T. Boone Picken’s, Texas oil man, 1980’s corporate raider and current manager of BP Capital Management has something new up his sleave. And it features an internet strategy.

In 1997, he shifted his focus to natural gas. and 10 years later, in 2007, on wind energy. He formed Mesa Power LP in west central Texas and is constructing what will likely be the world’s largest wind farm. The project will feature thousands of wind turbines and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. This follows his belief that natural gas remains the best alternative to oil for motor vehicle fuel. That’s why he formed Pickens Fuel Corp eleven years ago.

Now, with $4 a gallon gas prices, he’s funding a public affairs effort to help us cut out oil as a our primary fuel for transportation, substitute it with natural gas, and then substitute the use of gas for other types of energy needs with, you guessed it, wind energy.

Today, he’s launched an online public affairs effort to convince Americans to look to natural gas and wind as proper alternatives. He points out that we currently import 70% of our oil - up from 24% in 1970. What’s new about his effort, is that much of it is bein launched online.

He’s got a YouTube channel.
They’ve got a page on Twitter.
A fan page on Facebook.
And a page on Mypace.

They even have an online community that they’re building.

Pretty neat concept. I’ll be following this campaign to see how effectively they use social media.

Say is isn’t so, Hillary Clinton! It looks like you, your staff, and your campaign were caught stealth campaigningastroturfing — by some folks who decided to do a little bit of Internet forensics. This sort of fisking is the ultimate big trophy hunt. Who would have guessed that a Clinton would be felled so early — not even sporting! Via Wired

Undercover marketing, Stealth marketing - Undercover marketing is a subset of guerrilla marketing where consumers do not realize they are being marketed to.

Stealth campaigning - Undercover campaigning is a subset of political campaigning online where voters do not realize they are being campaigned to.

Astroturfing - In politics and advertising, the term astroturfing describes formal public relations (PR) campaigns which seek to create the impression of being a spontaneous, grassroots behavior. Hence the reference to the “AstroTurf” (artificial grass) is a metaphor to indicate “fake grassroots” support.

Fisking - Fisking, or to Fisk, refers to the act of critiquing, often in minute detail, an article, essay, argument, etc. with the intent of challenging its conclusion or theses by highlighting logical fallacies and incorrect facts.

My advice to the candidates — free from me to you — is simple since I just posted it a couple hours ago on this very blog: Don’t Be Seduced by the Lure of Astroturfing:

“The blowback that can result from using a false name, a false email (a Yahoo, Google, or Hotmail address created for the campaign and the false name), and a false bio, isn’t worth it.”

I am too deep in online brand promotion. When I read a story in the Wall Street Journal about a professional basketball player dissing his yet unreleased signature shoe on his blog, all I can think is that this sort of antisocial behavior is an amazing stealth marketing strategy. From “I hate this ballerina shoe” to check out my cool shoe in no time! Coincidence? I think not!

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In Say it ain’t so, Marié Digby…, Taylor explores the stealth marketing campaign perpetrated by Hollywood Records on behalf of the gamine china doll, Marié Digby. Well, I think she’s cool. And while stealth marketing isn’t cool, it is interesting to watch. Even Carson Daly sticks to orders in this clip, which I paraphrase, who needs American Idol when you have the Internet? I saw Marié Digby on YouTube a few months ago, then heard her on the radio here in LA, and now we’re going to have her on the show, we’re going to make her a star, we’re going to make it happen. I am dead impressed at how well Mr Daly kept to his talking points.




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If you are anything like me you have been following with interest the story of the CEO/Chairman of Whole foods Mr. John P. Makcey who, using the online name Rahodeb, would bad mouth competition on Yahoo Finance’s bulletin board. It seems that the Federal Trade Commission is using Mackey’s pseudonym against him as they try to block Whole Food’s purchase of Wild Oats Markets as it would “limit competition among natural and organic groceries” (New York Times).

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