Leeds-based band The Bribes set up the group on Facebook as a means of promoting their music, under the guise that it was created to object to the launch of the London 2012 Olympic logo, unveiled by Lord Coe earlier this week.
The Facebook group, which was set up by the quintet, attracted more than 4,000 members before the band posted a message on the homepage that it had now been hijacked to promote its forthcoming EP, 'One Second of Rave'.
In a message to the group The Bribes' singer Tim Rooke, said: "The whole point of this was to see which sad fuck would actually get edgy about it, and by your reactions, it seems that you are sad and lonely enough to care what people do on a pathetic facebook group...
"Just leave and go onto another if your really that bothered.. I couldn't care less... The fact of the matter is that you've heard of my band now, so thats my job done.."
The group's membership on Facebook peaked at more than 4,000 before it became clear yesterday that The Bribes had used the group as a guerrilla marketing tactic to attract an online following for the band's music. Hundreds later left.
News of the ploy soon migrated to the band's MySpace page, and the tactic has since provoked a mixed response from Facebook users, who have posted messages of encouragement for The Bribes' music to others who have derided the tactic as a crude publicity stunt.
One user wrote on the Facebook group: "Hey Tim, 10 outta 10 for thinking of a serious pwn. I reckon it's a -10 for business sense tho dude. Instead of 4,000 fans or even 4,000 people who know about the band, you just gained 4,000 haters. That is gonna hurt.
"I guess overall that leaves you on ZERO outta ten... which is probably how many tickets you will sell from pulling this stunt."
Rooke cheekily added in his post: "I do actually hate the logo, just sick of talking about it and getting 50 emails a day off you."
The hi-jacking of the group led one member to create a new group, launched by Mansized editor Will Callaghan, called Boycott the London 2012 logo - the return.
This led Callaghan to be temporarily banned from Facebook by administrators as he tried to let people know about the hi-jacked group before his membership of the social networking site was reinstated.
On another Facebook note, Brand Republic has launched its own Facebook group.
Comments
A bit more detail for you as it raises questions over FB's modding policy...
- I sent the top four people on the old group a link to the new one and 'you are spamming' messages started appearing
- I naturally stopped this straight away and just got back to the normal business of messaging friends and the like. It didn't stop the warning message though and my account was switched off shortly after
- FB sent me a standard email about spam overnight and switched my account back on
- I wrote a message on my wall this morning and a spam warning popped up over the top. Same for replies to emails from friends
- Despite only writing on my wall and responding to emails from friends, I was banned again this morning :-)
Spam killed Yahoo! Groups so I can see why FB takes it seriously. None of these messages have been spam though.
An automated system that turns off the accounts of bona fide users, I would say, is a bit of a problem :-) Anyone else experienced the same thing?
FYI, the rogue London 2012 group is still there and its founder is still a member.
Free the Facebook One...okay his is free, but you get the idea.
Well done lads, fantastic marketing tactic. Any publicity is indeed good publicity. I want to know who these musical scallywags are now and would be happy to shake their hand.
obviously some people exploit tactics such as this for financial gain from disasters and most recently a website set up to aquire donations for the madalaine mcanne incident turned out to be fruadelant, this is of course unforgivable.
BUT, fareplay to The Bribes who have now gained international online noteriaty, an essential marketing element in todays youth sub-culture. let them go from strength to strength
Hi Alex,
Firstly can I say, I'm an avid reader of Brand Republic as I work for an internet marketing agency, and the whole idea behind it was to hopefully attract the attention of publications like yourself. As a day job I totally understand the power of social networking groups and how if you're quick to react to what’s going on it the world you really take advantage of them…
On Monday morning the 2012 Olympic logo was released. As soon as I saw it I knew there was going to be public outrage. I quickly logged onto Facebook and dedicated a group to boycotting the logo. Within 20 minutes I had 500 members, after a day there was 2000, after 2/3 days if was well over 4000 members, with over 700 posts and 100 submitted designs. It really shows the power of these groups are and how passionate people can be towards topics they feel strongly about…
It did take me a while to pluck up the courage to destroy what people had built up, but at the end of the day, my band and its success is more important to me than a facebook group. I think the way we hijacked it was really the thing that seemed to get people wound up. I really didn’t realise that people would get so angry, and I was and still am getting some pretty nasty, threatening emails.
On the plus side, however we’ve had a lot of emails praising what we had done and saying they’ll definitely come down to a gig after the stunt.. At the end of the day, we’ve had thousands of people now hear about our band that didn’t already. So to me and the boys, that’s a success. I’m not too sure if global company’s should try an approach like this as it may well be a lot more damaging, however if the brand is right, I’m all up for gorilla marketing. Especially as its so much fun reading people’s hatred towards you..
Getting your band noticed in any light is the hardest thing in the world, so hopefully people can see the funny side of this...
P.S Those quotes of me make me sound like an idiot :), but I was starting to get fed up of people crying!
Tim Rooke
The Bribes..
Hi Tim, cheers for your message! Ultimately it comes down to the power of your music, if people like it then there's no harm done. If they don't, I guess there's plenty of other anti 2012 Olympic groups on the web people can join so...
Good luck with it, beats Saturday night TV talent shows.
Tim, I think people are more angry about your attittude since your annoucement than the stunt itself. A bit of humble pie would have worked, but you were just plain rude.
Also would you explain why you repeatedly deleted links I posted to the new group? You'd made your point.
"Ultimately it comes down to the power of your music"
Interesting you should say this, I posted a message on the site almost to the contrary of this. The was things are in most cities now, the band scene is saturated. I could guarantee you could go see AMAZING bands night in night out, and 95% of them will probably never be heard of outside their friend group. Stunts like this may make us some enemies, but I'd much rather be an enemy to someone than a nobody.
Nick Bribe
"Humble Pie".
I take your point Will.
Tim over reacted - mostly because he felt overly persecuted at the venom in the backlash, having simply pulled an impish, clever, innovative, creative marketing stunt.
Whether its Jarvis' bum, Elvis in the Army, or The Sex Pistols on Grundy there is a strong president of artist courting publicity - no news here.
As an unsinged band with out major label support getting your band noticed in any light is the hardest thing in the world. Hopefully people can see the funny side of this...
And as for being rude, the bile was direct at us first.
You can have our first interview on Mansized if you wish?
I hope your publicity translates into ticket sales and greater success. If you mail links for your audio/ video to will@mansized.co.uk, I'll ask our music ed to consider you for our new bands slot. Cheers, W
Actually, I thought that it was a rather cunning stunt. I set up my own facebook group against the 2012 logo the morning after it was revealed, and noticed that Tim's had a few thousand odd members...and that the website address for it was for his band. Clever lad, thought I! I'd have done the same for my band...if I actually really didn't like the logo.
If people don't like that this group has been hijacked, then there's a dozen others that they can join. And the way I see it, this is profile raising publicity generated for free. Clever stuff. We independent artists need to take the initiative with getting our names out there, we do ofcourse however, have to back that up with music. I haven't listened to The Bribes yet...on whether the product measures up to the profile.
Cheers, Tom, Although I was always thinking of Hijacking the group, I do actually hate the logo, and agreed with pretty much all the comments.. It just got really boring to read after 3 days.. This is a lot more fun...
Viva La Bribes..
Thanks Will - We appreciate that.
All eyes are on The Bribes
Nick, you only have to hang out in Shoreditch on a Friday night to see how many talentless bands there are unfathombly getting label interest. But I know from having run underground fanzines and working as a music journalist that suspect bands can only fool people for so long.
If the music can't stand up on its own merits, there really isn't a whole lot for the industry and fans to hang their hat on. Skinny jeans and trilby hats do not make a career.
Comments
Will Callaghan - 08/06/2007
A bit more detail for you as it raises questions over FB's modding policy... - I sent the top four people on the old group a link to the new one and 'you are spamming' messages started appearing - I naturally stopped this straight away and just got back to the normal business of messaging friends and the like. It didn't stop the warning message though and my account was switched off shortly after - FB sent me a standard email about spam overnight and switched my account back on - I wrote a message on my wall this morning and a spam warning popped up over the top. Same for replies to emails from friends - Despite only writing on my wall and responding to emails from friends, I was banned again this morning :-) Spam killed Yahoo! Groups so I can see why FB takes it seriously. None of these messages have been spam though. An automated system that turns off the accounts of bona fide users, I would say, is a bit of a problem :-) Anyone else experienced the same thing? FYI, the rogue London 2012 group is still there and its founder is still a member.
Gordon Macmillan - 08/06/2007
Free the Facebook One...okay his is free, but you get the idea.
Greig Dowling - 08/06/2007
Well done lads, fantastic marketing tactic. Any publicity is indeed good publicity. I want to know who these musical scallywags are now and would be happy to shake their hand. obviously some people exploit tactics such as this for financial gain from disasters and most recently a website set up to aquire donations for the madalaine mcanne incident turned out to be fruadelant, this is of course unforgivable. BUT, fareplay to The Bribes who have now gained international online noteriaty, an essential marketing element in todays youth sub-culture. let them go from strength to strength
TIm Rooke - 08/06/2007
Hi Alex, Firstly can I say, I'm an avid reader of Brand Republic as I work for an internet marketing agency, and the whole idea behind it was to hopefully attract the attention of publications like yourself. As a day job I totally understand the power of social networking groups and how if you're quick to react to what’s going on it the world you really take advantage of them… On Monday morning the 2012 Olympic logo was released. As soon as I saw it I knew there was going to be public outrage. I quickly logged onto Facebook and dedicated a group to boycotting the logo. Within 20 minutes I had 500 members, after a day there was 2000, after 2/3 days if was well over 4000 members, with over 700 posts and 100 submitted designs. It really shows the power of these groups are and how passionate people can be towards topics they feel strongly about… It did take me a while to pluck up the courage to destroy what people had built up, but at the end of the day, my band and its success is more important to me than a facebook group. I think the way we hijacked it was really the thing that seemed to get people wound up. I really didn’t realise that people would get so angry, and I was and still am getting some pretty nasty, threatening emails. On the plus side, however we’ve had a lot of emails praising what we had done and saying they’ll definitely come down to a gig after the stunt.. At the end of the day, we’ve had thousands of people now hear about our band that didn’t already. So to me and the boys, that’s a success. I’m not too sure if global company’s should try an approach like this as it may well be a lot more damaging, however if the brand is right, I’m all up for gorilla marketing. Especially as its so much fun reading people’s hatred towards you.. Getting your band noticed in any light is the hardest thing in the world, so hopefully people can see the funny side of this... P.S Those quotes of me make me sound like an idiot :), but I was starting to get fed up of people crying! Tim Rooke The Bribes..
Alex Donohue - 08/06/2007
Hi Tim, cheers for your message! Ultimately it comes down to the power of your music, if people like it then there's no harm done. If they don't, I guess there's plenty of other anti 2012 Olympic groups on the web people can join so... Good luck with it, beats Saturday night TV talent shows.
Will Callaghan - 08/06/2007
Tim, I think people are more angry about your attittude since your annoucement than the stunt itself. A bit of humble pie would have worked, but you were just plain rude. Also would you explain why you repeatedly deleted links I posted to the new group? You'd made your point.
Nick Blair - 08/06/2007
"Ultimately it comes down to the power of your music" Interesting you should say this, I posted a message on the site almost to the contrary of this. The was things are in most cities now, the band scene is saturated. I could guarantee you could go see AMAZING bands night in night out, and 95% of them will probably never be heard of outside their friend group. Stunts like this may make us some enemies, but I'd much rather be an enemy to someone than a nobody. Nick Bribe
Dan Parnell - 08/06/2007
"Humble Pie". I take your point Will. Tim over reacted - mostly because he felt overly persecuted at the venom in the backlash, having simply pulled an impish, clever, innovative, creative marketing stunt. Whether its Jarvis' bum, Elvis in the Army, or The Sex Pistols on Grundy there is a strong president of artist courting publicity - no news here. As an unsinged band with out major label support getting your band noticed in any light is the hardest thing in the world. Hopefully people can see the funny side of this... And as for being rude, the bile was direct at us first. You can have our first interview on Mansized if you wish?
Will Callaghan - 08/06/2007
I hope your publicity translates into ticket sales and greater success. If you mail links for your audio/ video to will@mansized.co.uk, I'll ask our music ed to consider you for our new bands slot. Cheers, W
Tom Matchett - 08/06/2007
Actually, I thought that it was a rather cunning stunt. I set up my own facebook group against the 2012 logo the morning after it was revealed, and noticed that Tim's had a few thousand odd members...and that the website address for it was for his band. Clever lad, thought I! I'd have done the same for my band...if I actually really didn't like the logo. If people don't like that this group has been hijacked, then there's a dozen others that they can join. And the way I see it, this is profile raising publicity generated for free. Clever stuff. We independent artists need to take the initiative with getting our names out there, we do ofcourse however, have to back that up with music. I haven't listened to The Bribes yet...on whether the product measures up to the profile.
TIm Rooke - 08/06/2007
Cheers, Tom, Although I was always thinking of Hijacking the group, I do actually hate the logo, and agreed with pretty much all the comments.. It just got really boring to read after 3 days.. This is a lot more fun... Viva La Bribes..
Dan Parnell - 08/06/2007
Thanks Will - We appreciate that.
Greig Dowling - 08/06/2007
Will you are legend
Denver Chaplin - 11/06/2007
All eyes are on The Bribes
Alex Donohue - 11/06/2007
Nick, you only have to hang out in Shoreditch on a Friday night to see how many talentless bands there are unfathombly getting label interest. But I know from having run underground fanzines and working as a music journalist that suspect bands can only fool people for so long. If the music can't stand up on its own merits, there really isn't a whole lot for the industry and fans to hang their hat on. Skinny jeans and trilby hats do not make a career.