What part of “Duh!” do advertisers not understand? I’ve ranted about the term “user” before. I am a “person”, don’t know about you. Generated, Schmenerated! I “create” or “write”. And content is, well, content.
This quote is what got me:
“Marketers want to advertise next to content they can trust, so this frenzy of nonprofessional content generation is not likely to produce adequate monetary rewards. Advertisers continue to shy away from attaching their brands to unpredictable content.”
via eMarketer: User-Generated Content Difficult to Monetize.
Content that advertisers “can trust.” They’re kidding, right? Ad execs are right up there with lawyers and auto mechanics on the “Don’t Trust ‘em” continuum. So if an advertiser’s customer creates the content it isn’t trustworthy. If I say Brand X is great that’s bad for Brand X? And if I say Brand X is the scum of the earth then, well, that’s bad I guess. Maybe that’s what they mean by “unpredictable content.” If it goes your way it’s a benefit but if it goes against you then we can’t have that, can we?
Even if it’s true. Like “I almost died when I ate peanut butter.” True, but obviously bad.
The bottom line though is that traditional media and advertisers don’t know what to do. They’re faced with competition for message from these uncontrollable content creators. That can’t be fair.
Oh, wait. That’s like that freedom of the press thing, isn’t it? Only traditional media doesn’t own the presses anymore.
What a sunny day for people who communicate!
0 Responses
Stay in touch with the conversation, subscribe to the RSS feed for comments on this post.