The Essence of Sneaky Marketing, Rob
Walker, Slate
In a recent edition of his Moneybox column Slate‘s
resident ad critic Rob Walker uncovers the latest in stealth
marketing: Bribing fans with free tickets to get them to spam
message boards and chat rooms about their favorite musician,
Lucinda Williams. ‘On July 20 [Williams’ record label Lost Highway]
posted a message with the subject heading, ‘Win Lucinda Williams
Tickets!” Walker recounts. ‘The contest’s steps were explained.
First, start at least 10 ‘conversations’ in various online
forums?newsgroups, mailing lists, message boards, etc.; send links
as proof to the team’s leader. Also, forward a link to a Lucinda
Williams e-card to someone who is not already on the Lost Highway
‘team’ (blind cc-ing the team leader for full credit, of course).
Winners are chosen at random from among those who complete these
tasks.’
–Leif Utne
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