Russian stereotypes - ideas?
April 5, 2010 12:14 PM Subscribe
I am in charge of marketing efforts for an online parenting magazine catering to the Russian Community. Help me with ideas for promotion via social media.
The magazine is in English as well as Russian and the principal aim is to attract American readers, and not necessarily just those who have Russian/E European roots.
So, I thought, what do we have that is unique and interesting for the American community? The Russian connection. Therefore, we should play on what people typically think of when they think of Russia – bears, vodka, communism – and subvert these preconceptions into something humorous, at the same time helping to dispel stereotypes.
What kind of contest/promotion could we do that would play on these stereotypes –snow, furry hats, and so on – without alienating our current reader base? I was thinking ‘dress your dog up like a Soviet leader’ like artist Nina Maria Kleivan probably won’t go down well. (http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/scandinavian-artist-dresses-her-daughter-as-hitler-stalin/19403134 )
Please help me think of ideas, and if we choose one of them I'll post a link here.
The magazine is in English as well as Russian and the principal aim is to attract American readers, and not necessarily just those who have Russian/E European roots.
So, I thought, what do we have that is unique and interesting for the American community? The Russian connection. Therefore, we should play on what people typically think of when they think of Russia – bears, vodka, communism – and subvert these preconceptions into something humorous, at the same time helping to dispel stereotypes.
What kind of contest/promotion could we do that would play on these stereotypes –snow, furry hats, and so on – without alienating our current reader base? I was thinking ‘dress your dog up like a Soviet leader’ like artist Nina Maria Kleivan probably won’t go down well. (http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/scandinavian-artist-dresses-her-daughter-as-hitler-stalin/19403134 )
Please help me think of ideas, and if we choose one of them I'll post a link here.
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"What does Russia/Russian-American mean to you? Submit a photo/story/video that displays the best [and/or worst] of Russian culture and the best entry [in each category] will get [a year's supply of vodka]."
I doubt too many people reading a "parenting magazine" would really do something disrespectful or offensive, and you can put that stipulation in the small/not-so-small print.
I'm not really sure what type of contest/promotion/direction you're going for (or if you even know -- this is very vague) but I think it would be better to open it up to the community (the essence of social media) instead of presenting them with your idea of "Russian."
I'm not really sure how to go about attracting Americans without connections to the Russian community to a magazine catering to the Russian community, though. I think your magazine and marketing efforts should focus on the niche that you cater to instead of trying to do too much and risk alienating your target.
And I don't know how well you'd do on Facebook with a parenting magazine. You'd be better off getting in touch with the billion parenting & mommy blogs, although which ones have Russian/Eastern European links, I couldn't say.
posted by thebazilist at 10:28 AM on April 6, 2010