BCM admits ‘handful’ of staff left 5-star reviews on government education app they built
Astroturfing: BCM staff left 5-star reviews of the Learning Potential app
Ad agency BCM has admitted “a handful” of staff have left glowing reviews for a government education app they created on the Apple and Google app stores.
Kevin Moreland, owner of the Brisbane-based independent confirmed “six or seven” of the agency’s 65 staff had left positive reviews for the Learning Potential app in the Google Play and App Store.
But he stressed they did so without the “encouragement or knowledge” of The Department of Education which commissioned the $1.1m project.
They’re not the only agency to have done that but what I can’t fathom is why on Android and Apple App Stores these apps have been submitted under a BCM Partnership developer account instead of an account owned and controlled by the client.
The clients are trapped with this agency forever now.
Poor form BCM and I suspect an ill-informed client.
Top quality response from BCM. Very helpful and easy to read. 5 Stars.
Is Kevin Moreland a descendant of Hound Dog Taylor?
There aren’t too many 6 or 7 fingered handfuls. just makes it sound like a bad cover up
Naughty naughty BCM.
But you are not alone……
Uncomfortable silence … rate our own apps 5 star? Er…. never…. er….
gaming or Stuffing app reviews is hardly new or uncommon. Far more interesting is the fact that the Department of Education apparently paid $1.1m to get the app built!!
Pathetic when you consider that everyday people distrust our industry as it is. BCM should have spent media dollars scaling awareness of the app rather than dishonestly pumping up the ratings to drive engagement. And they did this with tax payer funds as well! Shameful
Agree with Mitch – no wonder they were all so happy with it!
Time for the Department of Education and Training to move on and work with a different agency…
And here i am not even realising the Department of Education had an app.. I’ve obviously been missing out on a 5-star, best-app-ever experience
it seems they spent all their time and money trying to make it seem like they made a good app, instead of spending all of their time and money making a good app.
Who Cares? If this helps them get a good app into people’s hands then good on them. It doesn’t cost money to download so the worst result is some wasted data and time. The public will decide if it is good or not; they’re not stupid. If you’re upset by this, your belief in the power of advertising is misplaced.
@James — i could think of many things I would rather see $1m+ of taxpayers/ money spent on.