What is Consumer Generated Advertising?
This type of advertising is just what the name implies. Consumer Generated Advertising (CGA) is advertising created by consumers. CGA’s can take many shapes, including: video commercials, blogs, songs and websites, and is usually based around the use of the Internet. Companies use CGA for many reasons:
1. It’s Cheap: This form of advertising is generally free. The creatures and not the firm incur the costs of creating these advertisements.
2. Measure Passion: Firms are able to measure the passion their consumers have towards their product by the quantity and quality of the advertisements being submitted.
3. Becomes Viral: Consumers that participate in creating CGA’s are more likely to share their experience with their friends who will continue to pass the material on.
4. Believable: Consumers are more likely to believe what someone, who really loves a product, has to say than someone who is being paid.
Examples of Consumer Generated Advertising:
While this form of advertising is still fairly new, there have already been a number of companies that have used it.
Last year, CBS, launch a campaign on YouTube called 15 seconds where consumers had the opportunity to create and post there own personal inspirational 15-second message. CBS then judged the messages and picked a winning message to appear before the Super Bowl. The campaign was met with a positive response and was updated later by CBS, when the popular game show host Bob Barker finally stepped down as the host the “Price is Right.” Over 250 videos were created to wish the popular host a heart-felt goodbye.
Doritos also created a contest that allowed consumers to create smart, original and creative 30-second commercials that represented the Doritos brand. By entering the Doritos presents Crash the Super Bowl, participants were able to learn more about the contest and download their creations. Five finalists were then chosen and each received $10,000 and a trip to Miami to attend a V.I.P. Super Bowl party. Viewers of the Crash the Super Bowl website voted on the five finalists and the winning commercial aired during the Super Bowl.
Risks of CGA’s:
While CGA’s are a great way for brands to communicate with their customers in fresh and interactive ways, Denise Lee Yohn, of Brand Channel.com, explains some of the risks associated with them.
1. Lack of brand consistency: A brands strength lies in delivering and expressing a developed brand promise consistently across all touch points. Consumer generated Advertisements lack consistency in that they are created by a number of different individuals with different creative approaches and messages.
2. Miss Brand Leadership: CGA’s most likely miss on demonstrating brand leadership. These are unique and compelling brand points of view that transcend the product or service being sold.
3. Negative Consumer Response: An additional risk to CGA’s is the potential for consumers backlash against the brand. Any time control of brand messages is given to the public there is a risk of receiving some bad with the good. This is what happened with GM when it created a CGA campaign for the release of its Chevy Tahoe SUV in 2006.
