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in a manner that doesn't conflict with both the conventional marketing plan
and the e-marketing program.
Blogging your life away
Mrs O was in Strasbourg, France on 3 April 2009 where she visited Rohan
Palace with another equally well-known Mrs, to the delight of photographers
whose cameras didn't stop snapping. Later that night, she had dinner with her
husband and several other equally famous couples and again camera flashes
popped in her face. Mrs O wore an elegant black dress by Azzedine Alaïa to
the dinner and raised frenzy because, as an American with great influence,
this choice of designer was unexpected. Within minutes of her arrival for the
dinner and while she was still dining, pictures of her in the AA dress showed
up on the Internet and one of the destinations of its debut was the blog Mrs.O
(www.mrs-o.org), an independent blog dedicated entirely to tracking Mrs O's
every public move and reporting particularly on her personal fashion choices
and her status as a style icon (see Figure 3.2). Within minutes of the blog
post, whose text was as short as 160 words, comments from the blog's readers
appeared on the website and votes for her outfit began to be cast. By less than
half a day and while Mrs O might have still been sleeping following a busy
evening, the blog post had generated up to 273 comments and 251 votes had
been cast, giving her outfit a 4.5 star rating out of 5 stars.
The ensuing conversations by the blog readers included more images of
Mrs O which they had forwarded, linked and shared while the discussion went
on. Meanwhile, Azzedine Alaïa's name had been mentioned a few hundred times
and questions about him had been asked and answered as the readers conversed
among themselves. Someone even asked why he didn't have a website if he
was such an iconic designer. Also within minutes, the store where the dress was
bought was revealed and the model of the dress was divulged as well as its price.
The undertone of the conversations was admiration and adulation while the enthu-
siasm that the commentators had for discussing Mrs O was very much apparent.
By now you have probably guessed who Mrs O is and why a blog has been
consecrated to her. Since the US President Barack Obama assumed office in
January 2009, the media has been in an over-drive frenzy reporting on his and
his wife's every move. On the Internet, most of the news about Mr Obama has
been of course on news publications' websites but the online discussions about
Mrs Obama have been more on blogs linked to politics, fashion, lifestyle and
women than on standard news media websites, even those that allow people to
comment on articles. And now that a blog has been dedicated to Mrs Obama,
a destination has been born not only for her admirers, but also for those keen
on following the fashion and style that Mrs O embodies including the luxury
brands that she endorses through wearing their collections. This may look like
a simple website but my inkling is that this blog will act as a propagator of high
fashion designers worldwide
à la
Mrs O. It will also be a breeding ground for
