Recently, my mom sent me an email about safety. One of those emails that’s been around the block a time or two, know what I’m sayin’? With the list of forwarded email addresses a mile long. That kind. I skimmed it—you should too, when you read it below—and initially thought it was pretty unremarkable. But I was wrong, because it says something rather interesting towards the end. See if you catch it. Straight from Lois:
> Wonder how many
> people know about this ~
>
> A 36 year old female had an accident several weeks ago
> and totaled her car. A resident of Kilgore ,
> Texas she was traveling between Gladewater &
> Kilgore. It was raining, though not excessively,
> when her car suddenly began to hydro-plane
> and literally flew through the air. She was
> not seriously injured but very stunned at the
> sudden occurrence! When she explained
> to the highway
> patrolman what had happened he told her something
> that every driver should know – NEVER DRIVE IN THE
> RAIN WITH YOUR CRUISE CONTROL ON. She
> thought she was being cautious by setting
> the cruise control and maintaining a safe
> consistent speed in the rain…..But the highway
> patrolman told her that if the cruise control is
> on when your car begins to hydro-plane and your tires
> lose contact with the pavement, your car
> will accelerate to a higher rate of speed making
> you take off like an airplane. She told the
> patrolman that was exactly what had occurred. The
> patrolman said this warning should be listed, on the
> driver’s seat sun-visor - NEVER USE THE CRUISE
> CONTROL WHEN THE PAVEMENT IS WET OR ICY, along
> with the airbag warning. We tell our teenagers to set
> the cruise control and drive a safe speed – but we
> don’t tell them to use the cruise control only when
> the pavement is
> dry.
> The only person the accident victim found, who knew
> this (besides the patrolman), was a man who had a
> similar accident, totaled his car and sustained
> severe injuries. NOTE: Some
> vehicles (like the Toyota Sienna Limited XLE) will
> not allow you to set the cruise control when
> the windshield wipers are on.
>
> If you send this to 15 people and only one of them
> doesn’t know about this, then it was all worth it.
> You might have saved a life.
>
Did you catch it?
Yep, product placement. And really, cruise control in the rain? Would anyone really do that? I smell something a little fishy here. I have no idea whether Toyota had anything to do with this email, but I sort of hope they did. Because this email shows that in 2009, the forwarded email is still partying like it’s ten years ago. Still a great place for marketing, and naturally, copywriting. My Mom and people of her generation are e-mail fiends. And now, they’re catching the Facebook wave. What are the folks born between 1947 and 1964 doing on twenty- and thirty- somethings’ beloved Facebook?
Same thing everyone else is. They want in on the fun, the photos, the updates about their friend’s cat’s eating disorder. My Mom has a Facebook page (I just sent her my friend request; I hope she accepts), but she still uses email as her primary mode of communication, for now. Which is interesting news for marketers trying to tap into the boomer market. It makes sense; viral marketing and the coveted “Digg” or “Stumble” or what have you, is founded on the premise of the heavily forwarded email. And if my mom and her peeps are still forwarding emails while maintaining a presence on Facebook, this straddle effect is a primo opportunity for marketers to dump the slapstick-loving brojocks (Tag antiperspirant, Jackass) and start focusing on this older, and perhaps more refined, audience (Wines, pet luxury items, and other things my Mom likes that I consider uninteresting).
I’m not the only one who thinks so. Facebook is big, but did you know that a certain bluebird-themed social media giant owes a large part of its success to its older users?
Naturally, not everyone likes this trend. But the people who can properly tap into this presence are gonna win, big time. Especially with the recession, when disposable income for many in the lower age bracket is on the decline.
