An abridged version of this article appeared in New Media Age
While mass marketers are struggling with digital technology, consumers
have embraced it and taken greater control.
Weblogs, forums, online networks, camera phones and MP3s were
initially seen as for geeks-only, but their exponential growth has
caught corporates unawares.
Jim Stengel, P&G's marketing boss told this year's American
Association of Advertising Agencies media conference that the industry
needed, 'to embrace the urgent implications of consumer control.'
But while mass marketeers struggle to change direction,
light-on-their-feet digital consumers are using cheap, accessible
technology to create massive amounts of 'consumer generated content'
or 'citizen's media'.
Initially, this all sounded like harmless, whacky stuff to the big
guns of adland. However, people's enthusiasm and passion has blown
away the normal rules - like punk's pioneers did with cheap garage
amps.
Digital consumers are using cheap weblogging software like Blogger and
Typepad to move into the publishing industry. Like MP3s before them
blogs have been seen as a niche activity pursued by navel-gazers and
geeks. However, they are growing fast. Online blog monitor
Technocrati.com tracks 3 million blogs and adds 15,000 a day to its
register.
And in the US, blogging is going professional. Gawker Media, has sites
which attract between 300k and 500k visitors per month and advertising
revenues to match. That's bigger than a lot of media brands and at a
fraction of the start-up cost.
Individuals are profiting too. By hooking up to services like Google
Adsense or media planners like BlogAds people can instantly create
their own advertising revenues.
And while Yanklevich Partners report that 69 per cent of US consumers
are interested in products and services that allow them to block, skip
or opt out of advertising, people seem happy to listen to their peers.
Jonathan Miller, Head of AOL in the US, says that 60 – 70 per cent of
the time people spend on AOL is devoted to consumer generated content.
For mass marketers used to established metrics and methodologies, it
can all seem a bit chaotic.
And that's because it is. Huge amounts of energy and passion are going
into massive amounts of experimentation and innovation. The lack of
rules that corporates find so confusing is what people enjoy.
What can companies do without a set of guidelines, a roadmap or
precise metrics to get them going ? One approach is to accept
gracefully the demise of the broadcast model and join in the party. A
few intrepid organisations have already taken the plunge.
DKNY the fashion house has started producing it's own films online,
following in the footsteps of BMW.
Agent Provocateur, the lingerie company has started it's own online
record label and video production house.
Microsoft encourages 800 employees to blog (see the Scobelizer)
helping to give the megacorp a more human face.
Dr Pepper launched its Raging Cow product using a branded weblog
written by teenagers for teenagers.
Some have been more successful than others but what all these
companies have in common is that they know everyone is learning as
they go. In this particular revolution the answers can not be found on
TV.
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