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Sports - May 2009
You see some great things in my line of work, and journalists, members of the press, can often enjoy some terrific privileges; receiving press releases is often not one of those great things. I got something in my inbox last week which was a press release about how online 'forums' are boring and how their client's online forum isn't dull at all, because it has a different name.
The release also stated that 'many web forums are boring', and how 12 per cent of web sites have forums where people can hold discussions; not only that, but it states the word 'forum' is widely recognised and how 90 per cent of sites that have forums, actually call them forums.
Now, I'm no marketing expert, but I'd suggest a number of errors by the people that put out this release. The main one is, of course, that forums are called that for a reason - it's because the word forum actually means something. To quote the OED, it's 'a meeting or medium for an exchange of views.' People know that, web users know that, and they understand that. If they see the word 'forum' on a web site, they know what they will find and how it will work. Changing that word for your own clever ends is... well, it's not clever. In general usage, sure, forum can mean a few different things according to context. It could even mean 'powwow', and vice versa; but online, forum has a precise meaning, and unless you're changing the nature of a forum to create something genuinely new, changing the label used by everyone in the web surfing world to identify something is probably a bad idea. Such clever 'brand differentiation' actually doesn't do anything for the brand it's working for at all. It's utterly pointless, and leads to people like me questioning the sanity of the world.
Never mind that it states some forums are actually boring - who are they to decide this? After all, forums are simply platforms for readers, users, for us, the general public, to use. A forum's interest level is directly proportionate to the reader's own interest, and can't really be judged boring or otherwise by anyone outside the group it's aimed at. Suggesting otherwise for the sake of a press release which is promoting a forum which has a different name is... frankly, pretty stupid.
Of course, you can argue that by writing this column I'm giving it publicity, and that no publicity is bad publicity, but that's nonsense probably started by someone in marketing. There is good marketing out there and good people working in it, but the very best efforts are so good and so effective, we don't notice them. Bad marketing, however, is so glaringly awful and obviously manipulative that it can act counter to a brand's desires.
People appreciate honesty and direct communication in life, and the same applies to marketing. With that in mind, VISIT NISTEX ON JUNE 30TH.
Jon Bruford, Editor
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