AdAge on Monday "wallowed in consumer generated advertising's trough of disillusionment", in the twittered words of @AdHack. The piece opened with " Dear consumer, Your 15 minutes are over. You suck."
It's the same consumer whom AdAge pronounced The Agency of the Year in 2007.
Rich, the author, called last week for a quote. I told him it's silly to dismiss the entire genre. Every time you have doubts about consumers' creative potential, head over to The Best of Craigslist, or Flickr's Explore, or The Sims Marketplace.
Yes, asking people who don't have any film-making experience to shoot a TV spot for you isn't very likely to result in anything. But it isn't the only way to involve consumers into the ad-making process either. Ask people to do something they already know how to do and enjoying doing, and you'll get brilliant things like Nikon's Stunning Gallery or Chrysler's machinima.
Or else it's crap in, crap out.
Closely related:
Media Pendulum Swings On Second Life
Busted: Another "Consumer-Generated Ad" Myth
Hey Ilya, thanks for the link and the reminder of Ad Age's 2007 pronouncement of consumes as agency of the year. Seems like it fits the hype cycle perfectly.
ReplyDeleteNow let's get past the hype and get on to learning on the Slope of Enlightenment.