Build your own ads...

...and become

Posted on January 23, 2007 | Permalink

By Lane Casteix

There is a fairly new trend in advertising, where companies invite their customers to create ads for them. It has been done before the internet age but never as effectively. Giving your customers the freedom to create your ads and publish them is both risky and daring. If a customer or "spamer" has a grudge against you, it becomes a chance to vent that anger on a very public stage. So, advertisers must be prepared to deal with the bad as well as the good. Strange as it seems, this is called “listening to your customers.”

Several companies are doing this in connection with the Super Bowl this year. Chevrolet tried this last year with a program called “Chevrolet Apprentice” (in connection with the television show “The Apprentice”). Customers could go online and build their own Tahoe commercial, using elements already posted for that purpose on the site. (You didn’t even have to get the digicam out!)

Chevrolet took huge risks doing this, because it was possible to build a commercial that trashed the product, which is exactly what some did. Many in the ad community thought Chevrolet was crazy to allow this, but advertisers should be prepared to understand and address customer’s negative perceptions of their products. If you don’t, you won’t stay in business very long in this information age. If your new product turns out to be a dog, the whole world will know about it in a matter of days! To Chevrolet’s credit, they left those negative ads up there for all the world to see! See the comments by AdRants and others. Other companies have recently tried this as well, including JetBlue, Sony, and MasterCard.

(Note: Evidently, Chevrolet has taken the site down because I cannot find it, and the old link goes to the Tahoe page on the Chevrolet web site.)

So, what are the positives of taking this risk? This build-your-own-ad trend also builds a relationship with your customer. They “buy into” your product, which creates brand loyalty, and loyalty can be a very powerful tool promoting your product. Often the ads end up being posted on sites like YouTube, and if they are good enough circulated in e-mails around the world. You can't pay for that kind of exposure! In the long run the benefits outweigh the risks in most cases. Even Chevrolet and the Tahoe, which is somewhat controversial these days, is seen to have benefited from their efforts in spite of the "spamer" ads.

This trend isn’t for everyone, but you need to understand it, and more importantly, what is driving it. Such awareness will help you understand the web world of business we function in, which is rapidly changing the business world in ways we can’t even imagine yet.