Coke i9 Hidrotonico Brazilian Launch Learning’s

As you might be aware, high profile bloggers are often pitched to by the media and PR firms about product launches.

Coke recently launched a new product called i9 Hidrotonico in Brazil. However as reported by Paula Góes on the Global Voices blog, the launch of i9 Hidrotonico caused an outrage in the Brazilian blogosphere and Twittersphere.

Photo credit: Trendsspotting

As Paula reports:

The highly sensitive Brazilian blogosphere is fizzing after a famous brand of beverage decided to invest in blogs as the main vehicle to market its latest product.

Nine prominent bloggers were cherry picked and received a fancy USB mini fridge with a new product to be tested - and obviously to be blogged about. Soon blogs and the twittersphere were happily bubbling with comments about the innovative marketing strategy, until the story was picked up by BlueBus, another no less prominent site with an impressive 13 years on the blogosphere, which introduced a new term to refer to the picked blogs: “blogs-de-aluguel” in Portuguese or “rent-a-blog”.

Needless to say, this nickname didn’t go down very well and the bloggers quickly got together to react and put up a “I am not a rent-a-blog blogger” manifesto.

While Coke on the one hand no doubt was happy about the amount of online air play they were getting for the brand, I am sure their marketing team did not want to provoke infighting amongst the Brazilian bloggers. At least I hope they didn’t!

I guess this is a warning flag to all PR companies and marketers looking to connect with bloggers in a blogger outreach programme especially if you are running a programme across several markets.

Yes bloggers have a code practice/ethics about how they respond when reporting on products they are asked to review though this can range from blogger to blogger. For most bloggers it’s critical for their personal reputation and personal brand to be seen and considered as being honest and that their articles are congruent with their beliefs and personal values. That’s one of the reasons that on personal blogs, many bloggers are very expressive in their tone of voice.

You see, it’s not just about building relationships with bloggers - it’s also about assessing the ‘blogging social climate’ in the market that you are launching in and understanding the different constituents, stakeholders and influencers in the blogging community in your market. Some organisations have developed blogger outreach codes of ethics.

What would you advise PR companies and marketers if they are to pitch to bloggers in Ireland? How would you describe the ‘blogging social climate’ here?