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February 14, 2007 Consumer Generated Content (CGC): A Threat or an Opportunity?
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… 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… --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 
Posted on 14 February 2007 in ADVERTISING CommentsHi Manuel: Francesca Posted by: Francesca at February 16, 2007 01:45 AM ¿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... Posted by: Gemma at February 16, 2007 03:01 PM Hi Francesca: Manuel Angel Alonso Coto Posted by: Manuel Angel Alonso Coto at February 21, 2007 12:21 PM Hi Gemma: Manuel Angel Alonso Coto Posted by: Manuel Angel Alonso Coto at February 21, 2007 12:36 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. Posted by: Gemma Martín Soler at March 17, 2007 01:41 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. Manuel Angel Alonso Coto Posted by: Manuel Angel Alonso Coto at March 24, 2007 02:14 PM I’m not sure why my brain works this way…I do know other people can remember their work in detail. My blog is a log of http://www.adapterlist.com what I’m learning and reflecting about. It’s an essential part of my learning process. It replaces the notebooks and journals and stenopads I carried around. Posted by: laptop ac adapter at August 26, 2008 04:34 AM Post a comment |
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