Consumer-Generated Marketing

As described on page 19 and 20 of the textbook, the term consumer-generated marketing describes marketing messages, ads, etc. that are created directly by consumers with or without the encouragement of the company whose product is depicted. This form of marketing can be an effective, low-cost method of spreading the word about a a market offering, but can sometimes backfire if consumers aren't pleased with the product or service.

A good example of a product that has resulted in a lot of negative consumer-generated marketing is Apple's new iPad. In this instance, many consumers were unimpressed with the product because it failed to provide many new features and hasn't effectively differentiated itself from other Apple products like the iPhone or Mackbook. The following link is to a video on collegehumor.com mocking Apple's promotional video for the iPad. The video highlights a few of the reasons that consumers are unimpressed and tries to satirize the overdramatic nature of Apple's own ad campaign. I have also included a link to Apple's original video. The College Humor video is much more entertaining if you've seen Apple's video first.


College Humor video:

WARNING: There is some adult language in the video. There is some swearing, but it's beeped out for the most part. However, if that kind of thing may offend you, you may just want to skip this video. Otherwise, enjoy a good laugh.

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1928558a>



Apple's original promotional video:

http://www.apple.com/ipad/#video


Scott Hardy, Section E