Duane Reade Woos New York City Bloggers
As I mentioned in my predictions post earlier this week there will be increased opportunities for bloggers to connect with brands in 2012. Duane Reade, New York’s powerhouse drugstore chain, is looking for 10 VIP bloggers to serve as brand advocates throughout the year. The drugstore chain is currently holding a New York City-wide blogger competition to find their top 10 bloggers.
For the 10 bloggers who are chosen, they will receive $200 in Duane Reade gift cards each month, be featured in a Duane Reade circular, attend high level corporate meetings and receive exposure through Duane Reade’s social media platforms.
Currently 10 New York City bloggers are already working on a separate Duane Reade sponsored campaign through Collective Bias. Melissa Chapman of The Staten Island Family recently wrote about shopping for dinner at Duane Reade.
“I’ve had the freedom to write three blog posts of my own choosing and engage with the brand as creatively as I’d like,” said Chapman. “They’ve been nothing but supportive, encouraging me to try their products and are incredibly respectful and solicitous of bloggers and our needs.”
If you are a New York City blogger read more about Duane Reade’s blogger contest on their Facebook page.
As one of the 10 NYC Bloggers working with Duane Reade and Collective Bias, i love that I am able to write what is relevant to my life which is quite freeing and so much fun. I have even enlisted my daughter to come with me as my photographer.
Hi Jill,
I’m the community director of Collective Bias and wanted to make sure that we fully addressed your concerns. Firstly, we would never expect a blogger to work without compensation. In this particular case, the $200 per month is the grand prize for the bloggers selected as winners.
As documented in the official rules, the winners will also have the opportunity to have their blogs featured in Duane Reade’s circular and on its website and to have the opportunity to attend in-store events in the New York City metro area.
Any further work that bloggers would provide to Duane Reade would be covered under a separate blogger agreement with additional compensation. The exact rules state:
A separate blogger agreement which will provide, among other things, that the Blogger writes up to 3 blog posts a month, share content via Twitter and Facebook, support Duane Reade in sharing promotions based on marketing calendar and PR initiatives through Twitter and Facebook and participate in corporate meetings, in-store events, the opportunity to participate in the opportunity to influence Duane Reade’s marketing calendar and serve as a brand advocate.
I appreciate that you love Collective Bias:) We are always looking out to make sure bloggers are fairly compensated for their work. Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any concerns about any of our programs. CourtneyVelasquez@CollectiveBias.com
I love Collective Bias and actually shop DR regularly but you left out the part about being required to write 2 blog posts/month for the year and I assume share ideas in these “high level board meetings.” Respectfully, a contest where the prize is to work for the brand, promoting it repeatedly in exchange for only gift cards, doesn’t woo this NYC blogger. Perhaps you’re merely applauding DR for offering anything at all, which is in contrast to the many brands unwilling to pay bloggers but this is not an example of the changes I personally expect to see in 2012. It merely reads as more of the same but with a slightly different gimmick.
Hi Jill – Admittedly I did not talk to the brand, but if there are events that the winners are required to attend and high level meetings where they offer blogger insights they should definitely be paid well for that on top of the Duane Reade gift cards.
I don’t have a problem with the gift cards in this case because it basically boils down to a $100 shopper credit per post and $200 in DR gift cards can go a long way at a drugstore.
That said, anything above and beyond the work on their blogs – like events and meetings – should definitely be compensated. I hope they don’t make the bloggers work for free in those cases.
Thanks so much for including me in your write-up–;)