Current Issues in Marketing Strategy

The strategy behind their chat room is simple, engage people, interact with them and increase their dedication to the show.  Asking the 'experts' to stay online not only attracts people to log on, but also gives them a level of credibility that helps to position their show and online offering as more professional that the rest of the pack.  This being said, it is one of the most disappointing online experiences going around.

I have hoped on the several occasions that I have logged on that I could engage in some meaningful discussion or debate, throwing ideas up and improving my general knowledge.  What I found instead was a group of the lowest common denominator, people that got online purely to show off their ignorance or ruin everyone else's experience.  Take the example of a gay stage dancing couple that were taking their shows to the world.  Do you think anyone asked a serious question in the forum?  Instead it was filled with 'homophobic', racist and bigoted scum of society that ruined any chance of meaningful discussion.

The effect on 60 minutes is damage to their image, position and don't forget the cost of running the forum in the first place.  Why bother doing something if you are not going to do it right?  

I love the product extension, it works to engage customers and it seems very professional.  Why then they don't run it professionally is beyond me.  If you position yourself as an expert then you should run your products in the same way.  Your product offering must be consistent or you lose all branding advantages

It would not be hard to moderate the comments, but the cost of an extra salary is obviously too high.  Some marketers argue that censorship is an easy way to ruin a brand, in this case not doing so is the lesser of two evils.