Podcasting and Marketing Pitches

In "The New Influencers" by Paul Gillin, I have been reading about podcasting. Honestly, previous to my reading, I had very little knowledge on the subject. I had a general idea of what a podcast is, but I now have a better understanding. For example, I didn't know about all the different subjects of podcasting, or that Whirlpool has an "American Family" cast that has nothing to do with Whirlpool appliances! (Link to American Family podcast http://tinyurl.com/ygl7so7 ). I am now more interested in the world of podcasting thanks to the great examples and fun facts from Gillin.


As I my reading progressed, I found information about educating the customer, rather than preaching to the customer. Thinking about marketing flops on podcasts, my juvenile mind drifted to a show on Nickelodeon. The show in my mind is not a traditional podcast, it is actually a video cast.


iCarly is the mystery program I am thinking of. More specifically, I am thinking of an episode where the iCarly gang is approached by a company to promote shoes. The group of kids agrees, signs a contract, and gets paid as well as free shoes, of course. The night that the promotion happens, everything goes fine and iCarly viewers go ahead and buy the shoes. Here's a link to that clip http://www.icarly.com/iVideo/index.html#vid1441


Later, though, the group of kids discovers that TechFoots (the shoes) are terrible pieces of technology. Viewers quickly point out the same feelings toward the shoes. Being loyal to their viewers, the iCarly gang creates an episode that exposes the poor quality of the shoes. The episode script is careful not to violate the contract with TechFoot and mostly uses sarcasm and satire to bash the shoes. Here is an "after" clip http://www.icarly.com/iVideo/index.html#vid1439


While this example is not a serious one and is fictional, I believe that what happened on iCarly is realistic. The company that wanted endorsements was paying the cast to promote a new product rather than letting the casters experience the shoes for themselves and talking about them casually. Later, iCarly followers discover the bad quality of the shoes and revolt, much like real bloggers and podcast followers would do. Then, the cast of iCarly decides to be loyal to it's viewers and creates a response. To me, this kid's show gives a good example of transparency, my favorite reality of the blogosphere and apparently, podcasting.