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| Lincoln |
"Thank you Forge," said Lincoln. "This catches me somewhat unprepared, but I think I can give you a brief overview from Central's perspective."
"As you know, BigCorp's business is word of mouth marketing, a.k.a. WOMM. We give ordinary people the opportunity to use product placements in their personal communications, and we compensate them well for the favour."
"You're probably all familiar with the protocol. How many of you have received a BigCorp placement bounty in the last week? Show of hands?"
Everyone in the room raised their hands.
"So you know what I'm talking about," said Lincoln. "How many received 10% or more of their income from BigCorp bounties? Hands up."
Everyone raised their hands again.
"Ok, so we have a room full of influencers here. You people are the ones your friends and neighbours look to as models for how to live, where to go, what to do, and of course what to buy. Congratulations on being exemplary members of society."
"What you may not know is that WOMM is now the leading form of advertising, ahead of mass audience performances and social media. Collectively, WOMM revenue is about equal to the GDP of Spain."
"Another fun fact not many people know is that 78% of WOMM expenses are paid directly back to consumers, in the form of placement bounties. If the WOMM industry employed consumers directly, it would be the 4th largest employer in the world."
"Um, excuse me Lincoln," said Sarba, raising thas hand. "I should probably know this already, but how does BigCorp make its money?"
"Good question, Sarba," replied Lincoln. "Basically, we use personal conversation as an advertising medium. Every time we place a product in a casual exchange between friends, we can charge the vendor for that service."
"So paying bounties to people is a business expense for BigCorp?" said Sarba.
"Correct," said Lincoln. "We want to make it worthwhile for people to accommodate placements in their personal lives. We only hope the bounties we pay out are less than what we charge vendors, so there is some profit left for us.
Lyre raised thas hand. "Lincoln, how do you decide how much to pay for a bounty?"
"Ah, this is where it gets interesting," said Lincoln. "We estimate future sales based on how much influence the placer has at that moment. Placers with more influence will generate more sales, so they command a higher bounty."
"The data for this is supplied by your shurpa when tha negotiates the contract." said Lincoln. "We consider your Influence Index, based on the map of your social connections. There are also circumstantial factors like the time, location, and of course, other people in the conversation."
"Typically, your shurpa alerts you to product placement opportunities as they come up. If you're interested in one, then your shurpa negotiates a contract with BigCorp on the spot. Once there is agreement, and you make the drop, then your shurpa submits the recordings and a claim for payment. The whole process is usually wrapped up in a few seconds."
EagerShine raised thas hand: "What if a person doesn't know what to say about a product?"
"We have an art department for that. They can typically supply a choice of conversational gambits. We find humour works well. Then it's between a person and thas shurpa to actually make the drop."
"You must have had that conversation a few times with your own shurpas. Oh, sorry EagerShine, I forgot you are a shurpa. Well, your owner will be able to fill you in on the details."
"Which brings me to the project we're starting today," said Lincoln. "BigCorp has pioneered a lot of the wild WOMM landscape, and this project is just another round of fencing, so to speak. We need to separate the domestic animals from the wild animals and predators."
"In the vast majority of product placements, the people involved are sincere and honest. In a small number of cases, the product comments are, realistically, not eligible for payment. Some cases are actually misrepresentations or outright fraud. Those are the ones that damage reputations and give this industry a bad name. I want you to identify them and run them off. That is the objective of this project. Any questions?"
"Excuse me Lincoln," said Lyre. "Can a person receive a bounty if tha says 'Drive a Buick' to anyone at random?"
Lincoln glared back at Lyre for a long minute, as if trying to decide if tha could be trusted. "Unfortunately, yes, that is the case. And that is exactly what I'm talking about."