Marketing 2.0: HouseParty v. BzzAgent

I love the concept of marketing. I think it's a very essential part of your daily existence. We do this ourselves through Resume writing and by joining social networking websites such as Facebook, Orkut, etc. It's no wonder that companies of all sizes have been putting a lot of money into research, strategy and to the actual practice of marketing. Recently there have been two companies that I've been working with HouseParty and BzzAgent. Both of them allow users to market products to people in their own circles.

HouseParty is marketing through events. They have a bunch of events that the user applies for. If the application is accepted, they host a party, invite a bunch of friends (10+), take pictures. The party is paid for by the user themselves and
They get a kit that has napkins, cups, t-shirt, buttons and various gift bags for the attendees. The kit varies from event to to event. After applying to at least 15+ events, I got accepted to the Carnival Cruise Line. Mostly because the Carnival Cruise people were marketing quite heavily in the Baltimore - Washington DC area.
How was the party? Somewhat lame. I paid for the entire party, the gift bags were lame, they gave me a t-shirt and didn't ask me my size (so I'll never be wearing it), the activities were boring. It could have been so much better. Recently there was a South Beach Living House Party event that I had signed up for, and of course got rejected. A couple of days after the official party I got an email asking me to invite guests to the AfterParty. After emailing HouseParty, I was informed that AfterParty was a more informal way of marketing where there was no party package. Basically everyone that was filled out an application to the South Beach HouseParty were asked to invite guest to the AfterParty whether they wanted to or not. Why? Because it was free marketing for them. It was utterly lame like being invited to a Bridal Shower when you aren't invited to the wedding. I don't like to repeat adjectives or words in my blog but this post has forced me -- I find this company to be Lame. I will update this blog if anything changes my opinion of them. They lack tools and they don't inform the user. It's all about the company that pays the bills. Basically I'm selling my word, my integrity (with my group of friends) and that comes with a price, at least some free stuff.