Marketing Blurb generally avoids talking about CGM or consumer generated media.
We think the idea lacks merit, because companies still exercise editorial control over the results. But GM, MasterCard, and a number of other companies continue to experiment with CGM, allowing customer enthusiasts to create their own commercials. Now even Wal-Mart has decided to join the club by encouraging teens to create their own webpage at
Wal-Mart School Your Way. Teens can post home-made videos and win prizes. Winning videos will appear in a Wal-Mart television commercial.
Advertising Age calls the Wal-Mart site for teens “highly sanitized, controlled, and rather unhip.” Parents are notified when their children post content. The campaign is intended to encourage teens to shop for school clothes at Wal-Mart rather than trendier Target stores.
Marketing Blurb believes teens see right through this kind of quasi-cool approach. Of course, the only thing worse than shopping for threads, is actually wearing them to school.
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