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This "Open Letter To All Of Advertising And Marketing" (in which the author chastises "agencies and marketing" for assuming he had nothing better to do with his time than submit videos about sausages on a microsite) made me laugh a few weeks ago. As the developer of many a microsite, there's been times I've stopped to think "why would anyone do [upload/create/record/submit] to this garbage?" Much of ad agency work feels like a giant creative circle-jerk sometimes, but I think we can all point to recent success of the Old Spice campaign to find an example of truly engaging consumers to respond to a brand in a meaningful way.

That being said, as much as I do not care for crowd-sourcing campaigns, they are not as worthless as this fictional character in the open letter might indicate. It's all about rewarding participants for their creativity. Take my wife's recent (not open) letter to Taco Time into consideration:

Dear Taco Time,

The Taco Time on Elliot is one of my faves in Seattle. My first job was with TT in Spokane on Grand Ave about ... 15 years ago and I have been a religious patron of Taco Time ever since! I joke with my husband that the house that is for sale on 45th Ave (in Seattle) next to the Wallingford Taco Time was meant to be my house :) I love TT so much I want to have you as a neighbor.

Thanks for the great food. I think you should open a few in Albuquerque, NM where I went to college and missed Taco Time so much I almost had to have it Fed Ex'ed to me, which I would have done had I thought the food would be any good when it arrived.

Please consider bringing back your old Nachos recipe which was basically your uber fresh tortilla chips with shredded cheddar cheese, meat, beans, REAL sour cream and ESPECIALLY the enchilada sauce you used to make which was AMAZING and I totally miss it. That and the real sour cream too come to think of it. Your stuff was amazing with full fat sour cream :) If you cannot bring back the enchilada sauce from ten years ago, may I have the recipe?

Sincerely,

Bridget - your number one fan.

Think Bridget would make a video for some free Taco Time?