Just read about a new blog, TheLobby, that was created by Starwood Hotels and ElectricArtists. It is a really good example of a marketer creating an environment where its target audience can congregate and be exposed to the brand.
What is interesting to me about this is that they approached a group of existing bloggers and are poaching posts from them to include in the site. I guess this isn't new, but it is the first time that I have really sat back and thought about this business model.
Basically, they hired an editor, a few writers and created a syndication relationship with Gawker Media's Gridskipper, Daily Candy Travel, Travel and Leisure Magazine and a few others. They pull posts that relates to the psychographic interests of the Starwood Preferred Guest audience and then post them as their own.
Starwood is probably not paying for this content because bloggers are still in real need of traffic. If they are paying, it shouldn't be very much. The story is probably more of a, "we'll promote your blog by featuring it in ours and you, Mr blogger, benefit because of the increased exposure," type of relationship.
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