Comments on: Amazon goes Hollywood

By: Amos Bray

Amos Bray — Sun, 22 Jan 2006 07:12:42 +0000

To counter your commenters: this is not Bill Maher “shilling for Amazon”, except in the sense that Maher (or Dennis Miller or for that matter James Gandolfini) is “shilling” for HBO by broadcasting on their network. Yes, money no doubt is changing hands but then money tends to do that. It could and I would argue should be looked at another way: as an experiment in big-branded webcasting in the same way as blogging is an experiment in mini-branded webcasting. (The latter, almost by definition, is less “live”, an aspect of the web-as-event I think that has yet to be solved. According to Maher, btw, that’s why he wants to be involved and that seems perfectly reasonable.) Nor do I think in any way Amazon will suffer undue brand specificity, either with its consumers or its image-at-large, by such an association, no matter what people think of Maher personally. Why? Because it won’t be positioned or branded that way. Another way to put it: Does anyone think Brokaw/NBC and Maher/Amazon are equivalent ratios?

By: ken anderson

ken anderson — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 20:01:26 +0000

Please drop me an e-mail. I’d like to talk with you.

By: Tom Guarriello

Tom Guarriello — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 15:43:26 +0000

Has there been a worse spokesperson choice in your memory, Grant? I’m struggling, but I can’t come up with one.

I like the Fishbowl idea, though. Why not use Jon Stewart? Smart. Funny. Well-read.

By: Carlos Leyva

Carlos Leyva — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 14:23:40 +0000

Who is going to stop buying at Amazon because Bill Maher is shilling for them? Not me, because I happen to think he’s funny. But, uh, what about if it was Bill “the factor” O’Reilly shilling for them, then Barnes and Noble online might start looking pretty good. Guess you’re right, not a good idea to piss off half the nation.

By: Chuck

Chuck — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 19:08:20 +0000

Bill Maher’s announcement as an addition to Amazon’s marketing strategy reminds me of a quote I recorded “…our idea of failure is unextraordinary existence that most of us actually lead. We are constantly in motion, and we can scarcely be satisfied.”

Geez, hasn’t Amazon’s ambition clouded their judgement.?.

By: The Owner's Manual

The Owner's Manual — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 12:00:05 +0000

It’s was Bill Maher’s mouth that got him and ABC into so much trouble by praising terrorists that his show got cancelled. Anyone who’d hire him to shill for them does not understand why Fox routinely doubles the ratings of CNN today. The cultural center of gravity in the US is not Air America or Harry Belafonte or Michael Moore.

By: Mary Schmidt

Mary Schmidt — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 10:47:28 +0000

I like Bill Maher but fully agree that this may be a big misstep for Amazon. He gets a bit too snarky even for me at times. But, hey, they’re trying! That said, this got my synapses to snapping – and I’d submit consistency is crucial to keep the customer mind share. However, we now need consistency in tone versus the actual words.