Consumer-Generated Marketing: The Customer is Always Right and in Control

PLEASE NOTE: The following should have been my contribution to Global PR Blog Week...had I finished it in time. Unfortunately, work and life challenged my commitment to this year’s event. Read: I blew the deadline. Many thanks to Constantin Basturea for his unflagging efforts and patience in this matter.

It’s called everything from Consumer-Generated Marketing (CGMkt) and Brand Democratization to D-I-Y Marketing and Consumer Controlled Branding. Regardless of what we call it, CGMkt represents the ultimate in authenticity.

What better way to promote an iPod than through a customer’s effusive interpretation of the product? When George Masters combined his creativity and passion for his Tiny Machine, he created an ad that brought CGMkt into the spotlight for the first time. Master’s home-made ad was surely not the first of its kind, but it gave CGMkt momentum with 64,000 people seeing the ad in the first few weeks it was online.

"It's off-brand but that's the point," Masters said in a Wired interview. "You're not limited by a style guide or a creative director. You can branch out and think different. The ad is special because it's an expression of my love for motion graphics and Apple products."

This unprompted expression of love has a powerful impact on other consumers according to brand marketer and trendspotter Piers Fawkes. Fawkes is also a member of the global trends collaborative PSFK Blog.

"Folks pick up on the authenticity of brands and want to associate themselves with the brand (and vice versa). They take brand 'content' and recreate it in the way they want, like Google Mash Ups. Consumers also pay homage to brands by creating their take on ads like the iPod."

PSFK refers to these consumers as hyperactive consumers or Hyper Users.

"Hyper Users use the tools available to them to create new, evolved variations on companies' products, services and even brand communications. The idea is not very new. It's the fact that what was previously considered 'high-end production technologies' are now available to the digital generation video/audio editing software, design software and plenty of tools to capture video, audio and digital images."

By creating CGMkt, passionate consumers become an extension of a company. But what if these extended employees are disgruntled?

Brand Passion or Brand Poison?
A spoof ad showing a terrorist driving a Volkswagen Polo in a failed suicide bombing made fast tracks across the blogosphere. Volkswagen had nothing to do with the ad of course. The company was, understandably, incensed that their brand was linked to the offensive media file. The professional, high-quality production value of the ad made many wonder whether or not it might be from Volkswagen.

Then there is meme of the month, FedExFurniture.com. My issue is not FedEx’ decision, but how they handled it. According to Jose Avila, they merely had to ask nicely. If they had lead with PR or customer service instead of legal, he would have obliged (via Jeremy Pepper).

FedEx could have bought an apartment full of furniture for Avila in exchange for meeting their requests and still come out as a blog hero.

"It's a dicey proposition for brands to curtail or attempt to regulate consumer use," says Intelliseek Chief Marketing and Client Satisfaction Officer, Pete Blackshaw. "Consumers embed brands into consumer-generated media all the time. Will Pepsi raise questions about consumers sharing digital photos with Pepsi signs in the background? This is a reality brands have to live in. It's part of accepting the fact that consumers are in control. They shape much of the messaging, and brands need to think hard and deep about whether they can influence those outcomes."

Avila still uses FedEx. Seth Godin notes, "At the end of the day, this won’t hurt their business." I guess we can forgive the brands we love.

Five Examples of CGMkt
The clothing, footwear and consumer electronic brands below that are evoking CGMkt from their customers aren’t too surprising. But there is one golden opportunity in, of all places, insurance.

Gecko’s green is gold
Geico’s Golden Gecko contest asks consumers to submit 15 second movie trailers. The catch? They must feature the little green brand mascot (via Adrants).

Brought to you in Flickr-vision
Alane Golden turned Flickr into his ad portfolio for the trendy retailer American Apparel (via Adrants).

Imitation: the sincerest form of flattery
Micropersuasion brings us this example of a consumer’s homemade ad paying homage to a recent HP ad.

Sundance meets sneaker ads
Converse has invited filmmakers, animators and amateurs to create short films in homage to the venerable Chuck Taylor. Each film is part ad and part indie flick, with a great soundtrack.

iPod's worst kept secret
Blackshaw nominates iPod’s Dirty Secret. "It’s negative, but it demonstrates how consumers are turning advertising on its head based on their own real experiences. It also demonstrates how consumers are creating a ‘surveillance culture’ focused on what brands say, do, and promise, and are putting that positioning to the reality torture test." Lucky for Apple that iPods sell like frozen daiquiris in hell.

Blogs Hold Brands Accountable
Companies considering the risk and reward of CGMkt should ask themselves some hard questions to determine their level of tolerance and ability to lose control of the message. But even if they decide not to leap onto the bandwagon, they should be aware of the online word of mouth for their brand. Blackshaw recommends integrating this online customer tracking with traditional offline efforts.

"It all starts with the call-center and consumer-relations," Blackshaw said. "Brands who win on CGM get things right at that critical moment of truth where consumers elect to talk to the brand. That's the trigger point for virality, goodwill, free media, and CGM or CGMkt. It's also the trigger point for negative virality. Every brand who talks to a consumer should understand their propensity to speak out, to spend time on message boards, or, most important, their likelihood of creating blog. Few brands do this well right now, but we'll see many moving in this direction."

This shift considers the impact of viral power on consumer buyer power and represents an opportunity for the public relations industry.

"Companies just looking at their web site feedback forms or customer satisfaction surveys won’t identify this profile. The key is developing better segmentation or profiling models to determine the depth of reach and impact of their most vocal consumers. They should know that I am a passionate customer so they can either capitalize on my evangelism or, assuming there is dissatisfaction, make sure my disappointment is handled efficiently and wisely."

Consumer-Generated Product Design
"Marketing is about understanding the consumer's needs and creating a product/service to satisfy that need," says Fawkes. "The only thing that has changed is the level of consumer involvement in the process."

In fact, the companies that will use CGMkt comfortably are those already involving their customers in various processes like product development. If they’re going to be promoting your products, wouldn’t you feel more comfortable if they had input in their development? These extended employees would then be promoting their own product. You’d gladly hand the keys to your marketing department over to them. As long as they turn out the lights when they’re finished and, for pete's sake, make a pot of coffee if they take the last cup.

In the early stages of CGMkt, it's fun to watch the good, bad and ugly attempts. But it is the corporate response to these attempts that will impact CGMkt’s adoption and evolution most dramatically.

Buzzmachine’s Jeff Jarivs recently posted that "public relations must be about a new relationship with the public, with the public in charge."

Game on.

For more on CGMkt, check out Joel Cere’s insightful, and on deadline, contribution to Global PR Blog Week .

UPDATE: AdWeek brings us more examples of CGMkt including Pontiac and Ban deodorant in its article "Crowd Control: Handing Creative To The Masses." One interesting quote: "Involving consumers in the creative process goes against the grain of the agency mindset as brand stewards, but the payoff can be more authentic messages." It will be interesting to see which agencies tap into CGMkt and which ones just don't get it.

tags: global pr blog week, public relations, blog, consumer-generated marketing, PR, advertising, marketing, branding, brand, consumer-generated media

Comments

[owen mack]

well this is all on target...and now to toot my own horn...i'm taking it a step further with coBRANDiT, which produces what I call documentary advertising. we believe consumers can be the best communicators of the brand experience, and so produce video content about the brands people live with for use on brand microsites, etc. i'm always happy to see more thought on the subject of people power!

[deepak]

Does such intervention cause unrest with consumers, who already tired of marketing initiatives would hardly want a social activity like film making be associated to say a shoe brand?

[Kevin Dugan]

The success of reality tv tells me that consumers want to be more involved and would welcome the intervention.

[Adrian Weston]

I think that the move to brand accountability is one of the best things to come out of the blogosphere - I'm also interest by the fact that marketeers are starting to target blogs and vice versa. I've got a books blog booksthatmatter.blogspot.com and recently I've started to get targeted by both publishers and authors to try and get their books profiled. An interesting position for one who professionally PRs books.

[carina]

i think that at nowerdays ,we should pay attention to the customer's demand of spirit which may arise the feelings in their deep heart. powerleveling

[Runescape Money]

I think that the move to brand accountability is one of the best things to come out of the blogosphere - I'm also interest by the fact that marketeers are starting to target blogs and vice versa.but i still think it is a great

[runescape]

brand accountability is one of the best things to come out of the blogosphere - I'm also interest by the fact that marketeers are starting to target blogs