My favourite thing about trends in marketing is the inevitable shoddy rip-offs of popular sites by me-too marketers.
Such is the case with Walmart’s "The Hub" Social Networking site for cool Walmart shopping kids. It’s like, totally MySpace, you know?
Oh – except they screen all content, don’t allow members to contact on another and most of the pages that I looked at were such OBVIOUS plants that I almost strained my eyeballs from rolling them too hard.
Consider, if you will, this excerpt from "Tyler’s Page":
My friends and I like to shop for back to school clothes together, and check out the new fall fashions. School My Way is trying not to be a follower. Mixing student council with academics. Cheerleading with drama. Finding the blend between what I want to do and who I am. Finding my stride.
Either this 16-year-old has a budding future as a copywriter, or this site is total bullshit. My guess is the latter.
This smacks of a 60-year-old CEOs brilliant idea that he got after seeing his granddaughter update her MySpace profile. All the kids are doing it!
Social Media is not the same as the APPEARANCE of social media. This is akin to sending fake children into a school and having them yell very loudly "You know Britney, I’m going shopping for COOL CLOTHES at WALMART. We’ll totally be the hits of the party with our ‘off-the-hook’ fashions!"
It’s not real if it’s not social. This is just "media."
P.S. Calling members "Hubsters" has to be the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard in a good long time.
P.P.S. I couldn’t figure out whether to post this in my PR or Advertising blog, so I’ll post to both. Sorry if you happen to read the two separately.
