Monday, May 28, 2007
Community and TV Ads
I don't think it's a secret that TV ads have lost their ability to reach into the lives of mainstream America and influence purchases. They just aren't that effective. Seth Godin says that marketing in which the person seeks the advertiser is the way that purchasing is now influenced. Disruptive marketing is now just an annoyance. Current TV is known for its user generated content. Most of the pods are submitted by users and even some of the ads. Having users create the ads is a way that firms are trying to tap into the new generation of consumers. I think it's a ploy that most viewers of Current TV aren't excited about. It's cool to make your own ads and it would be cool to get paid for it. But without a doubt, everyone knows that it's just companies trying to get us to notice their products without making it obvious that it's still disruptive marketing. Maybe if we participate in the creation we won't be annoyed by it. That still isn't permission marketing.
What Current TV could do is tap into the collective intelligence of the users to decide what gets shown on the channel and what doesn't. Every advertiser pays the same amount to be able to submit their ads. It goes through a voting and editing process much like occurs on Threadless.com. There are a few rounds in which the ad creator can edit the material according to the suggestions provided by the community. After all voting rounds are complete, the winning ads air on Current TV at no extra cost. Advertisers are simply paying for access to the creative community. The advertiser then has the right to use the ads that they create on any station that they wish, but to air on Current TV, they have to win. This, hopefully, means that good ads will air and the Current TV community (of Threadless community if Current TV does not have one of its own, which it doesn't seem to have) will have participated in the creation of the ads. It isn't a way to trick people into thinking that they are part of the creation process, it's a way to actually tap into their collective intelligence.
What Current TV could do is tap into the collective intelligence of the users to decide what gets shown on the channel and what doesn't. Every advertiser pays the same amount to be able to submit their ads. It goes through a voting and editing process much like occurs on Threadless.com. There are a few rounds in which the ad creator can edit the material according to the suggestions provided by the community. After all voting rounds are complete, the winning ads air on Current TV at no extra cost. Advertisers are simply paying for access to the creative community. The advertiser then has the right to use the ads that they create on any station that they wish, but to air on Current TV, they have to win. This, hopefully, means that good ads will air and the Current TV community (of Threadless community if Current TV does not have one of its own, which it doesn't seem to have) will have participated in the creation of the ads. It isn't a way to trick people into thinking that they are part of the creation process, it's a way to actually tap into their collective intelligence.
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