I sent a similar "letter" like this to one of many, many companies that sent me into nerdrage. It may be motivated by anger, but it's not untrue. It really doesn't serve as much of an argument as I would like, mainly because I don't cite my references (which I don't feel like re-researching at just this moment, although, this information was quite novel to me and my student advertising group when we first found it three years ago). Also, this could be a very, very rough first draft of a future full argument. As it concerns media in the modern age, I thought it mind find a temporary home here.
Dear Sir or Ma'am:
Welcome to the twenty-first century. It has come to my attention that you are behind in your marketing techniques, so please consider this one of many pieces of advice you'll need to pick up to keep your target market interested and paying.
Corporate names have a larger weight with consumers than in previous decades. If Coca-Cola works with volunteers to raise money for a charity, then Coca-Cola has done something to earn the consumers' trust. If Viacom pulls an episode of South Park off the air for "questionable content," consumers retaliate by deliberately not purchasing product and trading copyrighted material. These may appear to be public relations and law issues, respectively; however, the way consumers respond to these events directly affects sales. A company that does not care about its sales would ignore this. A wise company will use this to their advantage.
In the current globalized market, websites like Google, YouTube, and eBay allow consumers to share product across cultures and geography, virally advertising the products they enjoy. This style of word-of-mouth advertising is far more efficient, productive, and rewarding than any prepared and budgeted campaign. Many older generation executives fear this brave, new world-wide-web, believing—incorrectly—that it can only hurt sales by allowing a product to be made free. However, and most fortunately for the companies that are attuned to the younger generations and their incredible buying power, this is not the case. Generation Y, and even many of their X predecessors, "browse" product online, looking for something they are willing to spend their money on. A high quality product, invariably shown in poor quality on streaming sites like YouTube, will pull in more sales from interested potential consumers than no word-of-mouth advertising at all. Getting consumers interested in a product and hiding nothing from them will turn into willing cash. Money returns to the state it was initially created for: the producer and the consumer both show trust, and money merely becomes a bartering tool for the product in question between agreeable parties.
Please consider this the next time you "block" content from YouTube, as YouTube displays you company name in the block message. You do your company a great disservice.
Rachel Quinn
Lamar University
NSAC Best in Media award winner, 2007
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