Consumer Generated Content (CGC): A Threat or an Opportunity?

14
Feb

Consumer Generated Content (CGC): A Threat or an Opportunity?

Written on February 14, 2007 by Manuel Alonso Coto in ADVERTISING

Consumer Generated Comment is one of the most important alternatives to traditional advertising that are shaking the industry. Maybe most of consumers have not heard of it till a week ago, but the Doritos ad in the SuperBowl mid-time TV golden minute has been commented worlwide…. The 30 most expensive seconds of international advertising have been used to release content generated by consumers under a contest sponsored by the brand (Doritos, Crash the SuperBowl)…

Yahoo Video along with Doritos launched Crash the Super Bowl, a site where consumers could send them homemade Super Bowl commercials, with a chance for the winner to make it to prime time. Doritos selected 5 finalists from all submissions. Then consumers were allowed to determine which ad would be aired during the Super Bowl. All five finalists received $10,000 and a trip to Miami for a private Super Bowl viewing party. They received 1,060 30” movies and Dale Backus and Wes Phillips finally made it. This is the winning video that was broadcasted at the end:

Anyhow, consumer generated media – blogs, discussion boards, review sites, social network sites, etc. – has remained a prevalent subject in marketing industry discussions in the past year. How can marketers use this new medium to their advantage? Should CGC be considered an opportunity to promote the products and be part of our marketing strategy, or is it a threat that needs to be contained? Apple experimented both sides of the coin with its I-pod: CGC helped them to spread their MP3 device around the world but also a video recorded by a user explaining his problems with I-pod recharging forced Apple to modify their batteries installation processes…

Consumer Generated Content is created primarily by users themselves—anyone other than professional writers, publishers or journalists, and made available to other consumers via interactive technology applications or TV. CGC is so available in various formats, including text, images, videos, podcasts, and voting/ranking.

Is Consumer Generated Media a Threat or an Opportunity? From my point of view there are three ways marketers can use CGM to their benefit. First, use CGM to listen to what consumers are saying. By monitoring reviews and comments about your products/services, you can immediately address any issues and act appropriately. Second, establish interactive relationships with the customer via corporate-sponsored CGC initiatives. And third and most important, utilize the various types and formats of CGM to promote products and services via advertising.

Think about it for a moment: happy consumers are willing participants in the “communication” process and will help us to market our products/services for free. It’s sublime. It’s special. Ignoring it is only half of the mistake we might make; not capitalizing on it is the other half. Think about it some more. Why wouldn’t satisfied consumers want to interact, volunteer, participate and create around the brands and campaigns they like? Advertising is a vital part of the connections or bridges (call them touchpoints if you must) between brand and consumer. And up until now, this process was an exclusive club -a marketing autocracy- where marketers controlled the when, where, what and how; the exposure place and time; the medium and the message…
Now consumers have found their voices. And we’d better take advantage of it…

We just have to find our most satisfied consumers (our web site is the perfect place) and motivate them with a suitable prize to develop audiovisual content and send it to us… Selecting the best pieces not only will empower our brand but also will allow us to have full rights of use over a material we can broadcast on TVs and/or radios… A material we have got nearly for free (if compared with the costs of an agency spot) and that, no matter its quality is not perfect, happens to be much more reliable for consumers than traditional spots…

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We can read much more about this utmost interesting new way of doing ads in the book “Life After the 30-Second Spot” which is being a best-seller in the States.

Comments

Francesca February 16, 2007 - 1:45 am

Hi Manuel:
Just a simple question: don’t you think this videos looks too well recorded and edited to be done by an amateur?

Francesca

Gemma February 16, 2007 - 3:01 pm

¿Qué hacía Doritos con los vídeos que le enviaban? Los publicaba sin más sin importar lo buenos que fueran? O los filtraba? Porque no es fácil decidir que hacer (imagínate los riesgos)con los que no te gustan…

Manuel Angel Alonso Coto February 21, 2007 - 12:21 pm

Hi Francesca:
You are right. These videos have nothing to do (regarding to quality) with the ones we can find in YouTube. Some people have made the same statement you are suggesting but Doritos executives have strongly denied any intervention on their side to improve videos quality. We are then driven to suppose that due to the importance of the offered prize ($10,000) most skilled people joined the competition…
Best regards.

Manuel Angel Alonso Coto

Manuel Angel Alonso Coto February 21, 2007 - 12:36 pm

Hi Gemma:
According to Doritos Communication Office, all posted videos are availbale in their webpage… Anyhow I suppose they would have not released any recording which has gone beyond the limits of bad taste or brand damage… No matter if the authors uploads it to YouTube and becomes a hit; they would have done it anyhow unless you give them the prize! Anyhow maybe it would have been a good idea to hide it in the last pages of the more than 1000 videos that appear on the contest web…
Best reagards.

Manuel Angel Alonso Coto

Gemma Martín Soler March 17, 2007 - 1:41 pm

A context has been launched across Europe in order to create a new character for the TV Cartoon series “Pucca” who will be based on real babys.
Through http://www.jetix.es a child per country will be chosen and given out a camera to take him or herself a photo. The winner will be transformed into a cartoon character.

http://www.bebesymas.com/2007/02/10-casting-para-ser-un-personaje-de-los-dibujos-pucca-de-canal-jetix

Manuel Angel Alonso Coto March 24, 2007 - 2:14 pm

It’s clear this is a unstoppable phenomenom within advertising industry and that agencies and advertisiers have to start adapting to the new situation. We in IE Business School are so aware of it taht we are teaching how to dela with CGC in the subject “New emerging media” included in the new Master in Digital Advertising starting in February 2007.
Best regards.

Manuel Angel Alonso Coto

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Alejandro Fernandez Kennedy March 17, 2009 - 12:33 pm

Hi,

I find the Doritos example extremely powerful! My experience tells me that the ‘incentive’ or ‘prize’ is key for an action of this sort to be a big success.

From a more general standpoint, consumer generated content can be really interesting also from a pure product perspective – like the Ipod example. In my case, we are planning to use in the coming weeks a tool called Attentio at Toyota to understand what consumers are saying about our products (and other aspects of these) in the ‘blogosphere’.

I remember an action from Pepsi called ‘Da la cara’ which could be an example of an action based on consumer generated content. Here is the link:
http://www.marketingnews.es/Noticias/Gran_consumo/20080425003

With regards to getting ideas for spots and TV ads from consumers I find it brilliant!! I am just wondering what the ad agency one works with would say…

Regards,

Alejandro

Amparo March 21, 2009 - 9:12 pm

… this is an obvious example of how things are changing with the on-line world (on-line vs. off-line) which affects the whole picture.

I personally feel short of “overwhelmed” by this CGC but no doubt it is a “must” in the new advertising world …

I also feel it is positive for the brand, as long as it is strong and respected enough (I mean Coca-Cola is Coca-Cola no matter what, and it will be very difficult for any CGC to damage their reputation … the same as Woody Allen’s films: no matter how silly they’re, his “genious” is above all …)

Amparo

N. Zülal CANLI June 7, 2009 - 11:16 pm

Media which is made up of consumer generated content has become one of the instruments of advertisements, which are the most effective weapons of today’s brands. Virtual world in which the consumers are more close to interactive communication has also become the point where the brands meet with the consumers. As it is seen in the example of Doritos, while people can feel closer to the brand, the brand can easily reach their consumers who have internalized the product. Consequently, while the brands are doing their advertisements, they also include a wide target audience in their body at the same time. These advertisement works which seem to be easy and free of costs actually require great effort and cost because for customers to choose among the other brands, it is necessary to be able to present promises which are suitable for their purposes.

One of the most important competitors of the brand Doritos in Turkey, the brand Ruffles has applied a similar practice for university students, who are the big majority of its target audience. In the activity which they call “Chips of the most” , awards are given for the “most” films shot with Ruffles and the “most” activities performed in travelling festivals in universities.

http://www.cekencekene.com

Martyna Budeń June 9, 2009 - 7:18 am

I want to add other example of the advertising which did furore. I mean the Dove advertisement „ dove revolution ” which despite was never exploited in no advertising campaign, caused controversies and response of the society what is I think the most important for ads. Dove is exposing „ secret ” for belle from the billboard. I think that dove used a good time for publish it and confirm with what had been known about the magic of photoshop for a long time. I think that the information society in which we live is an intelligent society, more and more sceptically turned towards products. Because of information exchange, access to the same means and materials to which authors of advertisements are having access, they should be a warning and motivation for appreciating the potential of consumers. I agree with the statement that producers should observe and listen what their customers are saying. I think that in this situation they won’t lose them, and they will strengthen their position. What’s more they should create space for them for expression. Era where the consumer headed behind the information ended, now the advertisement must keep up with the consumer.

Patrick December 22, 2009 - 4:56 am