First things first, what is a blog?
A shortened word originating from the term ‘web log’, blogs have only been in existence for three to four years now and have grown exponentially. A blog is best described as a personal journal of ideas and actions that are published online to be read by the viewing public. However, many people also use blogs to convey information about the latest gadgets or recent events. These particular individuals are involved in ‘citizen journalism’ which is basically the same role as a journalist but without the perks. The true essence of the blog is the ability to leave comments to the author which sparks thought provoking information, conversations, or even arguments at times. Also, anonymity is easily the norm for blogs. The global term for this community of bloggers, reaching 55 million in 2006, is referred to as the blogosphere. With a constantly growing audience, these bloggers and blog articles are quickly becoming the true voices of the growing online and news world.
The statistical worth of blogs
Online brand buzz is created by the launch of a new collection, the acquisition of a new ambassador or even a sponsored event launched in a press release for the Internet world to see. The Internet has by far the fastest reaction time bar none to any of these mentioned events. In regards to online buzz, the blogosphere is a very clear indication of what people are talking about in real-time. These conversations, if you will, are key indicators of how the public views a certain brand, item or person. And the comments left concerning the post help brands understand public perception without shelling-out extra money for traditional marketing focus groups that are usually biassed and inaccurate. Compared again to traditional marketing avenues, the scope of the Internet is extremely hard to measure given its global reach. Never has it been easier to zero in or geo-target a specific group to such precise accuracy and deliver a message. With a simple online search, a potential client can be turned on or turned off by the information gathered in the search results. The importance of blogs is now revered by most, especially by search engines such as Google and Yahoo! which also showcase the relevance of the search in the blogosphere.
Because of our immediate involvement in the creation of the WorldWatchReport™ delivered yearly, we thought that using another of our custom IC-Agency tools called Weblogtrends™ (automated tool which calculates blog postings), cross-referenced with the most popular brand names positively and negatively posted in the blogosphere, would convey interesting results. Moreover, special inclusions of the most popular 2005 watch collections in 2006 was also added to further compare counterfeit brand blogging to authentic brand postings. This will give a clearer perspective of the online blog power that is prevalent in today’s online society.
Graph 1 is a summary of the year 2006 in view of the blogosphere without any language restrictions. In conjunction with the search queries of the top 5 companies overall in 2005, we determined a trendline for blog articles in 2006. We can see that the popularity of blogs along with the year’s promotions, campaigns and press releases showed a consistent upward sloping trend for all brands. With the steady leader in articles posted about them, Omega seems to have taken the reigns. However, please keep in mind that this is only a summary graph and deeper analysis of the articles was not done, thus these articles should not be assumed to contain strictly positive comments. The brand name with the biggest increase in this particular session was Breitling that actually held first place in the busiest holiday month.
Now we move on to the more interesting side of the blogs, the replicas. In graph 2, we are illustrating the yearly tendencies of blogs that use the keywords ‘replica’ and ‘fake’ directly relating to the brand name. Rolex being one of the world’s most common household names for luxury watches is leading the way in the blogosphere. This can be related to many different factors. Since the boom of the blog, there has been a big movement to promote products on blog pages. Many companies that leverage their products on blogs sometimes spam the sites to generate traffic. This has been a problem with the blogosphere. However, with the use of precise algorithmic functions that not only recognizes spam articles, but also rejects duplicate articles, this allows us to retrieve better analytical data for analysis.
In graph 3, we find the yearly round up for the four (4) top searched products illustrated in the 2006 WorldWatchReport™. The brand keywords were plugged into the system with a negative word attached (i.e., fake, replica). The results that came back were very different compared to the previous graph. Earlier we saw that Rolex was affected the most regarding replica searches. Now we see that with specific collection names, the playing field has become much more level. However, Rolex is still the most affected, but Omega’s Seamaster is a tight runner-up in replica searches for the year.
The blogosphere
There is controversy on the legitimacy of these articles. In recent months, a company named PayPerPost has come under fire for selling-out writers to publish articles that create a buzz about the brand or product with a cash incentive. The brand companies post their product with an endorsement attached and the writers decide if they want to post an article and receive the incentive (-25% that goes to PayPerPost). The endorsements are small and seem to distort the blogosphere a little, but the article usually states that it has been a paid post.
Besides this type of publicity to the blogs, major portals are also recognizing the importance of blogs and their effect in the world. For example, PRNewswire, one of the largest news and information portals, has recently announced that they will now offer blog monitoring with the press releases to show the breath of the Internet in the blogosphere as well as the traditional venues.
If you are interested in a more in-depth analysis on blog reviews concerning your brand or product for the past, present or future, please do not hesitate to contact our representatives.
The launch of the Europa Star website in January 1998. Today, Europa Star has three sites in three languages covering the world watch trade industry in 154 countries. Latest figures for December 2006 indicate over 80,000 unique visitors per month.
Source: Europa Star February-March 2007 Magazine Issue
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