Last night, an AdSense ad popped up on the site promoting a new pre-canned ads service Idea House. This looks like a place where a small business owner without a big ad budget can go and get a creative slapped together by moonlighting agency folks with stock photos (here's the one with the morgue tag at Getty.) and some copy. Love the FAQs:
"Will my ad be the only one of its kind in its category?
Yes, within 250 miles of the zip code of your choice. If you wish to use it for a larger area, you can own a 1000 miles radius for 2X the price."
Some obvious concerns aside -- that the morgue idea has been used so many times it has holes in it or that the business owners still need media budget to place this "creative" -- it brings up an interesting idea. What happens if you connect crowdsourcing ad services like Zooppa and Vitrue (read more) with the needs of the Idea House's audience? Big brands are fairly unlikely to be consistent buyers of the amateur ads for a variety of reasons -- strategy, quality, control, politics -- but it should work fairly well for small businesses, no?
