Big news of the last twenty-four hours for me is the tie-up between Technorati and Ogilvy. Many questions arise as to to why Technorati has chosen to go this route. But first here’s the quote from Technorati:
Ogilvy creatives and account teams will use Technorati’s conversational marketing products to build relationships between brands and conversations relevant to those brands. This will result in the the creation of destination sites, new forms of advertising and communities of interest.
For bloggers and other citizen media creators it means new forms of distribution and awareness as brands increasingly enter the web as media sites and hubs of live web conversation. As we developed this product line it was clear that the best way to advance the state of the art was to show some of the worlds best creatives on what was possible and then work with them and major brands on how to build sites and advertising that reflect the conversations and passions of each brand’s identity.
In a period where marketing is daring to shift from traditional to social media, and from one-way communication to relationships, we are extremely excited about helping Ogilvy’s clients to innovate on the Live Web. A genuine conversation beats mass communication any day– and thats an arena Ogivly and Technorati are working together to advance.
Stay tuned for more exciting developments from the citizen marketing front, and don’t be surprised when you start to see our little green talk-bubble popping up on your favorite popular brand websites.
First question is why Ogilvy or any so-called creative agency for that matter? I thought Technorati could be the Google of the blog world if it played it’s cards right. That is, blogging is a manifestation of human interests that cut across the commercial, private and public spheres. Is this not a step into the centre-ground of the commercial sphere too soon? (Centre-ground being the space between digital and old-school advertising/media). Perhaps I misjudged their idea of the big idea – ie commoditising conversation. Silly old idealistic me.
Or, second, given the debate about the future of advertising in the UK does this alliance open up a tacit acceptance of a new basis for collaboration between media/tech/creative businesses that get networks over channels as the key organinsing principle in the future of media?
Or thirdly, will this move encourage others to create more enlightened and thus open models of ‘conversation marketing’ services to deliver linkage and thus value between people, brands and conversation? Personally the idea of myfavouritebrand.com with a ‘conversation station’ with a nice green bubble provided by Technorati sucks big time. It’s about as authentic as a focus group.
Or finally, am I missing the point entirely?
Any thoughts?
