As an international marketing major i was intrigued by the case we talked about in class about the tiny little South African wine company that got its start by starting a blog and supplying the wine for a few friendly dinner parties. I think this was absolutely ingenius! As a small new company they dont have much to lose, and they have everything to gain. for anyone who missed class, the case tells that the customers just had to host a dinner party, and fill out a quick survey after, and the company sent them a crate of wine for the get together.
After the part people could get online and blog about the experience and the product! How smart is this?! People dont even feel as if they're doing a lame survey, while they provide quality information to that wine company. People rely on the internet for info more and more, so why not let other people boradcast your good name for you?! Thats the best PR i've ever heard of.
From the view point of the large firm it can be a little trickier. They may already have a good household name and they may not want to ruin that image, however this form of consumer input may be innovative enough to help the firm to keep their competitive edge longer. One example i was thinking of was Clorox Green Works. Its an all natural line of household cleaners, that are said to do the job of the original without all the harmful ingriedients. Many housewives are reluctant to change their tried and true cleaners especially to some "expensive all-natural cleaner." This is where blogging would come in really handy, because Clorox could offer to send out GreenWorks cleaning supplies to customers who're remodeling, redecorating, or moving and have them blog about it! I think this would be a great way to get the GreenWorks product line growing!
