You can call them fake, fiction, or character blogs, but this weekend I was reminded to weigh in on this well-trod topic. My daughter was watching the cartoon, “Postcards from Buster,” and I laughed when I heard Buster encourage viewers to check out his blog. Snaps to Josh Hallet who first spotted this blog.
When Lincoln Fry was uncovered, I was pretty harsh about the concept in general. Then Captain Morgan brought the topic back to our attention. Well I have not visited the booze blog. I did check out the bunny blog however and found the harmless content you would expect from public television.
Somewhere in all of this, Steve Rubel opined that character blogs are "a complete waste of time"—ensuring disagreement from the blogosphere by making an absolute statement. Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson have also contributed some great coverage on this topic.
Let me go on record noting that I agree with B.L. Ochman. Some faux blogs are a good idea but, when it comes to execution, most faux blogs suck.
Free Idea for Travelocity
My vote for the next character blog? Travelocity's Travel Gnome.
The statue has all the makings for a potent brew of buzz, but the Web site is doing little to stir the pot. Sure, he's a marketing ploy, but the blog could put forth a TON of great travel tips with a TON of humor, including pictures from his travels. He could also encourage folks to send in their travel pics—with their own gnome of course.
Gnomes have reached a campy, cult status. They are even showing up with Paris Hilton, proving “That's Hot” and not a lot of “Bull Hoggery.” At least for the next 15 minutes.
As much as it pains me - and it pains me a lot - I am on the side of Ochman.
I was saving Character Blogs for my next cluelesstrain post, but here was part of that post responding to others and the Captain Morgan Blog.
How about this reason for the Captain to stop blogging - um, the NCAA Basketball championship is over? The Final Four has been crowned, and that was the real tie-in.
The blog did work considering it was a new venture - no one's really done that before and these hormone raging 14-24 year olds 'did' like it to a large degree ... hey, it had T&A ... booze and basketball
And, you know, the real reason these character blogs don't work is because the writing is sub-par. If Jack from Jack in the Box starts blogging – and is as creative and well-written as his commercials – I will be reading that blog religiously.
I might still use it, but I'm waiting for a new character blog to be unveiled first. :-)
Posted by: Jeremy Pepper | 04/25/2005 at 12:47 AM
Has anyone touched on the fact that in the event that if Travelocity's gnome needs to blog, he (They) could Flickr it?
Posted by: Eric Rice | 04/25/2005 at 02:04 PM
Jeremy - You should still add your two cents, I'm sure we will be seeing another character blog sooner or later.
Eric - Sure. Flickr and cellphones create endless possibilities for blogs...travel blogs in particular.
Posted by: Kevin Dugan | 04/25/2005 at 04:52 PM
Hell, if Travelocity is looking for a gnome-like person to do it, I am short, and I have had to dress up in costumes for Ofoto (OfotoMan!!). And, I take really good photos, trained by some great photographers!
Man, I am all over this!
Posted by: Jeremy Pepper | 04/25/2005 at 08:49 PM
Anybody ever heard of Maddox, the angry pirate? I would argue that's a "character." In fact, it's one of the most religiously read blogs in the world. True, it's not a corporate character, but if you could create character blogs that opine on pop culture, you'd have a bonafide winner. Could Burger King's Subservient Chicken start blogging about all the things people have done to he/she?
I have a basic rule for any good marketing communications. They to be suprising, timely and relevant. If you have all three of those ingredients, what form they come in simply doesn't matter.
Posted by: Justin Gardner | 04/26/2005 at 04:09 PM
There seem to be two schools of thought on this. One is that under no circumstances should a character blog exist because it isn't a real person, and a blogger must be a living person. And the ones to date have been lame, according to this school of thought, which is a further black mark against the character blog.
The other opinion (mine, full disclosure) is that we have to separate the form of the character blog from the content of the character blog. There is nothing inherently wrong with a character blog, just as there is nothing wrong with an anonymous blog. Neither are "real" people that we can point to in the "real" world, but both may fill a need for their intended audience. The content of the blog -- lame, great, fun, boring, whatever -- is judged by the audience for whom the blog was developed. A 7 year old girl may LOVE Barbie's blog. Doesn't matter a whit what I think of it.
Posted by: Susan Getgood | 04/26/2005 at 10:01 PM
i'm related to the gnome issue, i tried contacting travelocity about this they were excited but with national news sponcership they didnt want to keep it up. oh well.
Posted by: Kelly | 04/28/2005 at 01:25 AM
"Character blogs?" Weird, if ya ask me.
Posted by: Kelvin Drake | 05/03/2006 at 04:08 PM