Do-It-Yourself Commercials
Current TV Lets Viewers Make Their Own Ads, Online and On Television
by Linda Haugsted -- Multichannel News, 4/13/2008 8:00:00 PM
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FORMAT ON RISE
NO NEGATIVITY
As advertisers try to find newer relevant ways to reach their target audience, Current TV has expanded its user-generated-content-heavy approach by letting viewers make the ads.
For the past two years, the cable and online network has let users make viewer-created ad messages (VCAMS for short) and submit them for telecast.
Young adults are not opposed to advertising, only to ads that aren't relevant, said Current Media president of marketing Joshua Katz. VCAMS have an authentic voice that feels honest and real to the channel's audience, he said.
FORMAT ON RISE
Though Katz would not disclose specific figures, he said advertising revenue has increased each year of Current's operation. Advertisers who have tried using the viewer-created ads have converted half of their ad schedule on the channel to supporting such spots, he added.
VCAM advertisers include T-Mobile, the first client to experiment with user-generated ads; Toyota; L'Oreal men's personal-care products; Sony; EA Games; Mountain Dew; Pop Secret popcorn; and Microsoft.
Independent research on the ad format, done by E-Poll Market Research of Encino, Calif., found that Current viewers prefer the VCAMs to professional ads by a 9-to-1 margin, Katz said.
Brand recall for the viewer-made ads is also five times higher than for professionally produced ads, according to the same research.
Advertisers and channel executives develop a creative brief for the commercial production, as if the project were being assigned to a professional ad agency. Those instructions are posted to current.com to guide potential commercial producers, including mandatory elements for the spot.
For example, a recent request for submissions was posted for a commercial for Toyota Racing. Submissions were due by mid-March; it attracted 135 entries.
Potential producers have an incentive to participate: If a spot they create is selected for posting online, the producer gets $2,500. If a commercial is good enough for the television channel, the producer gets $60,000.
One of the most popular commercials now on the Web site is called “Relationship.” The commercial, filmed by 23-year-old John Roberts of Raleigh, N.C., touts his “love affair” with his Toyota Prius, “Jeannette.”
“I'm done with car shows,” he tells his car in the spot, which touts the car's back-up camera and other features.
Another top spot, “Steven's Choice” for T-Mobile, shows a user picking the friends and family for his “Fave 5” speed-dialing feature in a process mimicking a schoolyard team selection. Some friends go away angry when they're left out in the cold, as the final spot goes to the pizza-delivery guy.
“These producers are taking a participatory relationship with brands they like,” Katz said. In the two years the channel has produced VCAMs, producers have ranged in age from 42 to 16.
Katz said when executives called the home of the 16-year-old, an exasperated mother answered, “All right, what's he done now?” She was pleased to find the call was to inform the family that the boy's spot for a Sony Handicam had been selected for posting on the website.
NO NEGATIVITY
For a commercial for Mountain Dew, the channel got some ads that were “slick and totally professional and others that looked like they were shot in the back yard, but even those are compelling and effective” to the Current user base, Katz.
One thing the network has not received: Any negative ads. “Some have infringed on copyrights, some have just been really bad,” he said, but no anti-brand ads.
People with negative brand attitudes don't bother, because the ad will not be used, Katz said. The channel has safeguards in place to protect the brands of its advertisers, he said.
The ads are so entertaining to the Current audience that the cable channel actually advises viewers when a VCAM is upcoming, the executive said.
So far, none of the ads have been picked up by an advertiser for use beyond Current, Katz said, although one client solicited a VCAM producer to work on a non-Current project. But Katz predicted it's just a matter of time before a user-generated ad makes it to broadcast.
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