We call them generation free, a blogging generation used to getting everything for free, from Champagne-laden store opening parties to trips and luxury goodie bags. In exchange brands get exposure in a post if they’re lucky, or at least the bloggers’ approval.
Last week something happened that shocked generation free. The invitation to the youth magazine Veckorevyn’s Blog Awards show landed in bloggers’ inboxes. But this year, something was wrong.
Many bloggers, not the ones in the very top end of course, got the above version of the invitation. Translated into English the words on the top of the page read “You have priority to buy tickets to Sweden’s biggest blog awards show!”. Buy? Buy?! Like… with money buy?!
The scandal was a fact. Veckorevyn had the AUDACITY to ask bloggers to PAY for tickets to the show. This did not sit well with generation free.
Now the war was on, and debate was running high. On one side, you could find people who thought that it was obvious that bloggers should pay, comparing the show with cinema experiences, pocket books and grocery stores.
On the other, you could find pro bloggers like Kenza considering letting some Mani (I hope it’s her pet) relieve him-/herself on her (non-pay) VIP-invitation.
Both sides are right of course. And wrong.
Of course it’s easy to agree with the “bloggers should pay”-side that a show like this one with a million or two (SEK) in budget cannot rely solely on sponsors to pay for everything, though I think you’ve been a bit lazy in your calculations. You can of course go even further and calculate accurately what kind of total profit margin Veckorevyn wants for their entire operation, and set up exactly and dynamically how much each invited blogger should pay to be admitted, taking into account what kind of PR-value each blog represents. This would mean that you would get a dynamic range from those who would pay a lot, to those who would pay a single dollar to those who would actually get paid to go. Then you would really have strong support for your rational argument. There is only one problem. This is NOT a rational problem.
For those of you who share my interest in game theory, you know that people do not act rationally in this type of situation. This is NOT a matter of the fee (200SEK≈$30) being a lot of money, or the event not being worth the money (these very same people spend 200SEK on latte and lipstick all the time). It’s a matter of psychological functions connected to ego and status, and a matter of how this event is defined. We know from experience that it’s easy to go from paid to free, but difficult to go the other way for any product. This event is defined by earlier events as not only free, but part of a category, promotional events, that has been, by definition, free for a long time.
I’m not saying that any side is right or wrong here. I really don’t care about that. What IS interesting is how people are trying to explain this with rational arguments. It’s like putting up a rational argument for why you should fall in love with you. People just don’t work that way.
So where did the above invitation end up after my little iPhone photo shoot? Well – I didn’t pee on it, but I’m with Kenza on this one. It’s just more fun that way. F#*!ck logic.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Rock on! /Eric
I actually consider the matter extremely rational in one (essential) aspect: Veckorevyn/Bonniers have obviously concluded that the outcome of the operations in 2008 and 2009 have been dissatisfying, regarding the money invested. The PR value is not worth the cash.
This leaves three options: Cutting the whole thing off, reducing the operation (and thereby the losses – as well as the impact), or maintaining it while trying to raise the revenues.
Veckorevyn clearly chose the latter, and whether it is the right thing to do or not is impossible to say (yet). The more important thing, though, is that the celebrated sponsor-funded business model seems to have failed. Again.
Precisely. The problem is that the elephant of emotion often triumphs over the rational rider. Come to think of it, I guess that this quirk of the human psyche is actually at the core of the business that I run.