Transparency

Have you heard of Royal Caribbean’s Royal Champions program? The marketing program allegedly rewarded forum posters who posted positive reviews about Royal Caribbean on popular social sites including Cruise Critic and TripAdvisor.

The online marketing company I work for, Terralever, had an opportunity to comment on a follow-up to original story which was posted on msnbc.com’s site titled Does cruise line’s viral campaign cross the line? Here’s an excerpt from that article:

By utilizing a “complex formula of data mining,” the cruise line selected 50 individuals based on the “quality and quantity of their posts with many having over 10,000 message board posts on various Royal Caribbean topics,” the Consumer Insights Group article said. The majority of posts were found on Cruise Critic. After individuals were chosen for the program, their posts were “carefully monitored during events and on a regular basis to ensure that posts remain positive and frequent.”

The post also states that Royal Champions were rewarded with all-expense paid pre-inaugural sailings along with invites to events and cocktail parties hosted by Royal Caribbean executives.

Based on the aforementioned information (and some time on the Cruise Critic forums) I provided a response which appears in a follow-up article that was posted to the msnbc.com website on Monday (Marketing campaign sinks Cruise Critic).  Here’s an excerpt with my quote included:

“The two hallmarks of social media are authenticity and transparency. It would appear that Royal Caribbean had a breakdown on both of these fronts,” says Jonathan Heit, senior vice president of digital media for Allison & Partners, which has implemented digital strategies for brands ranging from Philosophy to the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas.

“What’s curious is why Royal Caribbean would even walk this line,” says Scott McAndrew, director of strategy at Terralever. McAndrew says Royal Caribbean has a good brand reputation and a loyal and vocal fan before starting the program.

“In trying to shortcut the natural progress from brand exposure, to brand adoption and finally advocacy, Royal Caribbean now faces a far worse problem,” he adds. “All the wholehearted, genuine reviews of their brand and service that are positive run the risk of being eyed with a jaded view. Is this a real review, or is this one they bought?”

What do you think?  If you read posts by a compensated advocate of a brand in a social context online, would you feel slighted?

Photograph by J.L. McVay

Elsewhere on the web

• Invasion of the Marketers – How to Deal with Paid Promoters in your Community
• Royal Caribbean goes all big brother
• Other cruise lines: We wouldn’t do what Royal Caribbean did

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