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Sophie Falkiner lands AMP shopping role; about to get a whole load more 'friends'

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Fearless in his pursuit of the latest scoop, the Newshound will stop at nothing to deliver the daily bulletin. Send the Newshound an email if you have something you think is newsworthy.

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The Newshound is seeing a worrying trend developing across mainstream marketing channels, where everyone is suddenly becoming everyone else's mate, and he's sure we've got social media sites like Facebook to thank.

On Facebook, The Newshound is pretty popular - nearly 360 friends and counting. Odd then that weekends aren't more insane for this socially sedate pooch. But I think most of us understand that many of our Facebook 'friends' are stretching the definition of that term to new extremes. Been poked lately? Let's be friends! Beat me at Scrabulous? Wanna be buddies? But it seems that the rather weak definition of 'friend' being popularised by social media is finding its way into more traditional marketing campaigns with increasing frequency.

So when the appointment of the lovely Sophie Falkiner as ambassador for the AMP Capital Shopping Centres for the next three years was announced today, you do wonder how much time Shaun Swanger, AMP Capital Shopping Centres CEO, had been spending on social networking sites when he decided to position Sophie as every shopper's 'friend in the know'.

Sophie chips into the debate by offering her own definition of what being a 'friend in the know' actually means. "My job is to help customers and I will do this through sharing tips, opinions and experiences much like you would with a best friend, mum or partner." Seems like she's going to be pretty busy dishing out sagely styling tips, as she just acquired 'friends' across 41 shopping centres in Australia and New Zealand.

Shaun Swanger also added "through our centres Sophie is able to share a laugh, joke or tip with shoppers and by doing so, help us connect with them and add some value to their shopping experience." I seriously hope they have discussed Sophie's contractual obligations clearly with the "striking 34-year old Mum to three-year old Isabella" - well she's going to be spending an awful lot of time laughing, though the joke might be on AMP's marketing department.

Are customers really supposed to see Sophie as a friend in anything but the flaky Facebook sense? Yeah, sure, Tom is my friend on MySpace, but the fact that he's also friends with 100 million other people does sort of cheapen the bond we have. I mean, what are the chances that most of us will ever get a chance to experience the value of Sophie's shopping experience? Or get a chance to share a laugh with the TV presenter about her favourite hair elastic?

The Newshound's view?

All jokes aside, surely this kind of promise can't be delivered upon? Or maybe it just doesn't matter. Call me cynical, but perhaps just having a pretty face around the same age as a key target demographic to plaster all over your real estate is, well, just what it is.

3 Comments

sizzle
  • Wrote on 10 Jun, at 01:18PM
Hilarious. Couldn't agree more.
Tony@TacticalTV
  • Wrote on 10 Jun, at 04:09PM
You clever dog. You have just noticed the Emperors new clothes are a nice shade of invisible.
Editor | Scotland
  • Wrote on 10 Jun, at 06:02PM
@Tony hahah - I know this was kind of an obvious one to point out, but then again from time to time you just have to point out the bleeding obvious, almost just to keep your own sanity in check.

In a broader sense though, I worry sometimes that this is what happens when marketing doesn't really get the nature of relationship management and sort of treats their most important asset like they are lobotomised lab rats, so devoid of social capital that they will somehow suspend their disbelief and consider an obvious marketing play their 'friend'.

It's patronising to say the least and doesn't take into account how much more savvy consumers are about marketing these days.

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