I will start this assignment providing a brief description of the situation for all those bloggers, and I hope there are as many as I can imagine, that are non IMBA readers and are not part of Professor Enrique Dans’s Information Systems course.
Here is the situation: Delphine, product manager for Vichy´s French subsidiary had to present public apologies to her clients for the false blog created due to the launching a new anti-aging cosmetic product. They created a fake character named Claire, who lamented her advancing years and wanted to talk to people that share her same worries about her skin´s freshness. Now, the decision is whether Vichy should use a blog for this commercial purpose.
The decision to create the character of Claire was intended to be part of a marketing program with the purpose of creating a strong emotional bond with customers. This is what companies usually do, they want to get closer to their customers and create loyalty. But in this case, Vichy certainly achieved the opposite, bloggers started to doubt about Delphine´s real existence, and hence, the source of information, meaning Vichy.
The modern world provides us with interesting tools, mostly related to technology. Some companies take advantage of them, others just ignore or underestimate their benefits, and there are also those who overexploit the concept. I remember when I was at high school; I faced the boosting of E-Business. I could see e-enterprises everywhere. This was certainly a tool to exploit, a new way to get in touch with customers. From my point of view, the problem was that costumers got exhausted from this huge information flow, sometimes, without knowing the real purpose of the web platform. I remember a web page from a major bank in Peru; they wanted to act as an e bay platform. In one year, they realized that they had to focus on their core business, and not follow a trend just because it was “in”.
I am not trying to give morality lessons to Vichy as a blogger, I don’t know much about blogging. Actually, I just created my blog yesterday, and I am just discovering this fascinating world. Blog or not to blog, I will just use my common sense, not biased by my weak knowledge of technology, in which I am not certainly being an active actor by now. The case is not fully clear on Vichy´s blog aim. If we want to approach clients, we can still use the traditional marketing tools. Why the necessity of a blog? Is it because it is fashion? Or is it because the competitors are using it? The purpose of using a blog should be clear. Is the company prepared for it? If I were Delphine my final response would be the “depend on” answer. Doing a blog without knowing the real goal of it, could have a negative impact on customers. Moreover, if the company does not adapt itself to a new and different way to communicate with clients, they better stay with traditional tools. The problem they will face, for sure, will be not addressing potential clients that are “heavy blogger users”, or maybe loosing clients that are being attracted by competitors using blogs properly.
