Virtual Stars Don't Impress Me

I love working in Vegas. Honestly, I do. I mean, I just bat my eyelashes and everyone and their mom wants to work with a “uber cool” Strip property. Think Pepsi, Ford, Coca-Cola, AMEX, Absolut Vodka, Panasonic, Nintendo, Southwest, Travelocity and the list goes on. From sports to food to alcohol to you name it, we’ve been approached, and often work with, all the Prom King Brands.

Okay, now you have the background. On to the rant

These days, thanks to forays into Social Media, many of these brands now have a “face”. A Virtual Star if you may. Unfortunately, similar to my earlier discovery, even big brand virtual stars are disappointing.

Admittedly, I have yet to meet most of the Big Brand Stars in person, so, I’m not sure if they’re cheaters and cheapskates. But, I have had one too many phone conversations and emails with them. Sadly, they have few operational let alone marketing thoughts outside of their little silo.

Here’s a quick breakdown of my latest experience. Names, facts and details are vague to protect the innocent.

Me via Email: Hi! The document I received says, “X, Y and Z”. I’d like to understand how we need to implement, when we will receive assets and how else we can help.

Star Handler via Email: Let’s chat via phone. I’m cc’ing my BDA and we’re free anytime today.

Big Brand Virtual Star via email: [AFTER we set up the phone meeting] You can find everything I do at GenericBrandWebsite.com. [In my head: Oh boy. HELLO did you even read my email. Thanks for putting in your unhelpful two cents, but really not necessary AFTER others had answered.]

After that exchange, I knew I was in for a very “special” phone call. As you can imagine, I was spot on.

I open almost every call in a similar fashion, “We support our partners 110% and I’d love to understand what we can do to help, cross promote through our channels, what your goals are and how we can help you accomplish them… blah, blah, blah.”

Needless to say, Star Handler was very excited about my excitement and offer. We’re hitting it off fabulously and we both got more than what we originally set out to get. Big Brand Virtual Star? Yea… we didn’t quite get it. Not only could he not see past his piece (aka Social Media opportunities) but he also didn’t understand why I needed to know the operational pieces. The embarrassing part? It seemed like all the Star Handlers already knew this and were slightly apologetic for said Virtual Star.

Me? Yeah, I’ll stick with the Star Handlers and anonymity. I get a lot more done.