Marketer Asks Consumers To Create Ads

I find the emerging phenomenon of consumer generated media (CGM) to be fascinating. As Web 2.0 continues to unfold, I think we'll see more of what savvy marketers like P&G and Kao are already doing to engage young, advertising-jaded consumers with their brands.
 
The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reports today (via MediaPost):

"If an agency can't deliver the kinds of commercials you want, just ask your customers to do the job. That's the approach being taken by Kao Corp., which markets Ban deodorant, in a contest designed to create ads that appeal to teenage girls.

The contest was announced in magazines like CosmoGirl and Teen People and has already drawn about 4,000 entries from kids 12 to 20 who were asked to submit an image and fill in the blank in the company's "Ban It" slogan. Nine winners will be chosen and will run in an ad in March in US Weekly.

The tactic is a smart one, especially when trying to reach teens and people in their 20s--a desirable demographic for advertisers that is particularly resistant to hard-sell advertising.

"Younger audiences have become incredibly cynical about advertising,'' says Steve Thibodeau, an executive with Dotglu, a New York ad agency owned by MDC Partners, Toronto, which is creating the Ban campaign.

P.J. Katien, Ban's assistant marketing director, adds that reaching young female consumers is especially challenging. In the past, he said, consumer-product companies followed a simple formula: "you explained the benefit and explained the product and they would buy it. Now it's about getting her to feel like she is involved. No more one-way messaging."

Kudos to P.J. Katien, Ban's assistant marketing director at Kao, for voicing today's most powerful piece of marketing advice for 2006 and beyond: No more one-way messaging. And double kudos to him and marketers like him who have the courage to be at the leading edge of change. It's often lonely out there, but it's almost always the right place to be!

Best,

- James Gardner
Group Director/Life Sciences Practice Leader