I am indebted to Darren Lilleker for pointing out to me this interesting use of Twitter. Maude the Cow appears to be Anchor Butter trying to use Twitter a bit like a viral marketing campaign. I suspect that they hope it will become a favourite for people. In effect, they are using this Twitter account as a meme whereby they seek to give their account some impact by associating it with human emotions and cultural norms. One of my favourite meme's is Frank The Cat, where the obvious emotion being tugged at is one of "aah, poor cat", as a consequence it was bit of a Web sensation for a while. Maude the Cow is aiming at another emotion, that of humour, which is hoped (I suspect) will make it a success.
This fairly innovative use of Twitter raises an interesting question at the heart of the Internet. Commercial operations have frequently been quick at seeking to use new Internet developments for competitive advantage. Websites and email easily fit within commercial culture of how to communicate, but I suggest that commercial operations can struggle with other Internet modalities, especially those essentially created to meet personal needs, not corporate. Whilst I know that companies have sought to use social networking sites and weblogs, I believe that beyond market research, these applications should not be ones companies should invest much time in. Weblogs are personal diaries and social networking sites encourage interaction between individuals. Conceptually then, how can an organisation be on Facebook or have a weblog? I know many do, but I don't think it works. Named individuals within corporations could easily have such personal communication channels, but how can a coporate facade? That said, I can see that social networking sites would work as part of internal communication within a political party.
Twitter, as a microblog site does potentially help companies square this conceptual circle. Although clearly designed originally to be a person-to-person tool, I feel it is also possible for Twitter to be an-organisation to person tool in a way that a blog or social networking site may not. As a consequence I suspect this part of the twittersphere to grow, and we may well see political parties adopt this as well as their candidates.
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Agree, but I do think the idea behind Maude the cow and other anthropomorphic representations of brands is to try to get people to ignore the fact that it is a brand speaking but instead be amused, as you say, by the fact it is a cow, cat, meerkat etc. It is a novelty and as such speaks as a cow while putting Anchor front of mind. The problem is that it works for the first ones but then the novelty wears off and audiences see beyond the character. Still think that Tory Bear needs to be more bear-like as a promotional tool for the Conservatives - just for the novelty value and to see what impact it could have.
ReplyDeleteI feel like i need a brand now to associate with me as a person in order to be complete!!!
ReplyDeleterichard
What I find interesting about Maude the Cow, above what you say Darren is that Anchor seem to want people to know it has come from them. Most viral campaigns don't. For example, a negative campaign against one of the party leaders is likely to be anonymous. I don't always get viral campaigns, why was cheese cam so popular? People will get bored with them, but I wonder at what point that is. After all I ahve been vioewing TV ads all my life, but I will watch and enjoy a particularly creative one.
ReplyDeleteRichard, on a serious note isn't David Beckham, Susan Boyle or any supermodel a brand?