Recruiting Brand Advocates

With more young people creating their own online "user-generated content," marketers encourage them to "co-create" and promote commercials for their favorite brands.¹ In marketing circles, two new buzzwords— "consumer-generated" and "brand-generated" media—are often used interchangeably, suggesting an intentional blurring of roles. The strategy is designed to foster powerful emotional connections between consumers and products, tap into a stable of young creative talent willing to offer services for free, and produce a new generation of "brand advocates."

• At General Mills' Millsberry.com Web site, children are encouraged to make the "best movie" about "Lucky" (of Lucky Charms cereal) and then vote for the winning video. The site provides a pre-branded kit of settings and spokescharacters, making it easy to combine them into a personalized commercial.²
• Pizza Hut's contest invited pizza enthusiasts to create a short video, "demonstrating their devotion to Pizza Hut Pizza" and showing why they should earn the title of "Honorary Vice President of Pizza." Contestants were encouraged to engage in a variety of creative acts to show their loyalty to the brand, such as "decorating their room with Pizza Hut memorabilia." Entrants submitted their videos on YouTube, ensuring they would be seen by thousands of viewers, whether they won or not.³

 

1 Pew Internet & American Life Project, "Home Broadband Adoption 2006," 28 May 2006, http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Broadband_trends2006.pdf (viewed 29 Mar. 2007).

2 "Lucky's Magic Movie Maker," Lucky Charms, http://www.luckycharms.millsberry.com/ruby/index.html (viewed 31 Mar. 2007).

3 Pizza Hut, "Pizza Hut® Announces Search for Honorary VP of Pizza," press release, 21 Feb 2007, http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2007/feb/21/pizza-hut-announces-search-honorary-vp-pizza/; "America's Favorite Pizza Fan Contest," Pizza Hut, http://www.pizzahut.com/vpofpizza/ (both viewed 29 Mar. 2007).