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Apple didn't really acknowledge the ad, but some companies may face problems from seemingly professional but unsanctioned ads.
"It doesn't take a large ad agency and hundreds, if not millions, of dollars to create an ad anymore," said Gordy Abel, vice president of marketing at the Carat Fusion marketing firm. The fan-created iPod ad "was one of the first standouts in terms of people stepping back and saying here is an unsolicited advertisement for a major brand that is pretty spot-on and has major production value."
There was the mysterious fake ad last year that featured a Volkswagen Polo and a terrorist whose suicide bombing attack is thwarted when the blast is confined to the inside of the car. Volkswagen denied any involvement in the ad and threatened to take legal action against its creators when the company suffered a public relations nightmare from critics who complained the video was politically incorrect.
"It was edgy and unpredictable and entertaining--all the hallmarks of really cool user-generated work--and it doubled as a brand message," said Monahan. "It happened to be in terrible taste, but I think it opened a lot of peoples' eyes."
A case of user-generated content gone awry emerged just last week when a do-it-yourself ad campaign for General Motors' Chevy Tahoe SUV was used by people to make "ads" that were critical of the company and its product. The spots showed the car, against a backdrop of rugged mountains, driving over rugged roads while messages appeared onscreen accusing GM of contributing to global warming. GM responded on Monday by saying it would not remove content merely because it had a negative tone.
"Homemade ads are great when they reflect well on your brand, but they could just as easily reflect poorly on it," said Gary Stein, strategy director at Ammo Marketing, a marketing agency focused on word-of-mouth. "It is a bit of a phenomenon because more and more people have the ability to create video clips. The interesting thing is that some companies are trying to kick-start it a little bit."
Indeed, the trend has spawned a Web site at Fast Twitch Media that will function as a sort of community job board for people who want to try their hand at making commercials for brand names. Submissions to the site were shown at the inaugural San Francisco User-Generated Ad Show, an industry event presented last week by the Bay Area Interactive Group, a professional trade association for digital marketers.
"I can't imagine that ad agencies are happy about this," Greg Stuart, chief executive of nonprofit trade group the Interactive Advertising Bureau, said with a chuckle.
Marketers are desperately trying to do something about the fact that most ads are not successful in appealing to their audience, he said. "I will tell you I've done a lot of research about advertising and creative, and about 65 percent of ads either miss on motivations or messaging," he added.
As the Chevy Tahoe campaign showed, corporations take a risk when involving the public in creating their marketing. In addition to subversive elements that can hijack the process, there are worries that content used in viewer-created ads might not be original, which may pose copyright issues, experts said. And despite their personal experience as consumers, viewers won't necessarily understand the brand and product positioning, the audience segmentation and the corporate message, they said.
"I don't think it's a trend," said Mike Donahue, executive vice president of the American Association of Advertising Agencies. "Advertisers are always looking for creative opportunities to engage their brand users," he said. "However, it remains to be seen how long (user-created ads) will be used and how successful they will be."
Even the players banking on user-created ads say the ad agencies won't go out of business.
"There is no replacement for a multimillion-dollar agency spot with Puff Daddy and Beyonce," said Current TV's Decker. "Users can't afford Puff Daddy."
See more CNET content tagged:
advertiser, spot, campaign, Sony Corp., video
This article details well the risks and benefits of using such advertising with the exception of one huge benefit. Consider the cost savings and profit margin on a major advertising account from the view of an agency. Free creatives flowing from people who are already "fans" of a brand. Eliminate the cost of "creating" within the advertising agency and all of a sudden profits are up 1000%.
I would be wary were I the one being pitched the idea by my agency. I would also seek some sort of credit from the agency pitching a consumer generated campaign as the costs are so dramatically reduced.
But even if my agency were not forthcoming with these, I would definitely request to view the communications plan that will oversee the campaign output. I may even ask for a line item veto that enabled me to review all output before it was published or broadcast, and approved or denied it.
Of course, if my agency pitched a consumer generated media campaign to me, I may also just deny their request and produce it myself. That is just me though.
This article details well the risks and benefits of using such advertising with the exception of one huge benefit. Consider the cost savings and profit margin on a major advertising account from the view of an agency. Free creatives flowing from people who are already "fans" of a brand. Eliminate the cost of "creating" within the advertising agency and all of a sudden profits are up 1000%.
I would be wary were I the one being pitched the idea by my agency. I would also seek some sort of credit from the agency pitching a consumer generated campaign as the costs are so dramatically reduced.
But even if my agency were not forthcoming with these, I would definitely request to view the communications plan that will oversee the campaign output. I may even ask for a line item veto that enabled me to review all output before it was published or broadcast, and approved or denied it.
Of course, if my agency pitched a consumer generated media campaign to me, I may also just deny their request and produce it myself. That is just me though.
- Gotta love stizers [consumer generated ads]
- by lordtekken July 14, 2006 12:25 AM PDT
- I think stizers [consumer generated advertising] have great market potential in coming years. Should be interesting to see how it works out.
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