Paladin Pinion Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 Madeliefste Oh wrote: I have no proof it is like I think it is, it is just my impression. But I think you have this marketing team that thinks out these campaigns, and then when they have decided what it will be for coming month, they contact the collegues from marketplace so they can set the 'tag' on the marketplace and let the residents know about the campaign. So I think someone from the marketplace team did post the message, because (s)he was told to do so. But not because MP team is the responsible team behind these campaigns. That makes the most sense to me, it's how most big businesses are run. There's also very often a conflict between the developers and the marketers about what needs to be done, and in what order. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kampu Oyen Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 > it's how most big businesses are run. Not the ones you can expect to be still around in 5 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argus Collingwood Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 Ooooo look.. shiny happy people... far out and groovie! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dartagan Shepherd Posted April 17, 2012 Author Share Posted April 17, 2012 They did announce (yes on Twitter) a couple of days ago that they were running a spring fashion promotion in the destination guide with 20 top fashion merchants. The time period for fashion though was the 40s to the 60s. Not sure why the time periods would overlap but not match up though. As an aside, not sure which department gets to be responsible for changing "See a daily sample of highlighted items from XStreet SL.". in the main website shopping menu for featured items. We call this Marketplace now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sera Lok Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 i look forward to a ton of content marked "madstyle" that has nothing at all to do with the promo but is just marked that way to try to garner attention. yay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kampu Oyen Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 I have specifically encouraged people to use the keyword "madstyle" for any product that is underperforming, but I have also asked people to report what proportion of those keyworded products actually turn up on a keyword search for "madstyle" after a few days. Preliminary reports are consistent with a greater than 50% failure rate for this keyword as a search word. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madeliefste Oh Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 Kampu Oyen wrote: I have specifically encouraged people to use the keyword "madstyle" for any product that is underperforming Why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dartagan Shepherd Posted April 17, 2012 Author Share Posted April 17, 2012 Sera Lok wrote: i look forward to a ton of content marked "madstyle" that has nothing at all to do with the promo but is just marked that way to try to garner attention. yay. I can see that being an issue, especially with the one post above. Would like to see Madeliefste get an answer on why, though. Although if that's true that some listings are showing with the keyword and some aren't, they should probably know about it and fix or cancel the promotion. It's already asking merchants to make unrelated products during a buggy migration, not wise at this point to do that if the listings won't be showing properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polenth Yue Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 Looking at what's already tagged, very little has a 60s vibe. Though given that the Linden description of the 60s doesn't mention things people usually associate with 60s design (like minidresses and psychedelic colours), maybe the tagged stuff is what they wanted. Who knows. I've just tagged anything rainbow coloured. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kampu Oyen Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 >Why? Because everyone else's underperforming products are just as deserving to get a boost from it; not just Tiny psychedelic bear avatars that haven't yet learned how to roast a marshmallow (or have they?) OTOH, it now occurs to me that if "madstyle" is subjective "NOT madstyle" must be equally subjective; meaning, this event may be a great opportunity for Lindens to permanently delist items competing with their own alts' products, at least if the competing products somehow happen to get flagged as spamming with the "madstyle" keyword. Of course, not using the "madstyle" keyword at all also entails certain risks. @ Polenth Yue >Though given that the Linden description of the 60s doesn't mention things people usually associate with 60s design It's almost as if the person who came up with this is either too young to remember 1st wave 60's nostalgia, and/or they grew up in some place where media was controlled in such a way that a normal conception of the 60's (regardless of historical accuracy) would never be formed. Bolivia? Mongolia? Rwanda? Texas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcus Hancroft Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 I'm assuming now that the "madstyle" keyword is only to be used for clothing. I had two prefabs that I thought were perfect for it and they got removed for keyword spam. OK. Fine. I took off the "madstyle" keyword. It was only made for clothing designers anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle Lebed Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 I have a Mad Men inspired office scene in my HUD that fits the bill perfectly. I'm sure it will be removed soon though as it's not attire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kampu Oyen Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 I'm looking at the banner now. The 60's sure look like the 90's, huh. Maybe they meant 90's? Maybe it's dyslexia. Maybe they also meant "WAD style". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dartagan Shepherd Posted April 17, 2012 Author Share Posted April 17, 2012 Marcus Hancroft wrote: I'm assuming now that the "madstyle" keyword is only to be used for clothing. I had two prefabs that I thought were perfect for it and they got removed for keyword spam. OK. Fine. I took off the "madstyle" keyword. It was only made for clothing designers anyway. That figures. Kind of what I was eluding to. A whopping sentence about the details (aside from being a bad time), meant that it was bound to result in some merchants either wasting time making new product, or some bits of nonsense in what gets listed due to some vague concept. Ah well, it's about boosting those commissions that I'm sure dipped during this mess and milking overall sales rather than a solid promotion. Hopefully some folks will make something extra off of it. Some will see less sales. Not sure what this tact of trying to cash in on popular media is though, from vamps to this. Granted IMVU makes a business of it, but LL seems to specialize in small time thinking. They've already got an enormous amount of product and themes to promote, which means you don't have to coast off of others. It is funny watching them dance around their own policy and liability of not selling established brands and property. Can't say Twilight and friends but we can say vampires for instance. "It's your professionalism that I respect." -- Little Shop of Horrors Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kampu Oyen Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 >Can't say Twilight and friends but we can say vampires for instance. I forget.... did they already do cartoon pirates? (yes, I AM offering that idea for free) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madeliefste Oh Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 Kampu Oyen wrote: >Why? Because everyone else's underperforming products are just as deserving to get a boost from it; not just Tiny psychedelic bear avatars that haven't yet learned how to roast a marshmallow (or have they?) And customers, do they deserve it as well to see everyones underperforming products, while they are actually looking for something from the sixties? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kampu Oyen Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 >And customers, do they deserve it as well to see everyones underperforming products, while they are actually looking for something from the sixties? They deserve to have the green bear off the screen, finally. So things are at least better than last week in that way. They are being spammed either way, though. Nothing was preventing them from searching the keyword "60's" until just recently, and they can still search that. "Madstyle" is not about making it easier for people to find 60's products, as such. "Madstyle" is about making it more likely for people to see product offered by specific merchants who were well aware of this promotion before it was announced to marketplace merchants. If that's not the whole reason why Lindens are holding unpublicized meetings with merchants in-world, the minutes of which are off-limits to non-participants, then what, really, can possibly be the point of such meetings? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madeliefste Oh Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 My question is not about the what Lindens do or don't, or what conspiricay of theory you have about the whole idea of madstyle, my question is about customers. I looks to me as if you don't care at all what kind of shopping experience your customers have, as long as you can get a cheap ride for your underperforming products. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dartagan Shepherd Posted April 18, 2012 Author Share Posted April 18, 2012 Well yes, there is a certain amount of perks. Destination guide merchants were hand picked, the beta team and any other closed groups probably did have advance notice. This isn't necessarily an evil. There are also other reasons for the promotions such as the content itself being a commodity to SL. If they want content that appeals to popular trends and media, they're going to try to get people to create those things. Just the act of promoting something will have people trying to create content that fits, whether you actually ask merchants to build it or not. It stuffs search engines (with virtual things people aren't looking for, a practice they'd rather not have their users do on their own property) and social media. Of course that's where being a trained monkey comes to mind, with these newer attempts at marketing. They only need new trend based content as commodity because they're not doing the real work involved that would draw in and hook customers. What also comes to mind for all this effort is: Mad Men? This is your big marketing idea? Don't quit your day job. In contrast, the average merchant does circles around LL in terms of working product, support, promotion, hours invested, passion, etc. By asking people to stuff listings with the wrong keyword you're essentially saying that the way to fix the problem with LL is to stoop down to LL's level of business with shoddy product that doesn't fit what customers are looking for. Not the best strategy, really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zanara Zenovka Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 Dartagan Shepherd wrote: Of course that's where being a trained monkey comes to mind, with these newer attempts at marketing. They only need new trend based content as commodity because they're not doing the real work involved that would draw in and hook customers. What also comes to mind for all this effort is: Mad Men? This is your big marketing idea? Don't quit your day job. Yay for knowing your market - imagine if Steam started trying to sell dishwashers instead of games I keep getting this image of undergrad slackers lying in front of TV putting off work til the last minute - "Blah we need a new marketing campaign for tomorrow....oh look..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argus Collingwood Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 Polenth Yue wrote: Looking at what's already tagged, very little has a 60s vibe. Though given that the Linden description of the 60s doesn't mention things people usually associate with 60s design (like minidresses and psychedelic colours), maybe the tagged stuff is what they wanted. Who knows. I've just tagged anything rainbow coloured. Rainbows and Paisley here;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kampu Oyen Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 >My question is not about the what Lindens do or don't, or what conspiricay of theory you have about the whole idea of madstyle, my question is about customers. As I have said, the customers have always been able to search for the keyword "60's", and they still can. Have you tried it? >I looks to me as if you don't care at all what kind of shopping experience your customers have, as long as you can get a cheap ride for your underperforming products. I haven't asked anyone to add the keyword "60's". Thus, I have done nothing to disrupt customers' continuing ability to search for pertinent items. As for people getting free rides for their products, what do you think the preferred merchants are doing? What I've done is to suggest to other merchants that the preferred merchants shouldn't be allowed to exercise a planned monopoly on a keyword function which LL, itself, is using to spam the whole market. Do you favor monopolies? Why do you favor them? Surely the customers can help sort out what is "madstyle" and what isn't. No? Why deprive them of the opportunity to do so by refraining from listing items which they, as consumers, might deem appropriate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kampu Oyen Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 >This isn't necessarily an evil. People are cut out of the process if the planning portion is by secret invitation only. That may be LL's right, but it's inconsistent with the philosophy they otherwise publicly espouse. > Just the act of promoting something will have people trying to create content that fits, whether you actually ask merchants to build it or not. I don't have a problem with that. I have a problem with giving clear advanced notice to corporate lapdogs and making a vague public announcement to everyone else only at some nominal interval before the banner is deployed. >Of course that's where being a trained monkey comes to mind, with these newer attempts at marketing. They only need new trend based content as commodity because they're not doing the real work involved that would draw in and hook customers. Whether it's profoundly stupid in conception and whether it transparently rewards unfair forms of competition, I see as very separate problems. We'd be better not to confuse these things. The only connection I can see is that I don't think rewarding unfair competition is good for total consumer utility because it limits the mind pool for mass promotions and results in half-baked projects going to print, so I would also expect a negative net impact on demand for the total service package, ceteris paribus. > What also comes to mind for all this effort is: Mad Men? That OR this, maybe: http://www.nick.com/madstylefashions/ Or this: http://mad-style.livejournal.com/ Or this: http://www.mad-bags.com/ Or this: http://www.facebook.com/pages/MAD-style/115246278540626 Or this: http://www.myspace.com/madstylesound Or... you get the idea. There are already so many other legal entities stepping on each other's toes with this keyword, that they'll all have to explain why they haven't sued each other first before getting to LL. By the time any of them actually does anything to someone else, the marketplace promotion will be long over, and the banner will show robots or dinosaurs or something. Maybe robot dinosaurs? >In contrast, the average merchant does circles around LL in terms of working product, support, promotion, hours invested, passion, etc. Of course. If the minimum criterion of getting paid just not to break sh1t doesn't even apply at LL, why should they even bother to actually make any informed or reasoned decision about anything as comparatively removed in importance, such as how to help merchants generate more commissions or want to buy more listing enhancements? >By asking people to stuff listings with the wrong keyword you're essentially saying that the way to fix the problem with LL is to stoop down to LL's level of business with shoddy product that doesn't fit what customers are looking for. An important difference being, of course, that I'm not telling merchants to offer defective product, charge double for it, and then withhold refund for any part of the transaction. You seem to be saying that it's not abusive to show me a bunch of cr@p I'm totally disinterested in buying, as long as someone has paid to show it to me. Is that right? The preferred merchants are getting a free banner for products they've already had lined up for the banner; products that customers should already be able to find just by searching for "60's". I'm saying that preferred merchants don't get a monopoly on the banner just because they were actively prepared in advance by LL to exploit the thing in ways that other people are somehow expected not to also try to do. Nobody asked me what kind of promotion I thought would be helpful. Because I'm not an example of a successful merchant? OK. Which comes first - the chicken or the egg? As long as LL entertains only the ideas of the most successful merchants, LL will be constaining the potential of others to succeed, because the promotions will invariably provide competitive advantage to those who suggest them. A good idea (for LL) might never be able to squeeze through if it doesn't match the collective personal agendas of the established pool of favored merchants. Here's a thought - if SL is already having some economic problems that affect LL profitability by always asking the same people what to promote (and how), maybe they could, for once, ask someone different and see if maybe it doesn't go any worse. And if it somehow happened to go better, that might be interesting. Wouldn't it? >Not the best strategy, really. It is at least different from what is already being tried by the Lindens and is already failing to solve their most basic problems. So - to the Lindens: "you're welcome". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madeliefste Oh Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 Kampu Oyen wrote: What I've done is to suggest to other merchants that the preferred merchants shouldn't be allowed to exercise a planned monopoly on a keyword function which LL, itself, is using to spam the whole market. What you have done is suggest to other merchants to is to use this LL promotion for getting visibility for their underperforming items. You stimulate them to abuse the promotion. This will lead to irritation of customers who do want to shop with this LL choosen keyword. I looks like you find it more important to get some sand in the LL machine, than to give your customers a pleasant shopping experience. By the way; why are you posting with this alt, Josh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pamela Galli Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 Madeliefste Oh wrote: Kampu Oyen wrote: What I've done is to suggest to other merchants that the preferred merchants shouldn't be allowed to exercise a planned monopoly on a keyword function which LL, itself, is using to spam the whole market. By the way; why are you posting with this alt, Josh? Once upon a time, in a land far far away, someone got banned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
YouTube
Flickr
Recommended Posts
Please take a moment to consider if this thread is worth bumping.
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now