A Thriving B2B Community

Thanks once again to a student for pointing out a great site. BobKent.net proves that B2B marketers can have a sense of humor. More important, it makes a great case for using social media techniques for B2B branding (and probably lead generation).

Ok, so it’s sort of techie humor. But try some of the links; you’ll see that it’s not beyond us marketers if we happen to stumble upon it. That’s a bit more than you can say for the firm itself. Blue coat is a leader in the field of WAN optimization, if you know what that is. They also provide security of website applications, and that’s where Bob Kent (who likes to download movies at work) comes in.
Bob is the star of his own videos and they are set up to be shared with your friends and colleagues.











He has his own MySpace (and also Facebook, but it's hard to find) page.








He posts videos on YouTube.






Throughout the branding is subtly done, but it’s there. The genius of all this is that it is entertaining at the same time it’s brand relevant. Every office has a Bob, and it’s the job of the IT managers to control his network-abusive behavior.
There are invitations to submit content, join contests--a variety opportunities to interact with the community.

This is a great job—one that ought to send all B2B marketers to their creative drawing boards and may also give some branding hints to their B2C cousins!
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