PowerTV Exposed For What They Really Are, Spammers

PowerTV, who has recently become a player in online automotive viral videos has been exposed by SpankMyMarketer.com for being a 'Viral Video Marketing Company' or as they like to call them Spammers who work for some of the top names in the automotive industry including General Motors, Dynomax, Holley ,Comp Cams and SEMA promoting their products. What is a Viral Video Marketing Company, well SpankMyMarketer has summed it up quite nicely as a company that produces videos for clients, and then promotes the videos for them online, using viral marketing tactics through various social networks like automotive forums. You might be asking yourself what does this have to do with Mustangs, well you may have noticed PowerTV has been promoting their videos pretty heavily through various forums on several if not all Mustang websites by way of forum members with the names powermelissa, powerjon, poweramanda, powerscott and nmrajames. The only reason they join Mustang forums is to promote their videos as with an example here at MustangHeaven.com where powermelissa only posts threads linking to videos on their site. Like with MustangHeaven's forums several other Mustang forums have banned these members for repeatedly creating these spamming threads with links to their videos. Even though this practice is not illegal it's unethical because as members of the forum PowerTV staff is not there to contribute but to promote and profit off what they write and link to. Mustang forums are not alone as they have also been hitting hundreds of other automotive sites around the net. It's definately a fascinating read about PowerTV, who their key players are and what they do. Check it out on SpankMyMarketer.com.

By dp #1, Posted: 1/20/2008

Welcome to the business world. Manufacturers pay for print and other forms of publicity one way or another, whether it's an ad in a magazine or a video on the internet. It's not ideal, but it's how companies stay in business. I'm sure if you asked PowerTV if they got paid for videos they wouldn't deny it. Not that I'm defending them, but you shouldn't be surprised.
By dp #2, Posted: 1/20/2008

Hmmm...read a bit further and saw that they were posting the videos on forums as if they were just regular users. I was under the impression that they were doing it with permission and with the knowledge of the forum. That's a different story...
By CobraMatt #3, Posted: 1/20/2008

Yeah they have been doing it on a few of my sites for awhile and I was even contacted by powermelissa a few times. It would be one thing to get permission to post the threads like you said but doing it over and over to drum up traffic and exposure is just unethical to me. There is nothing illegal about it but most of the forums have rules in place limiting what advertisers can post. PowerTv just thought of sneaky way to mask what they are really doing.
By Dave #4, Posted: 1/21/2008

I'm not sure how viral marketing is considered spamming though-- can someone explain this to me? I don't find the art of appealing to consumers at a grass-roots level offensive at all, in fact I prefer it.
Yes, if they haven't asked permission to post the threads that's semi-unethical. But is registration to their site required to view the videos they're posting? If not, then they're just offering a free product to the demographic that wants that product. I mean, what do forum-goers love more than videos?
By powerTV Jon #5, Posted: 1/28/2008

Rubenstein is a wordsmith when it comes to these long and related blogs created to destroy companies. The thing is, most of what he says is twisted to be made untrue. We don't get paid to post videos. We are a video production company, yes, and produce product videos for manufacturers, but most of our videos have to do with event coverage from drag shoot outs and of the sorts. "Viral Marketing," although having a negative feel to the term, actually means having the ability to share through people. YouTube is a virally marketed program that allows users (people who view the video) to link the video to their friends, thus virally spreading that video. That is what our viral marketing side is. It isn't us posting the videos, but rather, giving people the ability to promote the videos. The hotrodders/spankmymarketer link was VIRALLY SPREADED throughout the automotive community. Ironic?

Secondly, the owner of these sites has aimed to destroy SEMA. The grudge started with the CEO of powerTV's defense of SEMA calling out the other said owner on SPAMMING (sending unsolicted bulk emails) to all of the members on the memberlist of SEMA. Ironic again?

As I said before, there is a man of words amongst us. Hotrodders/spankmymarketer probably doesn't see leaving out half of the truth as lying.

We aim to promote drag racing as a sport. What is the damage that is caused by that? We have less hours to defend ourselves than hotrodders/spankmymarketer has to attack us.
By Darwin Inc #6, Posted: 1/30/2008

I've seen your gorilla marketing PowerJohn. And you admitting to it on your (now deleted) Myspace account.
It was never against SEMA, it was against you.
Every product you advertise is being pulled from our vendor list.