WE'RE JUST SO AUTHENTICALLY GRATEFUL

摘要

Should banks, carmakers, and other companies getting federal bailouts run marketing campaigns "thanking" taxpayers for giving them a hand? Some experts in relationship marketing-which focuses less on driving immediate sales and more on building ties with consumers-say thank-you messages can help companies bond with their customers. "A show of gratitude is a significant driver of relationships in business," says Randle Raggio, an assistant marketing professor at Louisiana State University and the author of a new Harvard Business Review case study on whether bailout recipients should say thanks.rnPR and marketing strategists have long encouraged companies seeking tornregain favor with the public to be open, honest, and humble. But a number of experts say adding "grateful" to that list may not work in the case of bailouts. In thanking taxpayers "for something they did not do voluntarily," notes Atlanta PR strategist Paul Pendergrass, "you run a significant risk of irritating a lot of people." Indeed, after the bailed-out Chrysler ran full-page "Thank You America" ads in USA Today and The Wall Street Journal last December, the blogosphere was alive with complaints that the move wasted taxpayer money.