aTypical Joe: a gay New Yorker living in the rural South

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Customers creating ads

CNet reports that advertisers are looking to grassroots marketing:

In a world where blogs are as common as bumper stickers and YouTube has made viral videos as hot as Napster downloads were in their heyday, it’s no wonder marketers are looking to John Q. Public for ideas. Corporations are jumping on the viral bandwagon in an attempt to appeal to a population for which decrying advertising has become a philosophically based rallying cry. [...]

“Traditional marketing methods have fallen short,” Decker said in explaining why he expects viewer-created ads to take off in the market, particularly for the 18- to 34-year-olds who watch Current TV. “This demographic does not respond positively to something overly produced and (that is a) hard sell.”

Of course ads in the hands of customers can be a double-edged sword:

A case of user-generated content gone awry happened just last week when a do-it-yourself ad campaign similar to MasterCard’s but for General Motors’ Chevy Tahoe SUV was used by people to make “ads” that were critical of the company. The spots showed the car driving over rugged roads against majestic mountains 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.

Smart GM. Good they didn’t listen to their ad people. Here’s a bit of advertising wisdom I particularly like:

[D]espite their personal experience as consumers, viewers won’t necessarily understand the brand and product positioning, the audience segmentation and the corporate message.”

This after Greg Stuart, chief executive of nonprofit trade group the Interactive Advertising Bureau, observed that “about 65 percent of ads either miss on motivations or messaging.”

Rocketboom included the GM ad in yesterday’s segment. Here are three user-created ads for major consumer brands: Converse, Loreal and VW.