Businesses see blogs shaping public opinion

Marketers are beginning to realize that bloggers have the power to help shape opinion, either by raving or ranting about a company's advertisements, products, or services. Now market researcher Intelliseek is going to monitor the blogosphere for comments about SuperBowl advertisements:

Market research company Intelliseek will be monitoring the blogosphere for the buzz on Super Bowl ads to give their clients instant feedback on their ad extravaganzas. Intelliseek, a Cincinnati company that owns blogpulse.com, also will set up a panel of 50 to 100 bloggers to offer comments on ads during the game for its clients.

"The Internet is becoming a water cooler on steroids," said Pete Blackshaw, Intelliseek's chief marketing officer. "That presents both opportunities and threats for brands."

A convergence of factors -- the near-religious fervor in which Americans identify with, and talk about, their favorite products, the mass appeal of online communication and the buzz factor tied to Super Bowl ads -- has led marketing experts to focus more closely on what consumers are writing in blogs and on other Web forums.

....Intelliseek's Blackshaw and others believe monitoring the blogosphere is a good way to measure whether a Super Bowl ad is a bust or buzz.

....The company uses data-mining software to scan millions of blogs, discussion boards and forums to see if the keyboard-clicking masses are spreading the word about an ad or product. And it seeks to measure passion levels: Are people emotional about an ad? Has the ad or product become a part of the fabric of conversation? Is the reaction positive or negative?

Blog mouse-to-word marketing, though, extends beyond the Super Bowl, said Steve Rubel, vice president of CooperKatz, a New York City public relations firm who writes the Micro Persuasion Weblog. Such attention can be an unexpected bonus to a company, or a cause of embarrassment.

An adoring fan of Apple Computer's iPod music player created his own online ad for it, "iPod Tiny Machine." But bloggers pounced on Mazda for creating a fake blog filled with video "viral" ads that failed to generate popularity, Rubel said.

In the blogosphere, information isn't passively passed along, he said. An ad or marketing campaign "can be changed and fact checked. Consumers want to have a role in sharing the love and hate about the products they like and the products they don't like."

Marketers are increasingly becoming savvy to this new information flow, said Carson of BuzzMetrics. Some are beginning to design TV ad campaigns to drive people to Web sites, which display longer, and significantly less expensive, ads.

"There is a sense of community that surrounds brands and consumerism that has never existed before," he said. "You will find large numbers of people who will go to a company Web site and spend a considerable amount of time learning about its products. Or they'll forward that ad to friends."

...read it all: Bloggers' newest power: rating Super Bowl ads: Market Researcher to Monitor Online Journals' views for corporate clients by John Boudreau, San Jose Mercury News