The Forrester report makes the assertion that two-way communication with consumers and the translation of the resulting data into brand positioning for clients is the new role of the connected agency. Well, yeah! Isn't that supposed to be the real power of what we call this "interactive" media?
Unfortunately, many brands and agencies believe they can engage consumers in a dialogue purely by producing campaigns alongside and within user-generated content (UGC) and exploiting the YouTube phenomenon. In the last year, you have probably read about the success of Doritos, Dove and other UGC contest campaigns and the controversy around the Subway/Quiznos UGC contest lawsuit. But which of these campaigns really "gets" it? How about none of them?
The details surrounding the Subway/Quiznos lawsuit again demonstrate that not all "UGC" campaigns engage consumers or are even consumer-generated. One of the Quiznos contest's finalists quoted in The New York Times makes ads in Lexington, Ky., and has participated in several national ad contests.
Having advertising professionals compete seems to defeat the purpose of engaging and creating a consumer community around your brand. When agency UGC campaigns turn into RFP responses for one-person ad shops, the consumer engagement shark has been jumped.
How lasting is an engagement predicated on winning a contest? Are consumers really engaging with your brand or simply seeking attention for their own?
I think the best example of a brand using UGC to make a connection with consumers is the Toyota World of Warcraft commercial, which was obviously predicated on the earlier YouTube hit Leroy Jenkins.
The creators of the Toyota ad did not need to hold a contest to create their UGC World of Warcraft segment. Instead, the ad creators demonstrate a strong understanding of the online gaming community and its culture by parodying the Leroy Jenkins piece. The resulting ad is an engaging, hilarious unit, and it generated enough buzz on its own to at least quadruple its media buy in terms of value. The spot was so well regarded that it was used on "Monday Night Football" and other premium showcases. The lesson here is that only by understanding the community and audience does brand-supported UGC advertising become really effective.
Lesson No. 1 -- Understand the community as a whole and the individual audience of a given campaign first before you try talking to them. Use our medium to listen first.