Until now, I don’t think I have heard of a well-known business getting a blog relations campaign just right, let alone one aimed at kids. The pitfalls for non-blogging adults are numerous, especially when it comes to tone. But this is a first.
Penguin’s top title in their Puffin range for children is Artemis Fowl. I haven’t read any of the Artemis books (yet) but the hero is high tech and supernatural all at the same time. When Penguin wanted to tell Artemis’s numerous fans about his new website, they needed to do it on budget. They employed a graduate to spend a few days researching the top Artemis bloggers on Technorati. The first idea was to write to the young fans under the guise of Artemis, but then they realised that this would hit a false note. So they sent out some plain honest emails. So you see, the art of Blog Relations, isn’t so hard. Still, most corporations can’t accept that it’s that simple.
Anna Rafferty, head of Penguin.co.uk tells the story in this 6 minute audio interview. It’s my last from the online marketing show.
[audio:http://www.blog-relations.com/audio/onlinemarketing/penguin_podcast.mp3]
