The Kinds of Products I Want to Touch in 2009

January 6, 2009 · Comments

PreVegas I’m leaving for Las Vegas today to attend CES as Panasonic’s guest. (I’ll look like the guy in the picture to the left.) While I’m there, they’ll let me play with their dSLR camera, their Flip-like video camera, and some kind of nicer camera. I’m not obligated to write about the products. They haven’t actually asked me to do anything specific except to show up to a few presentations of theirs (seems fair to me). But I’m excited. Why? Because they’re reaching out to people and looking for different voices to talk about their stuff. (Crayon helped them do this.)

I was thinking about it, and started thinking about what 2009 will bring. I figured I’d write up the kinds of things that might interest me, and see what comes of it. Maybe nothing. But to me, part of the future of marketing and business communications is building relationships with small groups and turning from stiff advertising to conversations about products and services. As with all things, it’s a matter of context, but we’ll get into that.

Over 2008, I was fortunate to participate in a bunch of product evaluation moments. The folks at Nikon sent me a D60 to mess around with for a few months. Garmin lent me a Nuvi 200. Flip Video gave me a Mino camera. In software, I’ve been able to try out BatchBook, FreshBooks, and some others. I was even sent some gourmet food to review. It was all a blast.

Why I Like Reviewing Products

I love the idea of having an uncensored voice touching your product or service and reporting on it in your own way. For instance, when I tried out eBillme, my December sponsor’s product, I found that it could use improvement. Nothing rude or angry, but I thought it was a great idea that could use improvement.

Critics of my Kmart experience seemed to latch on to the fact that I wasn’t mean enough about Kmart. They felt it was inauthentic. Go back about 100 posts and tell me how many times I seem angry or complaining. It’s pretty damned authentic to who I am.

To me, having bloggers and others review products is a chance for a much more realistic experience and an opportunity for me to bring back my ideas to my community.

The Products I Want to Review in 2009

  • Books. I get books to review and I love it. I like business books, marketing books, nonfiction books in the “thinkers” kind of space like Gladwell and the Heath brothers. I love reading books, mentioning the good ones on my blog, and I also give them out at conferences (and as I’m attending or running around 50 events this year, I’ll be in contact with lots of folks).
  • Simple products. The Flip Video Mino was my favorite product of 2008. I believe it changed the way people think about video. Yes, your still cam does video. Yes, you have a great video camcorder. This thing is so easy.
  • Innovative products. I already have an iPhone. Just because your phone has a touch screen doesn’t mean you’ve innovated. Saw that. What’s next?
  • Location-aware products. I never had a Chumby, but though it seemed neato for having wifi, I’d love something approaching a Bruce Sterling blobject. GPS apps and location apps for iPhone interest me. Also, have you seen Snaptell? That’s clever.
  • Products to improve a dad’s life. Paisano and I have over 70 dads at Dad-o-Matic who would love to give you a dad’s eye view on products for kids or for dads. Hell, send us beer. We’ll review it as a tranquilizer.
  • Something looking for a new life. I recently started drinking Canadian Club whiskey. Know why? Because of their print ad campaign and how they ported it into Facebook. They had a very simple app that let you throw a picture of yourself into their “Damn Right Your Dad Drank It” campaign, and I thought it was fun. That’s an old brand. I like the idea of seeing how some of those will play.
  • TRAVEL PRODUCTS AND SERVICES. I’m traveling more in 2009 than I ever have before. Lots of planes, hotels, rental cars, restaurants, and other touchpoints. If you’re doing something interesting in that world, I’d love to hear about it. For instance, something as simple as a free bottle of water turned me on to the Sheraton Four Points hotel chain. Since that blog post, I’ve stayed at five other Sheratons, on purpose. So, something in travel would be really fun.
  • Food. I enjoyed the Personal Chef to Go experience, and I’ve since received a few other things that were fun. I’m not exactly your best bet for a foodie (I’d recommend Justin Levy for meat, or Grace Piper for fun projects. But hey, I eat.
  • Fitness products. I’m getting back in shape. I’ve been going to the gym steadily, and I plan to get back into trail running. If you’re doing something fun in that space, or something innovative, or something for a fat guy getting back into it, and you think it might appeal to my audience, let’s talk about it.

Does This Even Relate to [chrisbrogan.com]?

Product reviews isn’t why you come to [chrisbrogan.com], and it’s not my point to turn this site into a review space. However, what I like is that you (yes, you) all represent products and services in various spaces, and that because you come here, I get to know a little bit more about your worlds. I learn from Rachel Reuben about higher education. I learn from Gina Kay Landis about realty. I learn from Steve Garfield about the future of journalism. I learn from Ferg about Molson beer.

So it’s not exactly about the reviews and the products, which are fun, but it is about interacting and learning and sharing and trying new things. It is about sharing parts of our life that aren’t blogs and keyboards and words about words. And as I said above, it’s just fun. Trying out things and finding ways to talk about them in any kind of meaningful way is fun.

What do you think? Have you had the chance to review things before? Are you a company that’s experimented with bloggers in any of these ways? What do you think the advertising/marketing paradigm does when it collides with blogs?

This is one in a series of posts over 2009 that will talk about content marketing and its implementation in social media. I’m still thinking of a clever name for this. More later.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader.

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  • I think it's a natural progression, Chris. It takes only one or two trusted friends to convince me to see a movie, read a book, or buy an appliance, while a beaucoup buck print or tv ad leaves me skeptical. I await your "Transparent Doesn't Mean I'm Not Here" guide to product reviewing. Have a perfect trip to LV.
    Aloha,
    Barbara
  • Since you sleep negative 3 or 4 hours every night it makes sense for you to incorporate more reviews into your site! I've long wanted to add more reviews to Technotheory, but in writing a few this year for Lifehacker I found that I spent hours and hours trying to be fair and thorough (testing + research + writing) and that it wouldn't be scalable to deliver those types of reviews regularly for my own site.

    So for me it came down to time. But you already cover a diversity of topics and seem to invent time out of thin air. And your reviews are more focused around your general opinion than the kind of thing of depth we'd expect at Ars Technica (i.e., your posts aren't super duper long). So your style may lend itself well. If so, bring it on!
  • Research is a big part of the ad world. I can't think of a better way to figure out how you should go about marketing a product than good old fashioned hands on feedback from people who will use it. Who knows, designers may discover that they created a unique attribute about their gadget on accident. Product reviews fit with your blog/twitter themes as well. We need to be better about asking people what they think instead of guessing. This will make our campaigns more effective.
  • Darren over at Pro Blogger was talking about being number one and expending so to speak your blog catchment. It makes perfect sense and sounds fun. I could give a review on the Flip Cam myself.

    Good Stuff; I always just read in reader... decided to comment today!
  • I like the reviews. We need a trusted source with the same point of view as so many of us doing the things that we do. I like it.
  • I answered an ad on Craigslist last summer looking for "Brand Angels" to try and blog/tweet/otherwise spread the word about a new cloud computer. They requested applications; the qualifications they were looking for were basically how connected you were in different online social spheres and I guess your ability to communicate well/in an authentic style. I was one of the 100 Brand Angels they picked and was super psyched to receive my free "green" pc--touted as smaller than a paperback book, using only the tiniest amount of energy, the next big thing, etc.

    Long story short--big drama ensued--I won't bog down your comment section but if anyone's interested in reading about it I blogged about it.
    (hope that html worked; if not, sorry for the mess!) That post speaks to your question about companies using bloggers or social media evangelists to spread the word about products, and the good/bad of the idea.

    My fondest wishes for free products to blog about: a Kindle and free movie tickets!
  • I agree with the books. Gadgets are certainly the most exciting at first, but books often provide a formula for new ideas and innovation. I've gained so many ideas from just thumbing through an interesting read. Much of my blog was built upon that knowledge
  • At Agent Genius, Benn & I seek out products (we've done over 100 now) that we like and do a pro/con review of them so that people in the real estate space are able to stretch their dollars and not waste money on crap (and trust me, in real estate, *crap* is a common marketing tool offered for sale). You will always have naysayers that freak out and call you a shill if you even mention a product, but we've found that most people are extremely grateful to not have to try out every single product themselves and waste money in the process. Other good that has come out of it: we've helped many businesses create better products as we work hands-on with them over the phone and offline, not just through reviews.

    Good on ya, Chris- looking forward to your reviews!
  • I think its great that companies give you new toys to play with and then you go and write an honest blog about what you think. I think it says a lot about the company itself. They are willing to listen to their customers and are not afraid of some criticism. I'm sure there are a lot of companies out there that would be horrified with this concept. They might be afraid that their weaknesses will get exposed. These are probably the same companies that aren't embracing social media as a whole. Even if companies aren't putting themselves out there on the web, they should know that we are going to talk about them here anyway. Shouldn't they want to listen? Listening to your customers is the best way to improve and give consumers what they want. If we don't want it, we aren't going to buy it.
  • Yep, like the blog and it seems authentic. as usual. Have been in the outdoor recreational space for 20+ years and products are still the way to a company's soul. Have worked for many of the major players...The North Face, Patagonia, Rossignol, etc. and all, in the end, are gauged by the quality of the product line and product experience of the consumer. They fuel the collective brand voice.

    So, your approach is like grabbing the handle of an ax. You'll soon know the quality of the ax, and it's maker.
  • The way you test a product is especially interesting to me. For instance, you pop the Flip Video Mino in and out of your pocket like a pen - then you show this great video you created in a snow storm. You don't "TEST" a product in the classic sense of the word, you see how it fits into your life style. You are very vocal about products you like, but almost silent about things you don't like or can't work into your daily life. You are doing a great job and I look forward to learning about more cool things/toys/books/ideas in 2009.
  • Your article has perked my interest. I am always looking for interesting things to read, and sometimes it's nice to move away from the internet itself, from social media talk, and use the media to talk about other stuff.

    I shall be watching this space during 2009.
  • Chris, I like your perspective on reviews. Honest, open, real feedback. I would enjoy taking you up on that - I have a book coming out, due to be delivered in a few weeks, and I would be honoured to send you a copy of it to read. If you think it's worthy of mention, great, if you think it's great or terrible, let's hear it.

    Interested?
  • Do you ever travel to Spanish speaking destinations? I'd be ahppy to send you a copy of my award-winning easy Spanish book for travelers or my book to help medical personnel communicate with Spanish-speaking patients. My website is http://www.ahorahablo.com

    Meg Graham
  • Chris -

    I agree with you that reviewing products can be satisfying and informative to others. I find that I prefer to read about products from people who actually use them and then write honestly about the good and bad of the product, especially when those people have some credibility and are not simply shills for a certain product. There are lot of sites that review products/books etc. that to me seem a little shall we say "orchestrated" or where the reviews are manipulated.

    So who am I more likely to listen to someone that I have been following or a comment by a stranger...no question about it. I look forward to some honest reviews regarding some product or books that I could be interested in, but don't neglect the fantastic information that you continue provide to your readers about blogging, as a new reader I am trying to find the time to go through your archives, but haven't had a chance yet.

    By the way the most popular blog that I ever wrote and is still... was my review about my HP Papivilion tx2510 Tablet PC that I wrote last June. If you are interested http://hshawjr007.blogspot.com/2008/08/hp-pavil...

    Harold
  • I think when advertising/marketing collides with blogging you get a more authentic, meaningful interaction with the product. Consumers today aren't looking for just a quality product anymore, but an entire positive experience to go with it. Blogging helps that.

    PS - I'm going to start work at Alice.com in about two weeks, and I'll be sure to have you review us. The company is right up your alley :)
  • A former client of mine, Tele Atlas, does this really cool thing. It's called the LBS (Location-Based Services) Innovator Series. They challenge developers in the GPS world to create new mapping applications and award the winners with cash prizes to fund their efforts. One of last year's winners was making an app that identified products you shot with your iPhone to let you know where you can buy it. Not sure if that, specifically, turned into the Google app, which is pretty cool.
  • What about the Macbook without keyboard? Did you try it out?
  • Chris
    I only recently started reading you. (Sorry). An my comment is completely off-topic, but since I don’t ‘tweet’, I have taken the ‘old-fashioned’ option of commenting on a few of my favourite blogs (and you are on now the list :-) to engage in discussion about the question: what will change the world? The question was asked and answered by over 100 of the brightest on Edge.org (it is not a blog) so I have summarised their views on my blog. One answer is ‘social media literacy’ – and I wonder what you (and your readers) think?
    PS: It is off-topic for my blog, and I am not seeking traffic as my blog is not monetised etc.
  • Another interesting post, but they are expecting you to do something!

    <blockquote cite="Well, what happens in Vegas certainly won’t stay there this time. We’ve asked our guests to create lots of content and share it with their communities — so if you can’t be at CES in January, you’ll still get
    to witness the sights and sounds of the show through the eyes of our guests. Be sure to follow the gang on Twitter and subscribe to their feeds, because I’m sure they’ll be blogging, vlogging, podcasting and Tweeting like nobody’s business.">
    http://www.crayonville.com/blog/
  • Chris, I would assume that the companies ask some kind of metrics from you before blindly jumping on the bandwagon or do they just give you stuff and hope for the best? Obviously you've got a large audience, world wide, but I was just wondering about the technical detail of such a 'deal'.
  • Hey Chris...
    I'll also be at CES this year. Hopefully we can grab a few moments and catch up.
    Bill Gaffney
  • I do a Flaunt It! Monday series at http://eco-officegals.com where I do review/giveaway posts on green small businesses. I love trying the great green products, showcasing companies growing green and giving my readers the opportunity to win a green product they may not normally know exists. I haven't come across anything I hated or really even disliked, yet but I try to be honest and candid about the products I review and so far I have gotten nothing but compliments for them.
  • I am so totally doing a post like this! I got to review the Flip Ultra, and I love the thing, even if it is a bit temperamental at times.

    Have fun in Vegas! Well, not TOO much fun. ;-)
  • I love product reviews, especially from a trusted blogger who gives honest reviews. Products and services are part of life, so to my way of thinking, most blogs could do some type of product review.

    I look forward to reading more of them here, Chris.
  • Sounds as if you are trying to convince yourself of something you are not quite sure is right.
  • @Viral Marketer - I actually have a document that I provide that shows things people seem to care about with all the juicy numbers and stuff. You're right. People don't just hand out things willy nilly. Then again, I know lots of VERY influential people who have far less in numbers than me but far more in depth of influence. So, it's not always as easy as "how many eyeballs."

    @Jennifer - nope. I'm happy with what I laid out. I don't think blogs are churches.
  • Alexis
    We've done a lot of blogger outreach for product reviews with almost all of our clients - especially food and consumer tech. In particular, we have learned a lot with "mommy blogs" and many of them have become trusted and honest resources for our brands. It can be a struggle as a PR person to measure the success of such a program, but as traditional media continues to shift and evolve we have found that blogger reviews are just as influential, if not more so, than print media. It has been a fun learning experience to say the least.

    Good luck in Sin City!
  • I am a big fan of the Flip Video and SnapTell as well!
  • Chris, at what point does a blog become advertorial? I think that a foundational element of social media is the pull of attraction, not the push of marketing. People will buy what you buy, because they want to do what you do as they see your success.
    So, when you blog about products that you like, I assume that the only way you don't fall off the marketing cliff is when the content (review) intersects with your thought leadership in that area. Otherwise, your (or anyone else's) posts would become just another advertisement in the form of personal endorsement.
    Of course I want to know what your opinion is - that is the sharing that is basic to social media. But I find that many "reviews" these days need to go beyond "I like it - it's cool", sinking into the obvious advertorial review. Your thoughts?
  • Great post (typed the fliplover. I was an early adopter with this one and havent looked back. now I want the high def).
    I am frequently pitched to test products and really enjoy doing it (the companies? I think they like it but Im always very honest. new in 2009 @ mizfit is my seal of approval for things I adore and which pass a 5 pt test. do you do that?)...if you wanna test new fitness things I have a few companies to send your way ;)
  • This has been one of my least favorite posts of yours ever. Seems like a total product placement post - send me this, send me that.
    My sense is that the country's economy, and the global economy is in a free-fall right now, and that we may never return to the world of consumption we just left. Which, might not be a terrible thing, if we can figure out something better to replace it with. I love that you stress relationships with people - that you encourage people to come up to you at conferences, great. but hawking a new video this or an object that? seems like you're trying to save capitalism. Which I'm not sure is possible.
    Anyway, sorry to sound so bitter - so much of what you write is interesting, the constant product placement, I can do without.
  • Chris,

    Really enjoyed this post. My belief is that the way products will gain popularity moving forward is to have influencers like yourself try them out. The really good products will grow in popularity due to the viral nature of social media and those with a large following have the best chance to spread the word quickly.

    I look forward to reading more reviews and trying out the products that apply to my business and personal life.

    Thanks for sharing and keep up the great work!
  • Nicole Bryant
    I enjoy reading your product reviews and feel that they are an interesting change from your focus upon social media. Also, you introduce me to new products and services that I would never have thought about without this spark of inspiration. Keep up the good work!

    ~Nicole
  • I've been "touring" your site and enjoying your posts and product reviews. Before I tear myself away for today, just wanted to suggest that if you want to review some great travel products check out the awesome array at http://www.tombihn.com. Based in Seattle, Bihn carries uber-functional laptop and messenger bags as well as backpacks, purses and travel gear.

    Thanks for all your advice!
    Karen
  • Chris,

    Ah, we traded a few barbs over Kmart, and I still think paid posts go too far -- beyond ad placement to manipulating opinion. The only *motive* Panasonic has for paying for your CES trip is to get your 165,000 monthly readers to hear favorable things about Panasonic. Mission accomplished.

    However you are correct that blogs are not churches, and I can see how the topics you write about for payment are often related to your core mission of exploring new social media business models. Perhaps the way out is for you to not only review the product being sponsored, but also 2-3 competitors' products in the same post. That way when you talk about how cool a GPS system or camera is, you balance it with information about its competitors -- providing MORE value to your readers while reducing any perception that you're just a paid spokesman. "Panasonic did X, and it compares to competitors Y and Z like this."

    Worth considering in 2009?

    Ben
  • Hi Chris,

    I am a avid follower and really enjoyed this post about products in 2009. I work for a marketing and PR firm and we are really trying to get the social media aspect of our firm up and running in an efficient way. Which is what turned be onto your blog.

    In your post you mentioned that you are looking for some travel products in 2009 and I might have something that would interest you.

    Periscope Book Light makes book lights that are within a leather book cover that stays with the book. They have also created one for the online sensation, Amazon Kindle.

    We have had several blogs review our products and think that it is a great way to get directly in touch with potential customers. If you would like to review a unit please let me know or visit www.periscopelight.com.

    Chris
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