Considering the industry in which I am employed, I figure it’s important for me to be transparent.



What is “being transparent”?

It’s letting you know that I do work for an internet marketing company, and that it’s okay to identify me as someone who works for said industry.



“Internet Marketing”? Are you a spammer?

Holy crap, no way! However, I do write to people I don’t know on a regular basis in the hopes of establishing professional contacts. As to be expected, not being in everyone’s respective address books can very well drop me into a spam folder. The reason I am not spam is because I am a real person, and I write real emails. And yes, writing to strangers every day is very risky business. I say that I am real because I do not treat people like numbers – I do seek genuine conversation and meaningful professional relationships that are willing to talk about brands, and intend to engage with consumers so that their candid feedback can then be used as qualitative analysis for my clients.



The nature of my work is definitely more complex than just emailing people, but the point of this section is to let you know that you may or may not be contacted by me, or my coworkers, regarding what you may have blogged about – and that you shouldn’t be afraid to reply, because I am not a bot.



So who do you work for?

These guys.



Is this blog a marketing blog?

Nope. It’s my own personal blog. Though news in my industry does sometimes appeal to me enough to be blogworthy, this blog is my own, so I’m not faking it. As indicated before, I am a real person, and my thoughts are my own.



And my company knows I blog. And they know I’m this silly.



Why is this disclaimer section even important?

Did you know that over 20% of the conversations you have contain branding? When you go to a bar and ask for a Jack and Coke, you are asking for Jack Daniel’s and Coca Cola, not necessarily whiskey and cola. When you talk about sports teams, professional teams are franchises and college teams are directly linked with institutions. When you ask for a Sharpie, you could have just asked for a marker or a felt pen, but you chose to identify a company. In my parents’ home country of the Philippines, nail polish remover is simply Cutex. As a literature major in college, I fell in love with certain publishers and found that I preferred certain editions over others. Even unsigned bands in the underground count as intellectual properties. Hell, you wouldn’t even be reading this if it weren’t for WordPress.



My point here is that branding is everywhere. This is not necessarily a panic about how ubiquitous corporations have become because every country has entities that produce goods and services and that’s not really anything to get riled up about. You can have your own opinion about establishments that create goods and services and that’s all good and fine. I won’t try to convince you one thing is good, bad, better, or worse in any direction because I’m not in the business of spin control.



I am in the business of following that 20% of conversations that involve products and brands, and helping to connect consumers with the brands that create the products they use. The world is one giant focus group, and the only way to create better goods and services is to draw peoples’ attentions to those goods and services and to ask how they feel about them.



Conversations.  That’s it.  And the internet is the ice-breaker.



Consumers, you have more control than you think. I hope you aware of that.



I heard I can get free [whatever] from you! How do I do that?

Write me at nico [at] rocketxl.com – if I’m working on a relevant campaign you’d like to join, then all’s fair game! Keep in mind I can’t get a hold of every product for which you might want a review/promotional copy, so ask me what campaigns are active and I can help you out / hook you up, as well as let you know how our campaigns work.