![]() The Gifts Diminish Trust in the Reviewers A broad range of ethical issues emerged from the surrounding discussions in the blogosphere. Many of the recipients reacted to the gift by sharing the news of the promotion and their opinions about it. Culturally, bloggers are a highly influential group of people with strong opinions, which they share openly to a wide audience. Sending the gift to bloggers was a risky marketing tactic even without the ethical question. Did they also hope to influence the bloggers’ opinions of the company along the way? Ĭlearly, Microsoft was hoping to encourage reviews of Vista and wanted to make sure that the bloggers experienced Vista on a high-end machine that would optimize performance. A few of the drivers aren’t quite final, but are very close. And if you run into any problems let me know. Just let me know what you plan to do with it when the time comes. ![]() Also, you are welcome to send the machine back to us after you are done playing with it, or you can give it away to your community, or you can hold on to it for as long as you’d like. Full disclosure, while I hope you will blog about your experience with the PC, you don’t have to. This would be a review machine, so I’d love to hear your opinion on the machine and OS. Michael Arrington, editor of TechCrunch, shared the message that accompanied his gift: During the 2006 Christmas season, Microsoft sent out ninety Acer Ferrari laptops, loaded with Windows Vista Operating system, to approximately ninety influential bloggers.ĭifferent bloggers received different machines, but the lowest model was worth around two thousand dollars. When Microsoft introduced its Vista operating system, the launch included a noteworthy promotion. Case Study: Microsoft’s “Gift” to Bloggers Let’s examine one of Microsoft’s promotions that included a gift. In considering appropriate business gifts it is helpful to think about the content of the gift, the context of the gift, and the culture in which it will be received. For this reason, gifts and bribes warrant a deeper discussion, especially with regard to B2B marketing. In global marketing it becomes one of the most challenging ethical issues, since the cultural norms in other countries can be at odds with standard ethical practices in the United States. Making good decisions about when business gifts are appropriate is extremely complex in the United States. As a quid pro quo-returning a favor or expecting a favor in return for something.In the hopes of creating a positive first impression that might help to establish an initial business relationship.In appreciation for past client relationships, placing a new order, referrals to other clients, etc. ![]() Such gifting is usually practiced for the following reasons: Business gifts are usually seen as an advertising, sales-promotion, and marketing-communication medium. Gift giving in business is commonplace and contentious at the same time. ![]()
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