ARE ADVERTISERS LIKELY TO WIDELY EMBRACE CONSUMER CREATED ADS – AND ARE YOU A LITTLE WORRIED?

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Until very recently, consumer-created ads have been little more than bad jokes — things used occasionally for comic relief or to toy with absurdity-based marketing for its own sake. But as video cameras and desktop video editing gear have experienced leaps in quality and dramatic reductions in price, the concept of consumer-produced TV spots is showing signs of evolving into something else. Like all emerging advertising trends, it is the subject of curious observation, debate and no small amount of derision throughout the mainstream ad agency business. Last week, however, we saw what could be a watershed for the genre: Marketing giants Sony Electronics, Toyota Motor Sales USA and L’Oreal signed deals with Al Gore’s Current TV network to participate in large-scale experiments using TV ads conceived and produced by consumers.

Do YOU think this is a folly in the making?

Or is it the dawn of a new era of grassroots creativity that has the potential to actually compete against the advertising service companies traditionally associated with the creation and production of TV commercials?

Are advertisers likely to widely embrace consumer-created advertising for their brands?