Blog yourself a free $5k Server..

A new twist on an old monetization angle: free stuff! Sun is offering a new server for evaluation just for asking, and if you blog about it (in a promotional way), it is yours to keep for free. But it doesn't look like the promotion is working as well as it should...

It sure sounds good... "blog for free stuff" is an attractive way to practice your promotional writing skills. In this case, however, it may be more interesting to see how Sun handles the whole promotion. It seems to me that I know a lot more about Sun's sales and operations problems now that I did 5 minutes ago when I enthusiastically looked at this free offer (and my impression is not very positive). I also have an impression that a $300 eMachines box running Linux can outperform a Solaris box for web apps, just from reading the comments and blogs about this promotion.

A while back Nick Wilson tried conversation-based advertising on ThreadWatch, and he has noted how laziness on the part of the vendor can cause it to backfire (when they don't do their homework or properly manage the conversation). I'd say this one is working against them so far. I went back three times to get Jonathan's last name but I couldn't find it. This promotion would have done better without the conversation.

It seems corporate blogs are making it easy for consumers to clarify claims and project branding. Which has more value? Transparency for the small hardcore consumer community, or public brand image projected to the larger public audience?