Undercover my @$$...

[morgorath]

Ok I normally do not get like this, but what I just watched on 60 minutes tonight pissed me off. Did any body see it? They had a story that dealt with what the called "Undercover Marketing" Let me tell you first of that we were one of the first test groups for this type of marketing. They used "Cowboy Beebop" to hit us with. How does "Undercover Marketing" work you ask I'll explain.

Here is one stradgey. Sony did this one they hired actors and then paired them up as couples to patrol the streets of New york as "tourist". Out on the street they where armed with the latest sony ericsson cell phone and what they called sound bites (for now on will be reffered to as hooks). Here is the scam. The tourist couple is standing on the street you come walking by. (now they are both attractive, but if your a man they send the girl if your woman vise versa) So here you come and one of them walks up and says, "Escuse me could you take are picture." You take the picture, and after words they say "thank you isn't that the coolest thing, the way the phone takes a clean picture" (hook right into your flesh) Then they talk to you for a couple minutes like a polite conversation, till you are intersted and then say, "Well since you like it so much let me get your e-mail and I show the place I got mine. I got a great deal on it." There it is never knowing you were getting pitched too.

Now Can you believe they did this with "Cowboy Beebop" How I'll tell you. They came inside the very place I am talking to you. That is right they came to boards, chat rooms, and other internet hangouts. And this company called http://www.soulkool.com did this to us

[QUOTE]Orginal reported by Morley Safer
Subtle is Elias' weapon of choice. On the day 60 Minutes visited, Soulkool operatives were going undercover on the Internet, promoting the movie "Cowboy Bebop," an animated feature.

Soulkool employees, all of them barely in their 20s, boost the promotion by flooding Internet chat rooms and message boards with rave reviews for the movie.

Soulkool does not mention any professional affiliation, so the kids who read their messages have no idea they're talking to a paid marketer, hired to plug the movie. And it's not just Soulkool employees who are doing the plugging[QUOTE]

What the Fuck...!?! That would piss me off if one of you someone who I thought was a friend telling me about a good anime, movie, or what have turned out be nothing more than a Pusher (I wanted to say Drug Dealer) I would go Vicious on that ass...

Here is the whole 60 minutes story. Click Here

Sorry If this needs to go into the rants ...

[Vicious]

Hahaha. I would go off on them, but not for the reasons you'd think.

They're promoting Cowboy Bebop. WTF!!!! That's like me going out and promoting Honda Accords or Coca Cola or something. Go on message boards and try to pitch Trouble Chocolate or some other horrible anime and let me know how that experiment turns out. Don't sit there and think you're influencing me by trying to hype up one of the best anime shows ever created. What kind of lame ass experiment is that?

[gohan32]

Holy crap, that is a "good" idea though. Pisses me right off, but it's probably rather effective in small dosages. Messageboards should put something in their agreements protecting against that (for all i know there probably already is something). That's right, JJ, i didn't read the terms of agreement when signing up, but i am still liable (i don't even remember if there was any...).

[animeshop]

hehe - silly pushers...


but seriously have you heard of kino's journey? that is one amazing anime, I got it for really cheap to - wanna know where? http://www.ifallforanything.com, oh and if your gonna get it, you should tell your friends about it too, seriously - i cried, laughed and went through every emotion in the book - its one amazing anime

[Vicious]

Originally posted by gohan32
Messageboards should put something in their agreements protecting against that (for all i know there probably already is something).

Think about where you're at. And then think about your suggestion again. If you still don't see what's wrong. Go watch an R1 disc and read the little warning at the beginning or end of the disc. If you still don't understand the problem, take your head and smash it into the ground as hard as you can a few times to shake all the loose screws out.

EDIT: Kino's Journey actually was a pretty good series. Much better than what I expected it to be. But you never know, I could be a narc.

[animeshop]

...hey are you saying my comment wasn't real? I meant every word of it... but I didn't say I wasn't a seller

[Homeless Joe]

i think it's kinda shady the way they do that. i thought it was funny how the guy said that he has some big clients and how they didn't want the general public to know they participated in that kind of advertising.

[morgorath]

Yea and that is the problem. You are being paid to influnce me. The advise you are giving is not base on your own feelings for the show but on the fact you are getting paid.

As for animeshop - you have been up front. I know JJ and you sell anime. But because you have been up front with me if I ask for a view and you give it I can make a jugement call. These people you don't know because they are lieing little bastards from the very start.

[CrayonShinChan]

If you buy stuff influenced by ppl telling you how great it is and you must have one etc... then you are probably poor already!

At moss, if you are reasonably intelligient and have any wisdom at all, you might look into the product and see if it is what you need. If someone pulled the camera trick on me i'd just pull out my latest model and show them how theirs sucks ass compared to mine. :p

[Elcoholic]

I have suspected this happening in the videogames industry for years and am not shocked the least. Its unfair but I've seen worse scams in my time.

[gubi-gubi]

Im sorry but the idea in the street sounds crap... How many people can the get a day? Hardly any... They would be better off putting an advert up in the street for the same price as hiring the people and EVERYONE would see it not just 3 people off the street who have been harassed by some crappy actors...

[tsunami]

well if you think about sales and advertising are just getting anywhere they can. soon you will have ads in your sleep.:p

but advertising like that is kinda weak but hell it gave 20 somethings some cash to pump up their wallets.

[Homeless Joe]

Originally posted by gubi-gubi
Im sorry but the idea in the street sounds crap... How many people can the get a day? Hardly any... They would be better off putting an advert up in the street for the same price as hiring the people and EVERYONE would see it not just 3 people off the street who have been harassed by some crappy actors...

well, i don't know if you've ever just stood in a busy street like they were in new york, you can get practically as many people as you want. what they wanted to do was create a buzz about the product, the whole point was to get people to tell their friends about it and be sincere. you don't get the same kind of excitment from a billboard.

[Robojack]

I remember watching this particular bit of news with Cowboy Bebop: The Movie on 60 minutes. It's ridiculous that the companies would hire KIDS (that's right, kids!) to spread the word on certain products. The kid featured in the news bit seemed liked a total n00b, and thought he was hot shit just because he posted in 4 message boards and 5 chat rooms. I don't know about you guys, but I would never trust the words of an wannabe otaku who brags like that. Anyone decent anime fan who surfs the net, and uses IRC, easily surpasses that amount, and it's really no big deal. Besides, having watched the movie a few years back when it first released (via fansub), I already have my own opinions regarding it, and no damn kid is gonna change my mind.

[CrayonShinChan]

In most big cities they'd make a loss with the camera trick since alot of ppl would just take it and run. I got asked by a couple of ppl in tokyo to take their picture. The first thing i thought was... "i sooooooo want to just run away with their camera!!".