Marketing the way the internet works - or why I hate OT
Wednesday, April 16th, 2008During the 30 Day Challenge, Ed Dale was fond of comparing internet marketing to American Idol. The theory is simply that the aim of American Idol is to sell the audience the record that they want to buy and to do that the audience votes each week to knock one contestant out.
This whole idea originated - I believe - in Spain with Operacion Triunfo some 6 years ago or so, and at least one singer from that first series went on to great things. Although he didn’t win, David Bisbal won at least one Grammy a few years ago.
However, it is interesting to watch both American Idol on UK television and Operacion on Spanish TV at the moment. While American Idol is nice and slick and lasts a maximum of 90 minutes, Operacion Triunfo is a bloated monster. To continue the internet marketing analogy, if American Idol is marketing the way Ed Dale tells us in the 30 Day Challenge, Operacion Triunfo is one of the spammiest sites going, with poor content and popups all over the place.