I wonder how this video makes you feel:
It’s causing a small storm in the blogosphere — especially in the Jeff Jarvis camp. Prostituting the good name of citizen media and so forth. It’s a cause I’d normally be allied to. Robyn, the subject of the video, has her blog here.
A couple of things occur to me.
Robyn and her kids are having a great time. Everything on the blog and in the video is totally transparent. Hey — HP are going to take me round town and we’re going to have a lot of fun. At the end of it I get $1000 and a load of free kit. Woo Hoo! I can empathise with that. I’ve been on a few press trips that look strangely similar to these scenes, but, thankfully, no-one filmed them.
PayPerPost — the alleged evil demagogue that put the event together — is taking home a lot more money that Robyn did, I expect. But, ummm, that’s kind of how it works in every sector of the media. Ad-planners and buyers are the best-dressed people I meet.
Who’s playing with who here? As Mathew points out, Robyn is having a lot more fun than any of the po-faced blog purity police. Will HP sell more cameras and so forth as a consequence of this barefacedly manipulative stunt? Maybe. Will Robyn ever regret her decision? I don’t think so.
See, it’s ‘manipulative’ and not. HP, PayPerPost, Robyn and all the rest of us know what’s going on. Nobody looks at that video and thinks, “Wow — HP are a fun company — I’ll put them to the top of my list”. They just think “well, it’s an advert, quite fun and up-beat”. And Robyn’s a bit better off.
Ultimately, it makes me think that HP don’t appear to (forgive me) “get it”. That same impression was conferred on me by another HP video — a big production number this time — that was sent to me this week as an attempt at being ‘viral’ — office coffee boy does parcourt was the theme. Don’t seem to be able to find it on YouTube…
And that’s the point, I guess. One of the best sites on the Internet, ever, Post Secret has no whizzy technology, no nothing, just a tantalising glimpse at emotionally-naked humans. That gets a million views a week or thereabouts now.
Because that is what we’re looking for. And there’s no way to fake it.
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You can see the official uncut HP Postie Patrol video here: http://www.rockstartup.com/episodes/episode_8.html