Music Marketing

MTV Makes Me An Offer I Can Refuse

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Avoiding The "More Must Be Better" Marketing Trap

Those of us who write about marketing and the music industry  often  preach the importance of reaching out to fans, connecting with them and encouraging them to spread the word.  It's an essential concept of modern marketing, and if what we're spreading is quality and the campaign is executed properly, it can have spectacular results.

But increasingly campaigns mistakenly take the "more must is better" approach.  They begin by  blasting the widest imaginable audience rather than targeting the most receptive one.  Next  come too many superlatives ("the hottest", "the world's best").  Then, because deep down they  probably know that what they're schilling isn't any good, they demand action from anyone who might be listening. ("Tell all your friends today!"). And just in case you're still not motivated, they'll add a prize or incentive.

The campaign that motivated this diatribe arrived in my inbox from a marketing firm hired by MTV Networks.  The email offered me the chance to compete to be a member of MTVN's Elite Influencer Network because I must "live to be in the know about the hottest new comedians, music, fashion, reality TV, pop culture, movies and people".

Of course, the person that sent this tripe had never bothered to even glance at Hypebot.  Some badly instructed intern had run some stats and decided that I was a top music blogger.  Never mind that  I'm not Perez Hilton and that I write about marketing, tech and music business news  and not about fashion, reality TV, pop culture or even the music itself.  I could be an Elite Influencer.  Here's the pitch:

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Do you live to be in the know about the hottest new comedians, music, fashion, reality TV, pop culture, movies and people? Share your passion with MTV Networks and you could join their “Elite Influencer Network.”   Located at http://www.brickfish.com/MTVN, the “Elite Influencer Network” program aims to create a network of some of the most influential people on the Web.  From Comedy Central to VH1, Spike TV to MTV, the MTV Networks encompass entertainment for all appetites, which is why they are looking for an array of individuals to produce the ultimate “Elite Influencer Network.”


Submit a photo with description, video or blog that best features your obsession with MTV Networks culture and why you should be one of their elite members. Once you have created your entry, make sure to share it with your friends.  The more viral you are, the more influence you have, the better your chance to become an Elite Influencer. Take your entries out into your social communities and show MTVN how you represent!

Rewards:

MTV’s Elite Influencer Network: 150 winners, chosen by MTV Networks from the top 500 highest scoring submissions, will become a part of MTV's Elite Influencers Network and may be called upon to work with MTV Networks on future engagements.

If you are interested in participating or sharing this information with your readers and would like more information or some images from the program, feel free to contact me. (Name withheld because I'm not mean like Bob Lefsetz.)

Avoiding this kind of mistake is simple 1) only sell things that matter 2) find and target an audience that cares 3) state the facts or give them a taste of what you're selling 4) make it easy for them to spread the word, but don't demand or beg for them to do it. 

Test. Repeat. Get out of the way.

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10 Comments

  1. I dunno.
    It was certainly a dead pitch to you, but that whole project looks pretty smart for MTV. They want “intern”-style slave labor from highly connected, self-obsessed people who live online, and they’re going to make that demographic compete for the chance.
    Yes, it looks like their existing interns made a quick mistake sending you the offer, but maybe MTV bought someone’s list that you’re on. Either way, I think the results of this contest would cripple me with fear for the future of our species, so never want to know if I was right about this prediction…but I do think MTV is smart to do this. Smart like Mr. Burns, smart like Kenneth Lay, smart like Ryan Seacrest.

  2. Smart? Maybe. It strikes me as a desperate grab to consolidate ‘internet thought leaders’ into the MTV brand, in order to fight waning relevance. It might work on a basic level, giving them ‘hip’ people they can link to, but I don’t know how much influence they would really have. They certainly wouldn’t be the first to try to bribe bloggers to issue glowing reviews…

  3. 1) “More,” applied correctly, means more committed, not more quantity;
    2) Lefsetz is not mean, he’s merely frank;
    3) ditto Neil: this is MTV’s attempt to be relevant and at the center of the Interwebs conversation by appealing to the recipient’s ego. Fail.

  4. They’re not asking for bloggers at all, man. Look at the contest: it’s online video. You’re definitely reading it wrong if you think they’re trying to co-opt actual thinkers, here. This is a popularity contest for photogenic egomaniacs who already love MTV culture. Not for Kyle Bylin and Bruce.

  5. I like the blatant appeal to the ego !!! Ahhaaaa, funny stuff! – ‘Elite Influencer'(I can barely type this as I chuckle)anyone who would be an ‘Elite Influencer’ wouldn’t be such if they were to be influenced by this transparent ploy. And not only are you important but your hip too because you ‘represent’…(still chuckling)

  6. It doesn’t appear to be about blogging or video. Just a picture and an inane quote, then you get voted on, to become an ‘elite influencer’ who might be called upon to work on some of MTV’s mysterious ‘future engagements’.
    Not only is the ‘culture’ banal drivel, but the ‘contest’ is for a completely ambiguous, meaningless prize. Maybe it’s just a weak ploy to get more people using Brickfish (whatever the hell that is)…
    That said, Bruce, I think you should sign up. The potential comedic value cannot be overstated.

  7. I suspect anything with fish in the URL. Who decided that hip new companies had to have fish in their name?
    Sorry- off topic but as a former naming specialist I can’t resist poling fun at companies that buy into adding fish to their names. Brickfish?
    Brick= basketball fail, fish = smells fishy. Brickfish = 2x fail.

  8. I would agree that sending you this pitch doesn’t work…you’re not their target.
    However, anyone who read that pitch and doesn’t realize that Gen Y would be (probably already are) all over this, then they don’t know Gen Y at all. I could explain, but that’s pointless right now…that email wasn’t meant for this. That pitch screams at Gen Y, that’s all I have to say.

  9. Even though I fit into the demographic of Gen Y, this pitch annoys me tremendously and I don’t quite understand how my age group can fall for this stuff.
    Still, I think it would actually be fun (in a “major labels are obsolete”-ad on Columbia website kind of way) if a middle aged man like Bruce would show up in a video (parody) telling the viewers what’s the NEXT BIG THING because it’s the truth. MTV aren’t hip kids these days but middle aged men.

  10. Lefsetz is way beyond frank. Frank is telling someone “yes” when they ask you if they are gaining to much weight. Mean is walking up to strangers and pointing out their shortcomings unprovoked. Lefsetz falls into the later category.

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