Sprint Rolls Blog Influencer Feedback Program
Like Jeff Jarvis Sprint has offered me a Samsung SPH-A900 MP3 wireless phone plus six months of free service in return for my feedback. I have accepted, but have not yet received my phone. I haven't talked about this because, as Jeff notes, they did not specifically ask for blogging. Jeff thinks this is smart program and I concur. He writes...
“If they tried to buy publicity with phones, that would not be good. But they’re smarter than that: They know that a blogger must blog. And so here it is: free publicity. And if I find anything noteworthy about the phone, I may blog it again. The publicity they get is not controllable. I could hate the phone (but I probably won’t since I am a gadget addict and a speed freak… and I could also buy the phone and hate it and blog that). It’s a risk, but a small risk well worth taking.”
The blogosphere is a terrific place to find influencers who will give you valuable feedback. It's a 24/7 focus group. Find the people who are going to give you honest to goodness feedback and give them products to try out. It's that simple. Just be prepared that they will talk about it.
Technorati Tags: Sprint
Gee, I'd love to test a phone like that - I just need a few thousand readers now:-)
Posted by: Zoli Erdos | Friday, January 06, 2006 at 04:58 PM
Steve,
I personally have zero problem with this. If someone stopped any reader of this blog on the street and offered to let you try a new cool gagdet, with no strings attached, would you do it? Would it be wrong?
That's not really any different that what is happening to you Steve. Totally fair and you also disclosed it in advance of even writing about the product.
--Sucky Marketng Guy
Blog: http://suckymarketing.blogspot.com
Posted by: SM Guy | Friday, January 06, 2006 at 05:44 PM
As was I...and I have already spoken about it in next week's ATS (we miss you!)
I'm just glad it wasn't a virus/con :) I was a little nervous...
Posted by: jJ | Friday, January 06, 2006 at 07:45 PM
So much for originality in PR ... look for my N90 photos of CES up on Flickr via Lifeblog soon.
Posted by: Jeremy Pepper | Saturday, January 07, 2006 at 11:36 AM
Steve, have you received your phone yet? I've just got invited.
Sprint is definitely not "a Dell" when it comes to understanding the blogospehere:-)
Posted by: Zoli Erdos | Friday, January 13, 2006 at 01:15 PM
FYI, it's the A920, not the A900
Posted by: Anonymous | Friday, January 13, 2006 at 03:42 PM
Yes, so I noticed. I'd trade the slim design of the A900 for the A920, but.. oh, well:-)
Posted by: Zoli Erdos | Friday, January 13, 2006 at 07:15 PM
I too was offered this phone and accepted.
But personally, I want to do more than just use the phone. I want them to send me to international locales so I can communicate to the public (as Ambassador) just what this means for the world. I'll talk about minutes, too.
Posted by: Paul Davidson | Saturday, February 25, 2006 at 11:42 AM
I was also invited to join. I've created an unofficial discussion list for the participants, if you are interested in joining.
Posted by: Rob | Monday, February 27, 2006 at 10:37 PM