From Advergirl (via Adrants) the perfect description of a meeting between big client and big agency.
Agency account planner who has a “new media definitions cheat sheet†that she clipped out of Ad Week folded in her wallet: Well, I was thinking that we could try some “user generated media†– that means we would ask consumers to send in their own videos or art projects or commercials. They could really talk about how they experience the brand. Like a community.
The new CMO who works on gut instinct and a short attention span, who makes seat-of-the-pants decisions with little or no information and holds the agency accountable for not giving him all the details when the ill-conceived projects bomb: Ok, ok, I’ve heard enough. Here’s what we’ll do – customers will send in videos of how their dogs experience Cola. We’ll advertise on Friendster and Myspace. And, we’ll give away two Labrador pups to the winner – maybe a guest appearance at that big dog show my wife is always talking about – Westchester, or whatever.
Big corporates seeing the message control slipping away, not quite sure what to do (but they have to do something) but hemmed in my fear and lawyers and a (oten real) risk of litigation.
