First the media covered it, then Ben Folds used it in his concerts and now apparently a German agency is using Chatroulette to advertise Harley Davidson by just leaving a sign in front of a webcam that reads “Sorry, I’m on the Road” with a Harley logo. I think my reaction is “meh,” but I’m not sure. (I guess I’m so ambivalent about it that I can’t decide if I’m ambivalent or not.)
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Hi, I'm Noah. I am the co-founder of Percolate. I like writing on, thinking about and making stuff for the internet. I'm responsible for a few internet experiments like Brand Tags, likemind and My First Tweet. On this site I write about media, marketing, culture, technology and randomness. I like it when people email me.
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To quote myself:
“And thus did Chatroulette finally ‘grow up’ and become just like the rest of internet: covered in ads.”
Meh, indeed.
I am going to go with clever. Yah, it is totally simplistic, but that’s sort of the beauty of it. They “discovered” a completely free, likely marginally-effective, and definitely conversation-worthy way of getting their brand in front of a shit-ton of people. And even if they get one or two guys to take their hands off of their penises to think about Harley Davidson, it counts as being effective. Actually, come to think of it, if Harley Davidson can successfully interrupt masturbating to get users to look at their brand, that is the DEFINITION of effective advertising.
It’s easy to be Meh… It’s much harder to take a stand on the issue. I was meh about Twitter and then took a stand that it would vanish in 5 years… thus far the odds are not in my favor on that one, but what’s the fun in the easy approach.
FCUK ran a promo where men had to supply a suitable real conversation on Chat Roulette with a real woman to be awarded prizes. I failed to follow up on the results, but I might get to that.
I think the key is, that just like Twitter… its ridiculous. But, its gaining traction fast, and marketers are looking to it for innovation. I say it falls in the Twitter category when equal in maturity. Get Excited.
Now a better question – Whats a good abbreviation for it. No one is going to keep saying Chat Roulette. Chat [Rule]? Chat R? CR? Just Roulette? I think Chat Roul wins.
The latest iteration is important for exemplifying how culture is made, moreso than whether or not it is good advertising. Since an agency uses Chatroulette, one knows that Chatroulette is now part of popular culture, and known by German Harley Davidson owners. One is reminded of Grant McCracken’s “culturematic.” http://cultureby.com/2009/09/culturematic-a-device-for-making-culture-in-two-easy-steps.html