Trendsurfing: Consumer-created ads (The Times)
By David Rowan
There's a new way to get ahead in advertising - and it doesn't involve working in the ad industry. With all the amateur podcasters, bloggers and video mashers taking on the mainstream media, it was inevitable that marketers too would spot an opportunity to harness their customers' creativity. All of a sudden, brands from Mercedes Benz to MasterCard are inviting ordinary punters to make their commercials, promising cash or kudos for the best efforts submitted. It's a trend that neatly builds buzz while potentially saving a huge chunk of the "official" ad budgets. Yet by handing power to the unpredictable consumer, some marketers are finding their messages slipping dangerously out of control.
It's obvious why the trend is currently whizzing through corporate marketing departments. Rather than treat consumers as passive targets for commercial sales pitches, it draw them into the ad-making process and forces them to think about the product's virtues. In some cases, they are directed to an official website where they can download video clips and logos to mix together themselves; in others, they are invited to create half-minute clips from scratch, which they email back for others to vote on. The most successful ads may achieve the marketers' dream of "going viral" - finding their way into thousands of email in-trays and spreading the message to otherwise hard-to-reach demographics.
Nike's at it, using an online gallery to display consumer-submitted clips that embody "the values and spirit" of its Converse sneakers. The commercials selected earn their creators $1,000, but if they are subsequently used on television channels such as MTV, the bounty rises to $10,000 - big bucks for bedroom Spielbergs, but a fraction of a conventional ad-creative budget. According to David Maddocks, Converse's VP of global marketing, the campaign is "facilitating a conversation" with its customer base. That conversation seems to be having a direct bearing on revenue: AdAge magazine reported that online shoe sales doubled the month after the gallery launched.
MasterCard is at the party, using its priceless.com website to solicit commercials - built around its "Priceless" slogan - that it proclaims "could be seen by millions of people". Burger King is also playing, partnering with the video-hosting site Heavy.com to show short films in which people are shown wearing masks featuring "The King", used in recent promotional campaigns. But the biggest leap yet into the amateur-ad industry was taken in February by Current TV, the cable channel backed by Al Gore. Announcing partnerships with Sony Electronics, L'Oreal and Toyota, the channel invited young filmmakers and video producers to submit what it calls "V-Cams" - viewer-created ad messages - to compete for airtime. You may be wondering who would devote their weekends to becoming mere corporate marketing appendages. Oddly, plenty of people, their entries already pouring in to sing the praise of the Sony Handycam or the Toyota Yaris.
Still, the Saatchis and Bogles may not be pushed out of business just yet. The trouble with ceding creative control is that corporate marketers can find their brands slipping seriously off message. Volkswagen learned this the hard way last year, when an unauthorised clip doing the email rounds showed a suicide bomber's Polo survive an explosion unscathed. This year it's General Motors' turn to be red-faced, over an online contest inviting ads to promote its new Chevy Tahoe. Strangely, the most talked-about version zipping across the net calls it "the ultimate padded cell" that's destroying the environment. Worst of all, they can't even fire the agency.
(The Times Magazine, April 15 2006)
There's a new way to get ahead in advertising - and it doesn't involve working in the ad industry. With all the amateur podcasters, bloggers and video mashers taking on the mainstream media, it was inevitable that marketers too would spot an opportunity to harness their customers' creativity. All of a sudden, brands from Mercedes Benz to MasterCard are inviting ordinary punters to make their commercials, promising cash or kudos for the best efforts submitted. It's a trend that neatly builds buzz while potentially saving a huge chunk of the "official" ad budgets. Yet by handing power to the unpredictable consumer, some marketers are finding their messages slipping dangerously out of control.
It's obvious why the trend is currently whizzing through corporate marketing departments. Rather than treat consumers as passive targets for commercial sales pitches, it draw them into the ad-making process and forces them to think about the product's virtues. In some cases, they are directed to an official website where they can download video clips and logos to mix together themselves; in others, they are invited to create half-minute clips from scratch, which they email back for others to vote on. The most successful ads may achieve the marketers' dream of "going viral" - finding their way into thousands of email in-trays and spreading the message to otherwise hard-to-reach demographics.
Nike's at it, using an online gallery to display consumer-submitted clips that embody "the values and spirit" of its Converse sneakers. The commercials selected earn their creators $1,000, but if they are subsequently used on television channels such as MTV, the bounty rises to $10,000 - big bucks for bedroom Spielbergs, but a fraction of a conventional ad-creative budget. According to David Maddocks, Converse's VP of global marketing, the campaign is "facilitating a conversation" with its customer base. That conversation seems to be having a direct bearing on revenue: AdAge magazine reported that online shoe sales doubled the month after the gallery launched.
MasterCard is at the party, using its priceless.com website to solicit commercials - built around its "Priceless" slogan - that it proclaims "could be seen by millions of people". Burger King is also playing, partnering with the video-hosting site Heavy.com to show short films in which people are shown wearing masks featuring "The King", used in recent promotional campaigns. But the biggest leap yet into the amateur-ad industry was taken in February by Current TV, the cable channel backed by Al Gore. Announcing partnerships with Sony Electronics, L'Oreal and Toyota, the channel invited young filmmakers and video producers to submit what it calls "V-Cams" - viewer-created ad messages - to compete for airtime. You may be wondering who would devote their weekends to becoming mere corporate marketing appendages. Oddly, plenty of people, their entries already pouring in to sing the praise of the Sony Handycam or the Toyota Yaris.
Still, the Saatchis and Bogles may not be pushed out of business just yet. The trouble with ceding creative control is that corporate marketers can find their brands slipping seriously off message. Volkswagen learned this the hard way last year, when an unauthorised clip doing the email rounds showed a suicide bomber's Polo survive an explosion unscathed. This year it's General Motors' turn to be red-faced, over an online contest inviting ads to promote its new Chevy Tahoe. Strangely, the most talked-about version zipping across the net calls it "the ultimate padded cell" that's destroying the environment. Worst of all, they can't even fire the agency.
(The Times Magazine, April 15 2006)
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