Street Teams Get A Black and Blue Mark

Back - Index - Submissions - - What is RSS? Date: Oct 31, 2000 Source: Live Daily.com Submitted By: Lizzy Inside.com reported on a marketing strategy behind Backstreet Boys' forthcoming "Black and Blue" album. An L.A.-area marketing firm and the group's management company have rounded up a reported 12,000 fans--dubbed the Backstreet Boys Official Online Street Team--to assist them in promoting the album. ("Street teams"--in which fans literally take to the streets of their neighborhoods to promote a band--have been around for some time.) The fans receive newsletters that importune them to do things like write about the new album on chat rooms, vote for the first single on MTV's "TRL," and pre-order the new album. One goal is to create in the minds of the fans the idea that they are BSB insiders. One of the marketing jagoffs, referring to a similar effort on behalf of 'NSync, was quoted as saying, "The kids themselves started to challenge one another within the group, not to just buy one record or two records, but to buy three and four copies because they were so focused on beating the Backstreet Boys' first-week SoundScan record." Whoa. What? If any member of 'NSync's or Backstreet Boys' "street team" is reading this: It's A Cult. You Must Bail Immediately. Marketing People Are Not Your Friends. They Laugh At You During Lunch. That Laughter Masks Their Virulent Self-Loathing. And What The Hell Do You Need More Than One Copy Of A CD For? And Why The Hell Do You Care About Someone's SoundScan Record? Bail. Spread The Word. Be Your Own Street Team. From staff reports, compiled by opinionated James Woster. Comment on this item. Next Item: JIVE TALKIN' Prev Item: Backstreet Boys' New 'Black & Blue' Album Aims For Diversity