In a response to Shay Segal’s blog post on “Doritos, Consumer-Generated Marketing”, I can’t agree more that consumer-generated marketing is an innovative, and cost effective approach to marketing that encourages conversation surrounding a brand. Traditionally, consumers are only on the receiving end of a marketing process. They want to interact to the ads, and commercials, but they cannot. Through consumer-generated marketing consumers are given the means to express the ideas, behaviour, and emotions they have surrounding a brand.
Furthermore, Using consumer-generated marketing, firms can really cut back on the costs associated with actually producing the commercial. To save more money, firms should also consider distributing these videos online, embedding it on websites or through youtube and other channels. These new methods of marketing is important in a world where traditional avenues of marketing are losing steam. A McKinsey & Co. study found that TV audiences are HALF what they were in 1990, DESPITE a 40% increase in prime time marketing dollars. Forrester Research says that 16% of people ages 18 to 26 are spending more time online than watching TV. In addition, this so-called “Gen Y” adopts new technology faster than any previous generation.
Despite the many advantages of consumer-generated marketing, there are also downsides. As Shay have stated in his blog post one of these disadvantages is that its hard to find a quality video amoing the thousands that are sent in. One thing that firms should also consider is how their brand is presented by the consumer-generated content. There are firms that want to maintain a certain brand image. For example, Toyota wants to maintain a brand image that is safe, reliable and competitive in price. Consumers may have different perspectives surrounding the brand than what the firm wants to communicate and maintain. These differing perspectives can leak out to any content that any consumers generate.
Consumer-generated marketing is a new, innovative and cost-effective form of marketing, but it may not work for every firm.
Examples of Consumer Generated Marketing:
This was a video ad made by a consumer
Really enjoyed your video clips and the statistics from McKinsey in your post, well done!