Finding Social Media

Advertising on TV these days is pretty straightforward.  You watch a show, the act ends, you see four minutes of commercials, and then it's back to the show.  Sure, ads can creep into TV shows as product placement.  But they're usually so obvious that they're laughable.  Check out this ridiculous thirty seconds from Hawaii Five-0 where they shill for Microsoft.  "Bing it."  Really?  Really?

Sorry you had to watch that.  Here's Grace Park.

Incidentally, it's likely Microsoft just threw away their money.  For audiences to remember the product positively, product placement should be integral to the plot and involve the main character.

On TV, we know how advertisers are likely to approach us and advertisers know when we're likely to be receptive.  We've created a mutual understanding between producers and consumers.  We even have a mutual understanding with unacceptable producers.  Cigarette companies won't show ads on TV at all (although they used to).  Instead, they just do this:

Subtle, guys.  Really subtle.

And regular commercial advertising works.  The Sam Breakstone I came to trust in the 1970's existed entirely within the realm of traditional television commercials.  Thirty-five years later, I'm still buying Breakstone's.

The consumer-producer pact starts to break down, though, when we move to the internet.  More than fifteen years into the experiment, and advertisers still can't figure out how to use their computers.  They can pay search engines to put their links up at the top.  They can buy our information to send us earily specific targeted ads.  But they're still just flailing.  Because they can spend millions and millions of dollars and still get schooled by a thirteen year-old girl:

135 million hits. 135 Million Damn Hits.

Nowhere are advertisers more lost than social media.  Every single marketing campaign includes some stab at  penetrating the billions of hits a day people make to check out their favorite blogs, tweets, and status updates - to get past the boundaries of savvy consumers and insinuate themselves into our social consciousness.  Some are epic failures, but most are just confusing, unfocused and a little embarrassing.

That's where the Breakstone's social media campaigns fall.  They're not very good, a little obvious, and not at all convincing.  Should a brand like Breakstone's really even have a Facebook page?  Does it at all mesh with their brand message - high quality nineteenth-century craftsmanship?  Here are some of Breakstone's attempts at social media marketing (or, at least, the attempts of the consultancy firm hired by Kraft and/or their primary advertising agency).

Breakstone's teamed up with Better Homes and Gardens this Easter to offer some recipes and run a mild sweepstakes (top prize was $2,500.00).  Things got weird when they started paying bloggers to mention Breakstone's a whole lot.  Kristen at Dine & DishDine & Dish suddenly had a whole lot to say about Breakstone's:

Thank you to Breakstone’s Sour Cream and Better Homes and Gardens for inspiring me to get creative in my kitchen this Easter. The Pepper-Crusted Pork Loin with Sour Cream and Onion Sauce is seriously one of the tastiest pork loin dishes I’ve had and I don’t get crafty enough around here. It was fun to trade in my spatula for a hot glue gun for a bit. I can’t wait to do it some more.  Don’t forget, Breakstone’s Sour Cream and Better Homes and Gardens are giving you the chance to win $2500 plus the opportunity for daily prizes as well! Make sure to share your favorite holiday traditions on their site (takes less than a minute) and you could possibly win the money to create your ultimate Easter celebration! Good luck!

Kristen discloses that it's a paid promotion, but insists the words and the photos are her own.  Still, I'm starting to get the idea that this sweapstakes may just be a way to collect information for some targeted emails down the road.  It's the one thing that a TV commercial can't do:  "Identify yourself as a person who cares about our message so we can spend less by only advertising to you."

Erin, at 5 Dollar Dinners took a similar deal.  This is a blog that I had actually heard of and spent time at.  She wrote:

I just love how Breakstone’s wants to help us make their next holiday celebration easy, fun, and delicious. I love how they have created such an amazing resource for creating a beautiful and simple holiday meal. I’ve spent quite a bit of time on the site looking for fun new ideas and recipes to try this Easter.  I’m thinking that the Cauliflower and Broccoli Au Gratin would make a lovely side dish on the table, followed by my Spiced Pear Sour Cream Bundt Cake for a light and fluff-ilicous dessert!

Erin discloses that it's a sponsored post.  I wrote to ask her about it.  I was hoping she could tell me the name of the agency that contacted her, the amount of money paid, and whether any content, pictures or wording was supplied.  Erin was kind enough to write back but only to tell me that she couldn't give me the information.  It's a blow to consumers, though, not to be able to know at least which words are being paid for and which aren't.  Is there any way for Erin or Kristen to offer an unbiased opinion again?  Must we write them off as an arm of the commercial media?

It's too bad.  The recipes looked excellent.

Blogs aside, we come to the horrible train wreck that is Breakstone's Facebook page.  At first, it seems like a pretty static magazine insert.  You can get recipes, watch ads, see their lineup of products, and hear them brag again that Breakstone's was established in 1882 (it wasn't).  But then you see that 14,791 people "like" the page.  That's 14,791 people who automatically spammed their friends with a Breakstone's ad when they hit the "like" button.

That is, of course, if these people even exist.  Teresa Smith's profile is blank except to profess her love for very specific food items.  She has one friend.  Jessica Sanko Vernon's profile is nearly empty, but she wrote on Breakstone's wall, ">Well done, Breakstone's!! So pleased that you have made a dip that is oil and msg free!!!! I'm enjoying the Buffalo Sour Cream Dip now!! It's delicious!! Thank you!!!"  Three exclamation points?  She must really love Breakstone's.

But all of this pales in comparison to the recent Breakstone challenge.  If you "like" Breakstone's page, you can play a mini-game called "Chip-Dip-Click."  This entitles you to a $0.50 coupon for sour cream.  It was pushed here, here and lots of other places.

Send an ad by your own hand to all of your Facebook friends.  Make it look like you personally endorse our product.  Show your mom an ad she'll trust because it will have a picture of your face on it.  And get fifty cents.  The cost, I believe, may be too high.

Breakstone's is by no means alone in trying to turn you into a zombie shill (or trying to get you to listen to a zombie shill).  But that doesn't mean they're right.

Sour cream should taste good.  I really don't care which brand is preferred by the girl I went to summer camp with when I was 14.  Will most internet users be as jaded?

Sorry for the rhetoric.  Here's Grace Park:

Hooray!