Recommend Firefly

POSTED BY: rklenseth
UPDATED: Thursday, March 25, 2004 05:34
VIEWED: 15652
PAGE 4 of 6

PREV PAGE 1 2 3 4 5 6 NEXT PAGE

CUDA

Tuesday, March 9, 2004 6:05 PM

Thanks Shiny, you rock. This is really starting to turn out beautifully!!

CUDA

Tuesday, March 9, 2004 11:16 PM

SHINY

Thursday, March 11, 2004 1:48 AM

Firefly is now also the top recommendation for Futurama

JAYNESMYHERO

Thursday, March 11, 2004 2:42 AM

I posted my Favorite Firefly as the top recommendation for my favorite movies at Amazon. I had no qualms with this idea since I firmly believe in recommending Firefly to all viewers of my favorite shows. Thanks for the idea. I did not abuse this feature though it was tempting.

"I'll be in my bunk!"

SHINY

Thursday, March 11, 2004 9:13 PM

We still need 9 more recommendations to be the top recommendation for LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring (Extended Edition):

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000067DNF/ref=pd_ts_d_2
0/102-6665341-7589714?v=glance&s=dvd&n=404276

Also, it seems strange that there are still none under Schindler's List (Widescreen Edition) or Mona Lisa Smile -- have people been recommending there and just had their recommendations rejected?

RIVER
Purple elephants are flying.
MAL
Good. Thanks for the update.

DELIA

Friday, March 12, 2004 2:01 AM

It seems to me, based on the message CUDA got back from Amazon, that while targeting our recommendations is a good plan, each of us may get away with recommending Firefly more if we recommend other things as well. (Favorite books, movies, other TV shows, etc.) Just a thought.

Alternately, you could create a Listmania list featuring some of the high traffic items and include Firefly. That might also get some notice.

NOOCYTE

Tuesday, March 16, 2004 6:53 AM

Resurrecting this thread to put the word out on an unfortunate spin-off from this Campaign.

This past Saturday (3/13), I received the following email:

Quote:

I'm writing to you because of your rather sensitive post on fireflyfans.net.
Firefly is number 63 in overall sales on Amazon, and that's really great!
But let me explain our situation.

We are a small completely independent band with one self-released CD out.
Many people happen to like it, but we're quite limited in our ability to spread
the word. Since we signed up for Amazon Advantage program, we used such
mechanisms as customer recommendations and listmania to associate our CD
with relevant products. By relevant I mean similar music style or, more
importantly, the theme. Our CD is a fun version of the story of Treasure Island,
and we've been listing under pirate-related items, including, obviously, Pirates
of the Caribbean. We've enjoyed modest sales, 1-2 a week - looks like people
follow the link, listen to our sample cuts and buy the CD because they like it.

Ever since the Recommend Firefly campaign started, we lost all sales. For the
last two weeks we haven't had a single sale. After doing some research we found
your site, so we have to appeal to your good will. Please don't kill our listings, and
please make an effort to restore our number one standing on the Pirates of the
Caribbean recommendations page.

Thank you very much for your understanding!

Sincerely,

Igor Koyfman
The Ben Gunn Society
www.bengunnsociety.com

Gave me pause. We of all people should be mindful of the degree to which we might be swamping some Independent (ahem!) band, trying to get the word out on their baby.

We do the impossible and that makes us mighty...but, to quote Uncle Ben, "With great power comes great responsibility." I personally have narrowed my recs to items which have conceptual/thematic/aesthetic affinities to FF (such as Westerns, SciFi films/books/soundtracks, certain action flix, and the like). As I'd said before, doing this would tend to increase the probabilities of successful crossover, and decrease the probability of stomping on smaller-scale operations like this guy's band (not my cup o' joe, but they seem like nice folk, who deserve better).

Just thought I'd put this out there (I felt a little responsible, as I'd done a fair bit of carpet-bombing myself...and he did single me out for this message {anyone else get one?}...called me sensitive, even

).

Keep flyin' (but mind where those engines are pointed, is all!)

Department of Redundancy Department

CUDA

Tuesday, March 16, 2004 4:46 PM

I recieved this email from Amazon today:

Quote:

Hello again from Amazon.com.

It has come to our attention that there is a deliberately organized
campaign of Our Customers Advice recommendations being placed to
promote "Firefly." Please note that this is a violation of our
Conditions of Use and Participation Guidelines.

We are in the process of removing all Our Customers Advice
recommendations which have been placed for "Firefly" since March 1.

Please take a look at our participation guidelines and conditions of
use statement for more information:

http://www.amazon.com/o/tg/browse/-/508094/

http://www.amazon.com/o/tg/browse/-/508088/

Thank you for your cooperation.

Best regards,

Bert G.
Amazon.com Customer Service

Personally I think this is B.S. because we are all independent people that feel Firefly is an excellent DVD, and have chosen to recommend it to others. I don't see what's wrong with that. Besides, this also works in Amazon's favor, we are promoting a DVD they sell!

NOOCYTE

Tuesday, March 16, 2004 5:03 PM

Alas, this is the boomerang I'd feared (quoth Noocyte, rubbing his *thwacked* head).

I do agree with you, CUDA, that independent people, recommending something they love, do no harm to anyone, and do boost sales of a product on Amazon's roster. And have no doubt that I am as avid as the next Browncoat in spreading the word.

However, an organized FanAc (fan activity) like the Recommend Firefly Campaign is another kind of beast. It sets energies in motion which are apt to overrun a site, and folks like the band that contacted me are like to get ground in the gears.

I for one, am not too upset to let the Recommend Firefly chapter close. We transiently boosted sales, looks like. We had some fun, watching the numbers dance. But it was, in the end a guerilla marketing tactic, and the dictum of a good guerilla is follow the bananas...I mean Keep Moving. And, I must re-iterate, there was collateral damage which I for one was uncomfortable inflicting.

on to the next challenge!

Keep Flyin'!

Department of Redundancy Department

SHINY

Tuesday, March 16, 2004 5:59 PM

It would be fairer to allow one (the first?) firefly recommendation per account to remain, otherwise you are depriving paying customers of a voice. But perhaps their DBAs just aren't compentent enough or their managers just don't care, and would rather take the simplistic route and consider everything that forces them to use any of their brain cells as 'abuse' so they have an easy pre-defined response they can execute...robots. (said with a scornful Kaylee-to-Simon inflection)

RIVER
Purple elephants are flying.
MAL
Good. Thanks for the update.

PREV PAGE 1 2 3 4 5 6 NEXT PAGE