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Pastimes : The New Qualcomm - write what you like thread. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (5003)	8/1/2002 7:34:17 AM
From: waitwatchwander	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 12231

Beware tourists with talking cameras By JOHN HEINZL From Thursday's Globe and Mail Warning to travellers: That "tourist" who asks you to take his or her picture may actually be part of a covert marketing operation. Taking guerrilla marketing to a new level, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications is paying dozens of actors to pose as tourists at U.S. landmarks such as New York's Empire State Building and Seattle's Space Needle starting Thursday. Without disclosing their connection to the company, groups of two or three actors will ask unsuspecting people to take their picture using the new T68i cellphone, which can also serve as a digital camera. It's called undercover or stealth marketing and — in a world grown weary of ads — companies are using the sly tactic to flog a range of products including cellphones, alcoholic drinks and personal care items. The goal of stealth marketing is to fly under consumers' advertising radar and make them believe they have had a spontaneous encounter with an actual user of a product, thereby giving the item instant credibility. But critics say it's deceptive and unethical. "It's the commercialization of human relationships," said Gary Ruskin executive director of Commercial Alert, an anticommercialism group based in Portland, Ore., and founded by consumer advocate Ralph Nader. "It's the creep of ads into every nook and cranny of our lives and culture." Sony Ericsson defends the practice as an entertaining and harmless way to engage consumers. "We're not asking them for money. We're not taking their name and sending them junk mail. We're just simply trying to show the product in a new and exciting and viral way," said Jon Maron, the company's director of marketing In addition to phony tourists, the company has hired actresses to perform scripted routines at trendy nightclubs. In one ruse, the actress answers her cellphone and looks at the caller's picture on its screen. In another, two plants at opposite ends of the bar play a video game on their phones. The aim is to get people talking about the product and to pass the information to others — a process known as viral marketing. "They're not identified as Sony Ericsson employees because it takes the spontaneity of the conversation away," Mr. Maron said. If asked, the actors will disclose that they are being paid Sony Ericsson, he said. Advocates of undercover marketing say it is an effective way to cut through the clutter of commercials, particulary when the target consumers are young people who have learned to tune out most forms of advertising. When they see another person using a product, it makes an impression. "Peer pressure is the best selling tool you could possibly have," said Adam Starr, president of Gearwerx, a Montreal-based youth marketing agency that has has used undercover campaigns for more than a year to promote such products as cellphones, beverages and health and beauty items. "It's basically marketing to somebody without them knowing they're being marketed to," he said, adding that the companies involved do not want to be identified because that would blow their cover with consumers. In one technique used by Gearwerx, two actors board a crowded bus during the morning commute and begin discussing what they ostensibly did the night before. The scripted conversation includes liberal mentions of the product being plugged so that everyone nearby can hear. Practitioners of undercover marketing also refer to it as "roach bait marketing". The unsuspecting consumers are the roaches, and they take the bait and spread it to friends and family members. globeandmail.com