about internet marketing
According to the initial company blog post about the contest, “if you rise above the seas of failing men and charm a woman on Chatroulette,” the company promises to give you a voucher worth 250 pounds which you can spend at the company's retail stores. The blog post then provides an example of what they mean by a “seduction attempt” by way of a screenshot of a Chatroulette chat session - and be warned, it's not what we would consider safe for work. Instead, what French Connection is promoting is essentially a nod to the often perverse nature of the popular webcam-surfing site.
Chatroulette for Marketing: Risky or Brilliant?
Although the French Connection brand may pride themselves on their youthful, hip nature, it's an arguably risky move to promote themselves via a service as odd, off-the-wall, and yes, occasionally very disturbing as Chatroulette. Like Casey Neistat recently explained in a charming video demo of this latest Internet craze, on any given day, Chatroulette is 71% male, 15% female and 14% pervert.
In fact, it's the possibility of running into something odd - or rather someone odd doing something odd- that makes Chatroulette so exciting for its users. Like the game of Russian Roulette from which its name is derived, most of the time nothing remarkable happens - you run into another bored voyeur looking back and you and maybe even have a casual conversation. But every now and then…bang!
And it's the bang that seems to appeal to French Connection. They want to send out their customers into the wild, wild west of Chatroulette to become the very sort of creepy perverts that make the site so darned intriguing. So now, dear Chatroulette users, you'll have to wonder whether that freaky guy/gal hitting on you is doing so because they're actually a weirdo or if they're just trying to win a few bucks to spend at a clothing store.
Thanks to French Connection's bravery, they have the honor of being the first brand to attempt using Chatroulette for marketing purposes. However, if the contest goes well (i.e., it generates a lot of press), other marketers will likely soon follow suit.
Is that a good thing? We're not so sure. At least, it's not good for us, the Chatroulette surfers. Marketers, though, may think it's a downright brilliant move. And maybe it is - after all, who would have thought that anyone could have figured out how to promote a brand on a service like this? Still, we sort of wish the marketers would leave this one alone. Stick to Facebook and Twitter and the other straight-laced social sites of the Internet - leave Chatroulette and all its unrestricted debauchery alone.
Story of the Week: Nexus One's woes, spies love Facebook, top Diggers lose power
- Oops: Google Denied Trademark on Android Nexus One
- Big Changes Are Coming to Digg: More Power to Publishers, Less Power to Top Diggers
- How US Government Spies Use Facebook (Updated)
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- Nexus One Flopped, but Android Didn't
More coverage and analysis from ReadWriteWeb
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Mobile Web
- Microsoft Updates Bing iPhone App and Removes It from All International iTunes Stores
- Blockbuster Brings New Releases to Android, Windows Mobile Phones
- Mobile App Marketplace: $17.5 Billion by 2012
More Mobile Web coverage
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- Internet of Things Explained (Video)
- 6 Ways to Better Living: Inside an Internet of Things Home
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Real-Time Web
- OneRiot Brings Its Real-Time Ads to the Web
- Why Wikipedia Should Be Trusted As A Breaking News Source
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- The Death of the Pageview
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ReadWriteEnterprise
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- Provider Fail: Vodafone Sells HTC Smartphone Loaded With Malware
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- IBM Makes A Major Move Into The Cloud; Amazon Is In Its Sights
- Rulers of the Cloud: Will Amazon's Computing Fabric Become a New Economy?
- The Oracle Effect: Sun's Best and Brightest Move On to New Places
That's a wrap for another week! Enjoy your weekend everyone.
Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » Great <b>News</b>
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With the healthcare vote looking in Washington this weekend, we've gathered some resources to help you figure out what to expect for your small business. Plus enjoy the other great tips, <b>news</b> and information on B2B, innovation, finance, …
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