Denise Lee Yohn, su Brandchannel, riflette sull’opportunità di spingere i consumatori a creare advertising (CGM/C).
Vi riporto alcuni stralci interessanti:
Sometimes trends are worth bucking. Take the case of the latest marketing rage: soliciting advertising from customers, also known as, V-CAMs (viewer-created ad messages).
Last year Current TV announced Sony Electronics was airing the first V-CAM. Sony offered US$ 1,000 for the best spots, as judged by Sony, Current TV (where V-CAMs originated), and a viewer poll. Winners were posted on the Current TV site. Toyota and L’Oréal soon followed suit.
As a short-term promotional tactic or product demonstration (for example, airing spots shot with Sony Handycams to promote the camcorders), this approach may make sense. Smaller companies with barebones marketing budgets might be forced to consider this path if the alternative is to not advertise at all.
Lack of brand consistency is a basic reason why V-CAMs don’t make sense. Branding 101 says brand strength is developed by expressing and delivering the brand promise consistently across all touchpoints and over time. So why would a marketer want to run a bunch of ads created by different people with different messages using different creative approaches? Isn’t brand inconsistency sure to result?
This is because consumers know what they know at the moment—they know why they like a product—but they don’t know the vision of the brand. They don’t know the company’s dreams and aspirations for the brand, and so they lack the insight and foresight to realize an ad’s full potential.
Now, I’m not questioning the effectiveness of some brands’ consumer-created ads. Converse and MasterCard stand out as companies that have not sacrificed brand consistency, thought leadership, or alignment in their efforts to engage their consumer base in fresh, interactive ways.
