No Soup for Shady Viral Marketers In the UK

Gawker reports that the UK is about to make it illegal for a company to misrepresent itself to consumers online using viral marketing tactics.  This includes setting up fake blogs, paying bloggers to hype up products without disclosing their arrangement and otherwise utilizing viral tactics "without making the origin of the message clear." 

Sounds severe, but I think this is actually a great move for the industry.  With trust in traditional advertising declining and trust in word of mouth (WOM) continuing to increase - especially in the dynamic digital space - I think that establishing a benchmark for authenticity and credibility is essential.  At Ogilvy we created the Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics which dictates how we will research, approach and build relationships with online influencers on behalf of our clients.   This entire Code is built around respect for the influencer and transparency.   

By and large, everyone should  already be adhering to similar guidelines because it's just good business.  But, hey, if the UK wants to throw people in the clink for doing otherwise than more power to em.

Comments

[Rafael]

Since you're so into Twitter now, you might also like this little social experiment: http://twistori.com/

[Alison Byrne Fields]

I've grown so disillusioned with social media lately, that I think, in general, most of what agencies are doing in the space is a load of horsesh*t.

Even disclosure doesn't impress me anymore.

I really feel like the only smart — and valid — way for marketers to use social media is 1) as a unscientific focus group, 2) as a way to improve customer service (noninvasive, responsive), 3) as a way to demonstrate thought leadership in their industry -- but only if they commit the resources to put the time in and to do it completely transparently, 4) and if they can actually provide something of utility to an existing community.

This last one is the most interesting to me. What can you do to make things better for the people you're trying to build a relationship with?

When you go to someone's house for a dinner party, you bring a bottle of wine, you don't rebuild their house.

And, when you provide that bottle of wine, you think you might be helping the host to entertain their guests and they'll say thank you and kiss you on the cheek.

You don't think they're going to ask you to move in with them.

Alright, maybe that analogy needs some work.

This is one damn long comment. I think I'll go write a post about this.