Don't Call Us...We'll Call You

That Tweet was followed by a tweet from MTV, about 3 hours later "What did you all think of the @katyperry 'E.T.' video?" 

I started talking to my friend about it and she said something kind of interesting:

 "Why would I tell MTV what I think about a Katy Perry video, who watches MTV anyway?!"

As a general observation people under 30 aren't interested in the branding that MTV is putting out there...they're not really interested in much branding at all. They don't seem to be terribly loyal to any brand, skeptical in fact. I mean the subtext of my friend's statement is riddled with disdain and a pinch of contempt. Naturally I asked a couple other people what they thought about brand messages they get on Twitter and most of the responses were...interesting...

·      On recording artists: Generally speaking people believe the artist is sending messages. People like the promotional aspect of their messages, i.e. new music videos, songs, merchandise, links, etc. Messages are not seen as direct advertisements, but "mutually sharing information."

·      On retail brands: Generally speaking younger people, teens, are skeptical and do not follow retail brands. They view messages as sales tactics, not genuine messages. Older people, twenty-somethings, only follow retail brands for promotional value, i.e. sales, coupons, and other deals.

·      On news brands: Generally speaking younger people do not follow news brands like Fox, CNN, NPR, BBC, or other news publications, they also do not follow authors. If they want to follow a literary source they will follow a 'character' source, much like the cast members of Glee and the characters of Glee. 

·      Young peoples are more likely to follow a specific show rather than a network.

·      Young peoples are generally unaware of ownership, i.e. MTV owns VH1, LOGO, and about 60 other channels that do not bare the MTV logo. 

It really seems to me that people under 30 have adopted a "Don't call us...We'll call you" mentality when it comes to branding. They don't want to be preached to, and they don't want you to ask them questions. So often my friends say, "Why are they asking me that?" or "Why do they want to know?" ...To which I reply because they want to know what you want, and if you like what they've got. Bottom line: Kid's don't care if you want to know what they want...they'll tell you what they want, all you have to do is listen passively. Let them come to you by providing them genuine information; they're a lot smarter than you think