New media? Yes. New marketing? Nah.

For me the whole power around new media is that it allows brands to spend more time with their consumers than ever before, in a much easier fashion. It allows consumers to be a lot more vocal which makes it easier to listen and to learn – if you care (which you should obviously). Every day more companies start using new media and this way experiencing a totally new consumer engagement.

This said, using new media doesn’t always mean a company ‘got it’. Sometimes brands approach this in a very traditional way, probably happy with themselves for doing something new and cool…. when there’s nothing new and cool to it. The reason why I’m writing this is because of this:

While Gizmodo reports on their ‘lonely’ Second Life visit to to the virtual CEBIT area of Sony Ericcson, it’s not the people-empty space that I found stunning. Of course it’s no use to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for an empty house, what bothers me is that the approach Sony Ericcson takes here is no different from a classic billboard. This is not about building relationships, joining conversations, … this is about creating a temporary place for you to come and listen to them. Until CEBIT is over. This is exactly what I mean with traditional marketing in the new media space. Sony Ericcson, you can do better than that.

Does any of you have more examples of new media being used in a very traditional way? I’d love to hear about it.

Technorati tags: second life, sony ericcson, new media, traditional marketing, marketing, advertising, cebit