AMA my CGM for ROI please

Just got my latest AMA email newsletter in.  I want to say that I love the AMA (American Marketing Association.)  Up here we have the CMA (Canadian Marketing Association) and let's just say the CMA is the hick cousin of the AMA.

I tend to scan the AMA stuff pretty quickly as it dresses very traditionally.  But one article really caught my attention this week.

"Consumer-generated media (CGM) might be creating buzz among consumers, but most senior marketers remain sceptical about its value, according to a recent survey"

Nothing surprising there, eh?

But the "Just 12% of respondents rated CGM as being 'very important' to their marketing platforms" bowled me over.  It was way higher than I expected.  In a world where we are still fighting to get a decent share of budgets shifted to online, I didn't expect anyone to label CGM as very important to their marketing efforts. 

"One reason that senior marketers might be reluctant to embrace CGM is a general wariness about turning control over to consumers"

Ah.  Good old control.  The piper plays on.

And it's all summed up rather eloquently with this quote, "These marketers basically address the consumer empowerment trend by using Web sites to get consumer feedback."  Ouch.

Full AMA article.