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July 18, 2006
Dell blog: Not the same as porn
ZDNet discovers that Dell's new blog shares the same name and similar URL as a porn website.
Dell's website, one2one.dell.com, promises to engage visitors in conversations.
The porn site, one2one.com, promises "hot live babes ready to please you 24/7."
Well, that's one way to look at customer service.
What should Dell do now? Is this a problem? Should they change the name and URL? Or is much ado about hot-babe nothing?
Well, they claim to be listening to the blogosphere. So my suggestion would be quickly post something at least acknowledging the story. The blogosphere is already agog.
They should canvas readers for ideas. What do you think they should do?
UPDATE (8/3/06): Dell has renamed their blog to "Direct2Dell" with a new URL.
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» Dell, riding the blogosphere roller coaster from Pronet Advertising
Dell's new blog, one2one, has been on quite a roller coaster ride since its initial launch a couple weeks ago. They were slammed to begin with, mainly because the blog started out as an advertising tool instead of a place for Dell to communicate with (... [Read More]
» Direct2Dell: Our New Name from Dell one2one
The name of this blog is now Direct2Dell. A few pundits have eagerly pointed out that www.one2one.com... [Read More]
I say change it right away.
If they are putting the "one2one" name in their promos, then they are going to get people who key in that URL (and be in a for a big surprise). Most people don't know how to use subdomains anyway, so I think that should be avoided, too.
They already have dell.com/blog redirecting to the one2one blog. Why not use that as the promoted URL?
They could buy one2one.com, and hire the "hot live babes" to do video blogs for Dell.
As costly as it might be, to ensure a long-term web presence with this URL, they should buy out the porn site at a cost of between $5-10,000.
Sticky Fingers restaurant, a BBQ chain based in South Carolina went through the same issue with their web site because stickyfingers.com was a porn site. They had to use stickyfingersbbq.com, but so many customers went to the other, assuming that it would lead them to buy bbq sauce on-line. Sticky Fingers bought the site for , I believe, $7500. But, their traffic has increased heavily.
Change it. Change it. Change it. Or buy the name - they have the money.
That's truly unfortunate - but it's another reason corporations should be paying some of the 20,30,40? million odd bloggers out there to help them.
I think that bloggers as a group are getting dangerously close to running this in the ground. Was Dell's move into the blogosphere perfect? Without flaws? Executed precisely? Nope, nope and nyet. But I think we are forgetting that they ARE now blogging. This was a move we bloggers had been crying for for months now, and they've shown that they are listening.
Other companies are definitely watching how Dell's move to enter the blogosphere is going. Since we jumped all over them as soon as they arrived, will that make other companies more or LESS likely to start blogging as well?
I think we might want to consider that the next time we feel the urge to join the tar and feathering of the boys from Austin.
I guess the bloggers -- like most Davids -- enjoy aiming their slingshots at corporate Goliaths. But Mack's right in the sense that it's important to recognize Dell's attempt's here.
That being said, didn't ANYONE from Austin *check* the domain? Sheesh!
I hear Dell did this, and Dell didn't do that. What I want to know is where the 'one2one' idea came from? Was this a traditional advertising exec or a Dell engineer? Which department at Dell decided who would design and implement the web site?
Dell has made several mistakes -- the mistakes being to mistrust people inexperienced in what is happening on the Internet. Passive advertising media such as TV, radio, and print are pretty one-way. Own the transmitter, and you control the message. On the internet there is little difference in effort between getting to dell.com and getting to any particular blogger or other site. What is said in the blogosphere can be much louder than the blurb Dell puts out -- something Passive Media people have underestimated.
I wonder if history will consider the 'one2one' URL as terminally cute, pretentious, and misleading as I do. What next, a blonde, blue-eyed little girl in ruffled petticoats skipping down the street with a cute pony, delighted over her new Dell computer? I think letting the whole one2one topic, ad campaign, and URL thing die a quiet death and try 'thecompanyline.dell.com' instead. Maybe a bit staid, certainly explanatory, actually conveys information outside of a single, specific, ephemeral advertising campaign.
Not that I have any strong feelings. lol!
Hey, why not Go2Dell, or Straight2Dell, or Highway2Dell?
