Yesterday I read an interesting post on the Pepperdine Marketing Blog about Heinz and all the problems they had with their recent contest to create the perfect user generated commercial.
You can find the post here: http://mpepperdine.wordpress.com
This post is my response to the article, which I highly recommend that you read.
In my opinion, it is fairly obvious why this has been such a failure for Heinz. User generated media/content is not for creating high quality fantasy commercials like Heinz wants. Heinz wants to bribe people into lying to each other, but YouTube is about people expressing how they really feel, not about selling out for money.
Why is this a failure for Heinz? Because the advertisements they want are fake. YouTube and UGC (User Generated Content) are for releasing the true nature of the populace - and that nature is not BS videos of people enjoying how great ketchup is. In the real world people don’t really care that much about ketchup. Heinz tries to make them care with their $57,000 prize, but it can’t overcome the fact that people use YouTube as a sort of counter-culture mode for expression against these large established companies that have been feeding us their lame commercials for years.
When we launch our new website this September, we are planning on doing a similar contest. But our purpose isn’t to get people to create fake fantasy commercials about our new website (www.iRent2u.com), it is about spreading awareness. I don’t care how people express their views on our site, because just about any publicity will be good publicity. If I wanted to convey some controlled message then I would hire an expensive marketing team and be done with it.
UGC is about people having a voice - not people repeating what you want them to hear. That is why it is so popular, because it is real. I for one am starved for truth after an entire lifetime of being “sold to” by big companies. That is why, in my opinion, blogging, podcasts, social networking, and news ranking sites such as digg are becoming so popular so quickly. People want to hear from people they trust, about things they are interested it. Shoving a message down the publics throat is quickly becoming a dinosaur tactic - thank God.
I read the article mentioned above very closely, because like I said we are planning on doing something very similar. The difference is, we don’t care what the message is, people can say whatever they want. And if people tell us negative things about our product then great! At least we have people telling us what we need to work on. If I get people making a video of a dog farting in a puddle in front of an iRent2u.com sign, and hundreds of thousands of people download and view it, then great. I couldn’t be happier, people have now heard of our company. Later, in the future, after we have had time to grow, develop a user base, make money, perhaps then we can try to broadcast some sort of controlled message, but even then I am not sure we should. I want people to talk to each other, create stories, and then we can help share those. I want this because its real, and thats what people want.
Besides, it is so easy to make a video pointing out why the whole Heinz contest is stupid - and it is probably more entertaining to watch. If Heinz wants this to work they need to care less about controlling the message and more about encouraging participation.
What do you think?
online pharmacy
propecia
cialis
viagra
kamagra
tadalis
download movies
movie download
Popularity: 5% [?]
Add A Comment