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December 07, 2004
BzzAgent
By now you may have read the New York Times Sunday magazine cover story on BzzAgent, a Boston company that recruits volunteers to evangelize products for companies.
Regular readers of this blog may have noticed an absence of commentary on BzzAgent. No so for others:
* Seth Godin loves and employs BzzAgent.
* Ditto for Tom Peters.
* Johnmoore finds the good and the bad in the company.
Frankly, the company confounds both of us.
On one hand, the company started with the idea that firms would pay them to recruit influential consumers, give them free products, and suggestions on how to evangelize others. BzzAgents are given points for reporting their work back to the hive, and points are redeemable for prizes. This is inauthentic customer evangelism and just seems wrong.
On the other hand, isn't the company making bite-site chunks available to people who want to learn about new products? As the article explains, most BzzAgents don't care about the points system and don't redeem the points they earn. BzzAgents interviewed for the article have a different motivation: They like to know about the latest products in the marketplace, and they like to help friends and neighbors learn about new things. They say they won't talk up products that they don't like.
So on first glance, the whole thing just seemed wrong and I wanted to denounce what they were doing, but when Seth evangelized them and employed them to promote Purple Cow, I was stumped. Was I missing something? Seth is one smart cookie, and both Ben and I decided to see how things fared.
Both of us have met BzzAgent's founder, Dave Balter, and we like him. He's very open about his business, knowledgeable about word of mouth and a good guy. After my discussion with him at Ad:Tech this summer about the importance of transparency, he wrote a long note on the company's blog with lots of insider information. He says BzzAgents shouldn't hide anything about their motivations.
I also suggested then he move his business model to helping companies with their existing customer evangelists and develop programs to help them spread the word. (And not like this). Dave said that he was already working on that. A good sign.
Last night I chatted with Dave. He says they're working with four companies on this type of program, having finished up programs with Weight Watchers and Wharton School of Publishing. He says it could be the future of BzzAgent.
So whether you think BzzAgent is evil or the greatest thing ever, the company has spurred considerable discussion about word of mouth marketing. It's a discussion that helps all of us discover where the elusive line of responsible marketing resides.
Other blogs that reference BzzAgent:
» BzzAgents from Jack Cheng's Blog
I've had time to let this BzzAgents thing simmer for a bit, so here's my .02 on the matter...... [Read More]
yes, there is some heated discussions within the hive at the bzzagent Blog. !!
Jackie:
I spoke with you and Ben briefly about BzzAgent at the Customer Evangelism University event I attended in Chicago. I've been a participant since they first got started and have never had an ethical issue with being involved.
Like many of the people you've spoken with, I could care less about the points. The reason for being involved is all about getting my hands on some potentially great stuff early in the release cycle. When it's worthwhile, I'll write (and talk) about it. When it's not, I let the BzzAgent folks know hwy I think so.
I've gotten turned on to some excellent stuff - especially books I might otherwise not have stumbled across. And, of course, I'm the proud owner of a Purple Cow milk carton and a Free Prize Inside cereal box ;^)
I do appreciate the dilemma you face though and I think expressing your concerns and also acknowledging Dave's transparency are good for the discussion. Like any promotional engine, there's certainly potential for weak-willed greedy folk to be "bought" but I think that the integrity of an author is pretty easy to sense.
I think Ben and Jackie need to read this too..
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1105.cfm
any comments ??
