Afraid of Commitment? Try a Pop-up Blog

In a bid to lower the barrier to entry that keep many corporations from beginning to blog, marketing services firm ElectricArtists has come up with an option for the commitment-phobic — the “pop-up” blog.

Unrelated to the loathsome pop-up ad but akin to the pop-up store, the pop-up blog is created with a clear lifespan set before it is launched. It pops up and fades away, and its brief life span corresponds with an event, product launch, or other time-sensitive cause, Marc Schiller, CEO and founder of ElectricArtists, told ClickZ News. It’s a concept that others have employed occasionally in the past, but Schiller is the first to give a moniker to the phenomenon.

“The number one reason not to start a Weblog is the commitment involved. You can hire an agency to launch it, and put a team together to run it, but adding a new project that needs annual focus — not just budget — is difficult,” Schiller said.

The pop-up blog ElectricArtists is currently working on is for the Fortune Innovation Forum, an event being held in New York at the end of November. The Business Innovation 2005 blog was launched in early October, and is set to come down on December 5, once the conference is over. Fortune is looking at the best way to maintain an archive of the material, he said.

The site is staffed by an editor, Dominic Basulto, a blogger and freelance journalist who contributes to Corante’s New York blog, among others. Basulto blogs about innovation-related stories from around the Web. His posts appear alongside several posts from conference speakers each day.

Because the blog has a definite end in sight, contributors are not afraid to commit to frequent posting, and are less likely to burn out, according to Schiller.

“There’s an incredible energy and focus around it. The immediacy adds another element that pushes the subject further every day,” Schiller said.

The benefit of creating a temporary blog rather than just creating a static section on the event’s site, or even a forum, is the level to which it spurs discussion and community around the site. By showcasing the ideas that will be highlighted at the event, and especially those of the expected speakers at the conference, part of the payoff will be for the blog to increase registrations for the event.

Schiller said he is in talks with other clients to launch pop-up blogs in coming weeks for TV shows and specials, film launches, events and product launches. Cable network A&E is currently using an ElectricArtists-created pop-up blog for its Inked series.