UGC - looking at the whole picture

Discussions about User Generated Content are not new but recently we saw a resurgence following the Heinz Top This TV Challenge. To cut a long story short : the NY Times featured a critical article about the Heinz campaign, which reopened the discussion in the blogosphere. Have a look here or here (I like Henk's reference to the Hoegaarden coasters in the early 90s which might be the alfa-UGC campain in Belgium).

Both make valid points but don't touch the very essence about UGC : being that UGC should be an element of a larger brandstrategy that includes consumers and the conversations they're already having around your brand. The problem is that both Heinz and Hoegaarden consider UGC as an add-on to a conventional FMCG communication-strategy which is not that effective and potentially even dangerous. Especially for a brand like Hoegaarden which recently ran into trouble as a result of an absolute top-down decission and in disregard with their remaining brand loyalists.

As it happens, about a month ago Jesse and myself gave a talk during a 'Citizen Generated Content' seminar, organised by Medianet Vlaanderen along with Stef Wouters (on the 4040 service of VTM Nieuws) and Dorien Aerts (on Hasseltlokaal.be from Concentra). Click below to see the slides.

First of all, we didn't mean to do the definite presentation on "UGC for brands", it was more a kind of opinion condensed in 30 minutes. Feel free to disagree or add extra toughts in the comment section below.

Secondly, this presentation wasn't made in traditionial powerpoint but with a proprietary flash module (hat top to Jesse) that allows royal use of fullscreen video which in its turn saved us from writing too much text on screen. The flipside of course is that if you weren't there, it's difficult to follow our point. Therefore, in the following paragraphs I'll do my best to take you through the presentation the way we presented it.

In the first 5 slides we show several examples of UGC. To begin with on slide 2 an example of the most common type of UGC, content that gets created spontaneously and which is the ultimate embodiment of conversations people have around brands. A nice side effect of this example was that we grabbed the attention of the audience within seconds...

On slides 3-5 we went through some recent brand-commissioned UGC-campaigns : Dove Cream Oil, Doritos 'Crash the Superbowl' & the infamous Chevy Tahoe. The least one can say is that they're a mixed bag, while these campaigns created enthusiasm and generous PR value, things can go a bit wrong : as Dove & Chevrolet can testify.

On slide 6 we therefore reframed the conventional question 'UGC, heaven or hell' into a larger perspective, being a new vision on brand strategy based on what we see as 3 major forces. (again this isn't mean to be a closed theoretical argument, these 3 forces where the ones that came up first and seemed the strongest).

First force (slide 7) are the changes in mediaconsumption. We didn't talk here about the demise of mass media but instead about the phenomenon of multitasking. This is more and more evidenced in studies here and here. Multitasking threatens the three pillars of traditional interruptive advertising, being "a single minded message", "packaged in a creative remarkable format" and "broadcasted massively & frequently".

Second force (slide 8) "new channels mean more possibilities" challenges the conventional wisdom that new channels mean more fragmentation. To the average marketeer SMS is just another way to get a message through, but tor an enlightened brand manager SMS can be a way that its brand really cares about its customers : for example by noticing customers on the order status of a product.

Third force is (slide 9) the new breed of brands that is starting to flourish in the last 10 years or so. These are brands that go beyond offering a rational or emotional benefit. The six brands on this slide hold each in their own right a real life/cultural value. This point was mainly drawn from John Grant's excellent Brand Innovation Manifesto but is nevertheless a synthesis of the new view on brandbuilding. For example : Nespresso is more than a Senseo-like scheme, it also educates it consumers to true coffee aficionados through DM & the web. IKEA is more than just a cheap furniture-warehouse, instead it inspires a way of living that focuses on accessible luxury and enjoying life today. BBC, Zara, Amazon are similar brands that have taken on broad meanings partially intended but for some part also informed by consumer-interaction that takes place arount their brands.

Slide 10 to 19 tried to hightlight possible strategies of brand behaviour in this new context.

Strategy 1 - using the power of the (social) network (slides 11-13). Here we talked about Nike+ & Dell Idea storm that tap into the wealth of networks that exists around their brands. Nike+ builds a brand experience around the previously unwired running community that is in some ways similar to other tight knitted communities like bikers and truckers. Dell uses the same networks around its brands, albeit to get ideas for new product development.

Strategy 2 - leveraging the power of consumer advocacy (slides 14-15). eBay is known to have included many functionalities on its platform after suggestions of their most loyal users (the "buy now' button for example) furthermore eBay also trains regular customers into advocates by organising trainings "to become a better eBayer" which ultimately benefits both parties. Not suprisingly eBay ranks among the brands with a record NPS. Second example how to harness consumer advocacy is the Volvo C30 launch, watch it here.

Strategy 3 - creating deep brand experiences (slides 16-17) used the Ford Bold Moves campaign and Moo. While these are two totally different cases, they both acknowledge that the touch point between brand and consumer has to be much broader than advertising. Ford enlarged the peeping hole on its company up to the boardroom, putting people in the front seat of the challenges Ford was going through. Moo does it by rewrapping user generated content (being your Flickr pictures) into a crafted experience from ordering process to the moment you open your delivery.

We concluded our presentation with this interesting post from Tom that links the amount of user generated energy around a brand and its financial value.