In the latest example of Madison Avenue following buzz without much critical thinking, a bunch of advertisers are going to showcase UGC ads in the Super Bowl. Wow, is this a bad idea. First, the fact that the big showcase for ads will have UGC spots will be a green flag for the rest of the advertisers in the world -- this is the future, come on and embrace. A read of the article suggests that the advertisers are being pretty careful -- but history shows that those who follow will tend to remember "user generated" and not "carefully supervised."
This feels very much like the early days of blogging, where hype just totally ruled the day, and folks who should know better said crazy things about the conversation being more important than the message. Anyone who's had a conversation with a crazy relative at a holiday party knows that's not really so true. :) Of course there is a role for UGC, but I bet next year it won't be on the Super Bowl. Here's why:
Still, despite getting more than 1,000 entries, all of the spots in Doritos' final five could easily be mistaken for a typical, professionally produced Super Bowl spot. One, devised by a 42-year old wedding photographer, Jared Cicon, shows a man falling off a cliff while clutching a bag of Doritos -- and trying to eat all the chips before he hits the ground. (In the end it turns out he's dreaming.) Mr. Cicon says two of his sons held up air-compression hoses to his face to simulate how it would look while falling through the air. The winning entry won't be revealed until Super Bowl night, when Doritos broadcasts the ad.
Let's move on, folks. Nothing much to see here....