Psssst! Wanna buy an energy drink?
Posted by sebersole on April 5, 2008
Has anyone every tried to sell you an energy drink as you strolled across campus? Or perhaps a classmate pitched the benefits of a particular brand of energy drink and its positive effects as you were waiting for your 8am class to start. No? Well perhaps you just weren’t AWARE that someone was trying to get you to buy something! Crazy talk, right? Well, what if I told you that I know a University student who earns a commission from an energy drink company, and that he carries an energy drink with him to all of his classes with a goal of “promoting” energy drink consumption on campus. Surprised? Just the visual cue provided by the unopened energy drink can sitting on someones desk might be enough to trigger an urge to purchase a can next time you’re near a vending machine. That, my friends, is called viral, word of mouth, or buzz marketing…and it IS a reality on this campus, and across the nation.
This is clearly a growth industry. According to researchers, Americans engage in more than 3 billion brand-related conversations each day. In order to monetize this trend, marketers are looking for ways to buy and sell these conversations. They even have their own association…WOMMA, the Word of Mouth Marketing Association.
And if you didn’t already have reasons to be skeptical of the contents of blogs, you should know that PayPerPost.com pays bloggers to promote products and services on their personal blogs…effectively making anyone and everyone an agent dispensing commercial messages. PayPerPost calls it “sponsored content” and says that they require disclosure in order to comply with FTC regulations. But full disclosure and transparency may be the exception rather than the rule since there is little practical oversight.
Want to get in on the action but don’t have a blog? No problem. The PayPerPost application can also be added to your Facebook page. Oh, and when you recommend a friend who adds the PPP application you earn $15.
Wow, who knew that viral marketing could be so…
profitable?
easy?
ubiquitous?
invisible?
Josh Matthews said
Being a “Word of Mouth Advertiser” myself, I really do question any person who offers product advice or refers me to a company or business. Before I officially signed up to advertise and sell products, I was always referring people to businesses that “paid” me for the referral. Verizon Wireless gives $25 to any VZW customer who is named under the “How did you hear about us” section. Tupperware and Magic Chef have been invited into homes for years, maybe decades, in the hopes of marketing their products directly to consumers. How do they do it? They give a little back to the host or hostess of the party, depending on how much was sold. Avon and Kirby have been going door to door since the beginning of time. Advertising started on billboards and in magazines. Spokespeople were the next evolution in advertising and it has finally progressed to the smallest denomination of advertising, the consumer. Most word of mouth advertising is by people with nothing to gain. Products and stores travel from person to person no matter what the pay or what the product. Companies have finally figured out that to keep people loyal, both consumer wise and opinion wise, all they have to do is spread a little money around.
Ethics can easily be compromised when money is involved, but I can safely say that I use every product and service that I promote. I don’t expect this from every salesperson. Imagine a used car salesman that used every product he or she promoted. It just wouldn’t pay. Now, think about a Wal-Mart employee who marks down a big rack of televisions or barbecue grills. Soon enough, most of the people that clerk talks to will hear about the steal deals and no matter what, those products will be sold. Who made the money? Not the clerk, Wal-Mart does not pay their employees to advertise.
The way I see it, the only advertising the average consumer can trust is word of mouth from someone who actually uses the product. The only alternative to advertising is trial and error. Try every product until you either find the perfect product or discover that every brand is virtually the same. Companies want loyal customers. Their whole agenda is to create loyal blocks of consumers and the best way to make loyal consumers is to share the profits.
I love capitalism.
Fred Carley said
“Word of Mouth” that is the oldest form of advertising. I do believe that it also works very well. Personally, I have owned my skateboard for about three years now and we have done nothing but word of mouth advertising and there is a definate growth due to the fact, but I disagree that it is affective unless certain attributes are taken into consideration. I have these beliefs from the experience I have had with it over the last three years.
1. The advertiser/billboard for the product or company must be in an authorative position. For instance: If I had a average skateboarder riding my skateboards, compared to the better riders, I don’t think the word of mouth advertising would be as effective. In other words, I wouldn’t ever have a person without energy promote my drink, or have a person that is too wired, almost scary wired, promote it either which leads to number two.
2. The advertiser/billboard for the product or company must have a good reputation. By this I mean, that they must have an influence, people must see good things out of the person. Most people will attach there wants and values to those with big, or good reputations. Also you wouldn’t want your company to have a bad reputation just because of one person.
In closing I don’t believe that it is the best way for advertising, but it is definately an added bonus to a product to have this plus other forms of advertisement. I feel my company would be bigger today, if i had went with other forms of advertisement, but at least I am learning.
Blair Cooper said
It is now clear that advertising is collectivley in every aspect of our day to day lives. With products being promoted on such a range of scales, it is hard to decipher between what is actually beneficial, and what is well marketed. The negative side to a companies sponsorship of an individual to sell their product is…. What if no one likes the person holiding the product. This could cause a negative response. I would hope they wouldn’t allow just anyone to promote their consumables. This would probably apply mostly to an overweight slob bringing a Big Mac to class, etc. However, even though viral advertising may have only a small impact on time of purchase decision, it shows how easily people will sell out in order to make a buck. In saying this, I would like to know where I could sign up as a viral advertiser. It sure seems painless and beats donating blood and other body fluids.
Zane Stockbridge said
Word of mouth advertising is probably one of the most profitable forms of advertising. Each time a friend recommends something to you, it fits the category. I’ve talked to a few of those door-to-door vacumm cleaner salespeople and sometimes they have great personalities.
A few weeks ago I was playing monopoly in the dorms and two women just walk up to me and my friends advertising Red Bull. What did they do to catch my interest? One free can of Red Bull per person. I had never tried Red Bull and probably wouldn’t pay to try one either. But now I know what it tastes like, I’m not completely sold on it though. But I’m sure those women found people who do enjoy Red Bull and reinforced their liking of the product.
Alison Ritter said
This article made me realize how companies would do anything to earn a buck. Although, i can say that if a company hired me to carry around their product and was paying me, i would do it in a heart beat. We discussed word of mouth advertising in class and how much of and impact it has on people. I think its a great way to get the product out their for the public to see in an everyday enviroment. Word of mouth could also not be so effective if the person displaying the product is not lliked by people, the the product could have a very negative effect.
Danielle Pollack said
Typically, when someone is in the market to buy a particular product, s/he will ask around amongst trusted friends, family members, etc. for their opinion on their experience with that product. Depending on the validity of the report given and the reporter (associate), it becomes very easy to make a decision as to whether that product is for you or not. Seldom do people take advice from complete strangers as to what to spend their money on, as word of mouth advertising relies almost solely on dependability.
Questioning the ethical aspects of being hired by WOMMA or other word of mouth associations seems a bit drastic. From what I can tell, products being deliberately sold through word of mouth are products of little importance–energy drinks, arbitrary internet applications, etc. These products hardly have an adverse effect on our daily lives…so what if someone gets paid to push them? Call me heartless and immoral, but I wish I had their job. There would be a definite question of ethics if faulty doctors or lawyers were using this form of advertising, but until then, questioning the ulterior motives behind every minor discussion about products seems just a little bit paranoid to me.
Teresa Dupuis said
Maybe I take my reputation a little more seriously than some people. If I were to write a blog about a company and I was getting paid for it, would I still write if I was dis-satisfied?
Probably not….I don’t think.
OK, no I wouldn’t, but that is how television and radio stations have to think regularly. One great example of this is The Dave Ramsey Show. He has made it a point that he will only promote a company that he has actually looked into, or had positive interactions with. Granted, he gets paid for advertising, but so do those who do viral advertising through blogs, emails and even on campus.
As for energy drinks, I actually started drinking my energy drink of choice because of negative publicity it got (Spike) and I have sent it to Missouri touting it’s effectiveness.
I talk about my experiences with Home Depot and Lowes, both good and bad; and even how when one end screws up, how well does the corporation its self clean up the mess?
You mean I could be getting paid to do this? Where do I sign up?
Thomas Johnson said
I believe that as long as a person tries a product out before they promote, and is satisfied, it’s great that they help out the company that makes a quality product. But it’s the people who promote as many products that they can even if they hate it that rubs me the wrong way. Sales is survival of the fittest and if your product is less pricey than another or is better quality those are the ones that survive. But when there is false promotion it just messes up the sales “ecosystem”. Crummy products are bought over others because of some he said she said promotion. Products should be weighed on quality and price, not by what someone said.
Joseph Puskedra said
After reading this blog, I am actually really considering getting payed for blogging online. I mean to get payed for something this easy.. I did’nt believe it at first, but after going to the website and reading more about it, I’m seriously thinking about doing this. The internet is an intresting place and the way advertising is being intergraded with it is outstanding. What will they come up with next?
marcellus williams said
Well im going to start off by saying i dont drink energy drinks because they are very bad for you. but i think that want they are doing by having someone sell their product at schools. i figure they have to make their money some how and a lot of young adults drink energy drinks, so that was a very smart idea, but i would never do it. i know someone that drinks up to five energy drinks a day thats horrible, but they would profit alot off him. we discussed word of mouth advertising in class and how it affected people a lot. but the whole situation can be adown fall if the person the company hired doesnt know how display the product right.
Kenneth Moses said
In all honesty I feel being a word of mouth adviser is not someone I would say I could trust. At the end of the day I think they are just concerned about getting paid. In addition to that I think that there ethics is not up to par just in my book. I am just a person who doesn’t trust people. I feel like I would rather pay more for a product that I can trust and I have more research on. Most word of mouth advertising is by people with nothing to gain. Products and stores travel from person to person no matter what the pay or what the product. Companies have finally figured out that to keep people loyal, both consumer wise and opinion wise, all they have to do is spread a little money around. When it comes to advertising I am more of a billboard person or a person who see’s other doing it or wearing it. In all I think I question most things that deal with advertising. I don’t really trust what random people have to say to me. I would have to agree with the first person who left a comment on this page, loyalty is huge for me and having a random try to sell me a product just does float my boat.
Ryann Roles said
About 3 semesters ago I had a professor that always brought a Monster energy drink to class. He would show up about 3 minutes late, after all the students were already in their seats, with a Monster. He was constantly talking about his Monster and why his doctor told him to start drinking it and stop drinking Mountain Due. He was an economics professor and every example he did in lecture was always dealing with Monster.
I never put 2 and 2 together, but I am now wondering if he was a paid promoter because he promoted Monster every single class. Even if he wasn’t, word of mouth is the most effective advertising. I had never even heard of Monster before I had that class. Now everytime I go to the store it sticks out to me right away and I am always reminded of what the prof use to say about it.
There is no better advertising than that.
Rachel Stewart said
Word of mouth is the most popular form of advertising. who is someone more willing to blindly believe, someone in a suit with a poster telling you all the wonders of the product, or just some regular person you see everyday who is seemingly just sharing his/her opinion? most people trust the latter because of the context it’s presented in. Advertising companies are smart and that means the consumer just needs to be aware and hopefully make their own decisions. whether those decisions are affected or not, well they most likely are, but thats a capitalist nation for you i guess.
Caitlyn Jewell said
Why do we promote a product? To build a reputation that leads to behavior of consumers buying a product. It is crazy to see how far companies will go to promote, but this viral advertising works. Skepticism plays a role into any product. What is a powerful influence to consumers buying a product? Word of mouth by a trusted source is the most powerful influence. Trusted source is the key word when it comes to word of mouth advertising. It could be a problem if the person promoting the product has a bad reputation. But, if one of my friends said something good to me about the product, I would be willing to try it. Aside from purchasing the product, the article caught my attention for a job opportunity. It would be a good way to earn money, but the only way it would make the work worth while would be to have an interest in the product itself. That or just be really desperate for money.
j.payne said
energy
j.payne said
actually that does indeed surprise me. He actually get paid to do that, I wish someone would pay me to advertise there product. a simple task like that probably makes his job well worth it. me personally I probably couldn’t advertise something that I didn’t support, so maybe that wouldn’t be the best job for me. energy drinks use to be my thing. I drank like two or three throughout my lifetime. I don’t like how they make you feel after your done drinking it. I guess you would call that the “down” stage, “what goes up must come down” right. it gives you energy but makes you crash at the same time. the quality of the product is really good. lately it’s been on TV because it’s know to make people crash and feel tired. which really isn’t the purpose on to why people drink the drink in the first place. I don’t see the product staying around for long at all.
Niccollo Lopez said
I think word of mouth advertising is effective on only certain people. It goes hand in hand with the bandwagon effect i think. If some “Word of mouth advertiser” gets one person to user their product, that person then might get someone else, and so on. Soon it seems like everyone is using a particular product. People start to feel left behind because they don’t have the “best.” Now in the case of energy drinks, this might be a bit over the top. But, I have to say that I also might have seen this energy drink advertising around campus and in the classrooms. Every time I go to one of my classes, I see this one person carrying the same energy drink into class. This person never opens it or drinks it. It is just placed on the desk in front of them so all could see. On a couple of occasions this person gave their energy drink to the students in the class. I always found this odd, but it is starting to make sense. I said that this form of advertising works could work on some, but I would have to imagine it doesn’t get the majority. I myself am not going to be persuaded to try something simply because “some person” is telling my too. I need some kind of trust or prior relationship/knowledge of quality.
Devin Alfonso said
This is just one more example of how today we cannot escape marketing. It is all around us, all the time. Like we talked about in class, we see brands around 5000 times a day. And now we may not even realize it is happening. When someone you know starts talking to you about a product, you probably aren’t expecting them to be paid for doing so. It just shows how marketers and advertisers are trying to bombard us with ads all the time. They are thinking of any and every way they can to get their brand exposure. This type of marketing is probably effective, since people may trust someone and not realize they are being paid to try and sell a product. Word of mouth advertising is very effective, so it is smart for companies to try and use this method of advertising.
Rachel Espinoza said
This just shows that advertising is everywhere. In class when we were talking about advertising you gave all the examples of snob appeal or celebrities and I think this is along those lines. People just like you and me can influence us withouot even knowing.
Kimberly Finnie said
adidas. all day i dream of stoner(4 da ladies)
I recently went to a friends blog and came across a video that I believe is a perfect example of viral advertising. I found myself captivated at first by a graffiti artist who is explaining to his audience how he creates his different art pieces. The video is informative as well as feeding into the “cool” factor. As the video progresses we start to see that the art the artist is creating is actually an ad for Adidas.
Why did this work for this particular video to go viral? Everyday people are trying to make their products and videos go viral…whether through youtube or myspace. What makes one stand out from the other I believe is quality and subject matter. In the case of this video they obviously had the funds behind them to make an excellent quality ad. The subject matter is instantly grabbing. People want to learn how the art is created and want to see the outcome. It also gives the viewer a quick look into a micro-culture it may have previously been interested in.
Amanda said
I believe that word of the mouth promoting is one of the most affective ways. For an example, if there is a movie i want to see but the ratings online are low i would ask my friends if they saw it or what they heard about the movie. I would trust their opinions on the movie more likely.
Promoting an item the same way the student did with the energy drink is also a very affective way. If you were sitting in class and the student next to you had a bottle of coca-cola sitting on his desk, that would get you to think about wanting to buy one after class. There are many examples of these kinds of promotions. In the movie Sex and the City Carrie’s assistant gets her a new cell phone and in the movie they show the Sprint bag. This is a way of Sprint saying, “Come buy a Sprint phone because the actors on Sex and the City use it.”
In my opinion this is one of the best ways to promote because we see other people with a product and think that they enjoy it so maybe i will.
Molly Cotner said
I found this post to be quite surprising. I was amazed to find that advertising can be done in such a simple but powerful way. For college students I think it is a pretty ingenious way to make money. It is a very powerful approach to selling a product yet does not feel intrusive. This does make you look twice the next time you see someone who has an energy drink
Molly Cotner
Kraig Brownlow said
Word of mouth is an incredibly powerful tool. From promotion of energy drinks, to bands, website, and everything else out there. A huge way to spread the word, is from friend to friend and person to person. I know for a fact that word of mouth is a great way to promote. From a website that spread through my senior class last year after one kid got an awesome deal on a hoodie, to knowing that if i were to see an unopened can of Red Bull on somebodys desk, cool and frosty with a little condensation on it…. i would almost certainly go get one. Just talking about it now makes one sound delicious.
Seeing somebody else with something you want is a great way for companies to sell their merchandise, and it is definitely a new marketing strategy, that is being utilized now more than ever, even though word of mouth ahs been around for a long time. Viral marketing is definitely an extremely useful tool.
Nate said
Word of mouth is a good way to show people some product. People just walk around all day with brand name clothing on. If they are drinking some kind of drink they are selling you that drink to you. If i got paid to walk around and promote items i would do it in no time.
Nate Lawrence
Corinne Meyerson said
I loved reading this because one of my friends, in MCCNM, would have a Monster drink every single class. Now of course I would constantly tell him that not only was he wasting his money but he was going to die from drinking so many of them (probably not true, I was just trying to scare him). Although I was telling him this literally every time he had one, inside I was thinking that maybe it would be pretty nice to have one of those, as I am often very tired in class from staying up and doing homework. It’s crazy how even something that simple can be advertising, and Monster didn’t even have to pay! I think he should go talk to Monster and make some money!
Vincent House said
At the university level i feel that it is a good marketing tool to have peers sell the product by word of mouth. who better than your friend , or some one who is going through the same problem, to tell you that the product is good. it a easy way for college students to raise money and you get to drink you fav enegry drink
Joseph Foley said
I believe that is an outstanding way for someone to market their material. What better way to get a product out there but by word of mouth. Everyone is always looking to try something new and when they see this new product it wouldn’t be suprising if they went to the gas station and picked up a can for themselves. Especially if this energy drink tastes great and gives the energy necessary for a college student to withstand a late night studying.