build loyalty within your customer base with this approach anyway?

The answers to these questions will vary from person to person, however in my opinion as someone in the business of selling products/services, it's the last approach I would adopt. It's annoying, it makes products look second-class, and it's bad use of Twitter, Facebook, and social media in general. Would it be too much for these companies to spend time coming up with guide-lines on how "Brand Ambassadors" can promote the product? Blatant promotion does not equate to me wanting your product. It instead keeps away from your product.

Sram Red... Wait for it... goes Black!

Since we're on the social media and marketing topic, what was up with SRAM's latest campaign? For a couple of days, I thought someone had hacked the twitter accounts of the likes of @linseycorbin, @rappstar, and @mcewenrobbie to name a couple.

Basically, Sram changed the color of the Sram Red groupo from red (well it wasn't really red to begin with) to black? Let me see if I can understand... the old Sram Red, changed to all black, but it's still Sram Red and not Sram Black? Your twitter efforts and teasers left as much to be desired as your groupo's performance. I'll stick to Campy.

Oh, in case you were wondering, I'm not a marketing expert, I just play one on TV.