The Nikon Blogger Outreach Program and Me
I’ve been pretty silent about it until now, but I was selected as one of the 50 bloggers to receive a Nikon D80 DSLR camera for a review period of six months. The camera arrived yesterday ( coincidentally on the same day as a scheduled Gastown Photowalk- photos below), and now I’m finally going public about my involvement.
I suppose it’s likely that I was chosen because of my photography hobby in part, but I assure you that nobody is expecting any photographic magic from me. It’s more likely that I was selected because I’ll take an active interest as much in the campaign as in the camera itself. Or maybe they just didn’t want the list too heavily stacked with talent 
.
I’ll go into my take on all of this in a second, but to avoid any confusion, here are the facts, as I understand them:
It’s possible that sending me a camera will make me go ga-ga and cause me to start singing the virtues of Nikon, sure. But that is why there is only one rule: that I disclose my involvement, so the reader can take my opinions and feedback with the proverbial grain of salt. This mandated transparency is what separates this campaign from many of the others that have been under fire for avoiding this extremely important factor. As always, it’s up to the readers as to whether anything that I write rings true for them, and as long as they have all the facts they can make an informed decision one way or another.
I suspect that the dissenters share this one in common with me; we both wish we’d thought of this campaign first. But whether I had been selected or not, I would agree that it is a great way to spread the word online and is perfectly legal and ethical. The only thing that is different in this case of this campaign is the middle man has been cut out. The middle man in this case being the MSM (main stream media).
This time, the consumers are having their say, and have been contacted directly for their opinion. This has rattled the feathers of a few PR types, mostly because the model that they’ve “always used” has been abandoned. After all, what kind of future is there for the PR industry if there’s no need to kowtow to the media anymore? We’ll have to address that one another day, but for an example of how to adapt, start reading this post again from the beginning.
Now that I have been completely up front about my involvement and my feelings about all of this, I can move on to why we’re here; the camera in question. But first, a few more short words about the campaign. The box arrived via courier, accompanied by a hand-written letter on Nikon letterhead from a Senior Director at MWW. In the letter, they offered to give me a walk through of the camera’s features at my convenience. Even if I were being extremely critical (which I often am of attempts at blogger outreach) I have yet to find fault with the way they’ve conducted themselves.
Now, the camera. As I mentioned, I am a bit of a hobbyist photographer, and I used to shoot sports on the weekends while still in high school and between semesters of college. Since getting a new Olympus Evolt E-500 for Christmas, I’ve been trying to relearn the art, this time in digital. So although I’m not completely uninformed, running out on a Photowalk with nary a clue as to how to use this new tool was an interesting adventure. I took a bunch of shots, and I published them in their unedited form, in a set made specifically for my involvement in the program (equal parts disclosure and evangelism). Check out my first attempts with the D80 on our Photowalk by clicking this image:
I will continue to disclose my involvement each time I blog about this subject, and the meta data on my Flickr photos is all the disclosure I feel is necessary as to what camera took what shots (including my webcam, we now have four cameras in the house).
I welcome all feedback in the comments below. There are obviously a number of differences of opinion on all of this, and I’d like to hear them all.
June 8th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
I think this is a great idea.
You’re going to be very excited about the camera, as I’m sure it’s a nice one. You’re going to take lots of pics and post them and mention the Nikon, and you’ll probably mention some areas for improvement too. You win.
Your friends who believe you’re a credible source win - and more than a few will probably opt for the Nikon when it’s time to purchase a DSLR.
Nikon wins because they’ve got a credible source talking about their product and they’re likely to get good user feedback from you as well.
Happy days… Looking forward to seeing some more of your pics - and hopefully trying it out one day.
Have a great weekend!
June 8th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
I’m glad you see it that way Jeremy. And I’d be very happy to get your feedback on it as well. We’ll have to go for a photowalk on the golf course one of these days. We’ll bring the clubs, of course.
June 8th, 2007 at 8:02 pm
Sounds like you’ve got a couple of rounds to practice up this weekend…Have a good time and try to limit your foot wedge.
June 9th, 2007 at 8:08 am
Congrats on the D80 Jord, and congrats to MWW and Nikon for being smart enough to include you!
June 9th, 2007 at 2:17 pm
Sounds like you and I need to team up for a few shoots at some stage mate…
June 17th, 2007 at 7:08 am
I do think you are right that’s it ethical and legal, but at the same time I am wondering if Nikon wanted this kind of hype. What could have been done differently to approach the bloggers in a manner that wouldn’t have blown up in Nikon’s face? I think the 6 month trial period was a bit long. Perhaps also sending the bloggers return postage with a contract guaranteeing they’ll send it back.
August 6th, 2007 at 3:20 am
[…] Nikon camera […]
September 10th, 2007 at 6:52 am
[…] This is not about Wal-Mart or Whole Foods here. Those companies deserve every ounce of grief they have and continue to get. But the Nikon D80 blogger relations program, Comcast astroturf incident (an unmonitored PR agency intern was the cause) and A&P video gaffe seem to be lesser incidents in the great scheme of things. Do we really want to dub these companies as evil? […]
September 28th, 2007 at 7:28 am
[…] I’m sitting here with Laurie and Nichole, two of my work cohorts, listening to Tom from Nikon talk about their very cool blogger outreach program. If you’re not familiar with it, Nikon went out to the blogosphere with a bunch of cameras and let’ em loose. It’s great. […]
February 15th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Interesting story.
As a journalist myself (who has been offered a lot of freebies in the past), I am very aware of the “church and state” scenario of being impartial in my writing. Having said that, if I read a report that clearly stated someone had been given a camera to use by a company, without obligation to actually write anything about it, but did include a favourable response … I would accept that.
It’s not the company that’s at fault for trying to get the coverage, it’s the writer if he falls into the trap of thinking he owes the company anything.
The company risks the cost of a camera, 50/50 the writer praises it, the chances are two people will buy that camera, or at least link to the blog, or comment on it like I am, or remember the name of the company, or actually take the time to Google that make of camera to actually see if it is any good. It’s a win-win for the company; they can’t lose.
March 29th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
SDHC performance test using Nikon D80
June 26th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
Nikon D80 digital camera is good