Jaffe Juice: Sprint Ambassador in the News

June 5, 2006

Sprint Ambassador in the News

Filed Under: From the desk of The Ambassador, Proof of Life after the 30-second spot

Article in Brandweek (subscription required) about the Sprint Ambassador program. It actually came about as I was talking to Brandweek reporter, Todd Wasserman about another story. When I told him about the Sprint Ambassador program, he actually wrote a dedicated article about it.

In the interview, I explained that I have no problem accepting this kind of "gift" (unlike traditional journalists), and have enjoyed giving them the visibility - where authentic, appropriate and relevant. That said, I stressed the importance of disclosure, transparency and integrity; not to mention respect for one's audience.

Here are a few snippets:

...Sprint launched the service last fall with no advertising.
In all, about 400 people signed up for the program,
The program netted the term "Sprint Ambasador Program" 389,000 hits on Google. Jaffe said that, in itself, was a sign of success. "You can’t buy 400,000 hits," he said.
Such transparency represents a major risk for marketers looking to get their word out to the blogosphere, yet it remains a powerful, if untapped way to boost sales.
In 2004, Procter & Gamble gave free Mr. Clean Auto Dry kits to bloggers and asked for their honest appraisals. Last year, Nokia launched the Nokia 7710 VIP Program, an effort similar to Sprint’s that gave free phones to 1,800 people around the world.

Comment Total: (3)

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Comments

This is brilliant. Its more proof that if you engage people in these new mediums with a bit of humility, transparency and openness they may respect you for it more.

The Sprint example is wonderful in that it may only have been 400 people that participated but those 400 people had a much bigger impact. (400,000 hits on Google!? Wow.)

Comes back to that 1% idea impacting the 99%. The fact that it was only 400 is not a bad thing at all.

Posted by: Hashem Bajwa

I'm a Sprint Ambassador too. I used the service for about a day. I made one call. I downloaded one song. (And couldn't figure out how to get it on my iPod.)

This is my first online mention of my participation in the program. While I applaud any company that gives me free stuff, Sprint's biggest obstacle is that switching cell-phone service is a tedius pain in the ass.

And so is a Kansas City phone number.

Posted by: EB

Other than Google making $ on the Ambassador program, is there any other actual measurable ROI?

Posted by: Valerie Romley