Web users have been generating content for a long while now. They edit the popularity of stories online. They write blogs. They compose podcasts. But the UGC phenomenon hasn't reached the traditional 30-second ad spot on television until now:

Sony Electronics, Toyota Motor Sales USA and L'Oreal Paris have cut deals with Al Gore's Current TV that will usher the beleaguered 30-second spot into the age of consumer-generated content and send shivers down the spines of agency creatives. The marketers will enlist the network's viewers to produce commercials and will pay to air the best of those spots.

User-generated advertisements are nothing new, at least not on the Web. One of the arguably most famous UGC ads is Joseph Jaff's Nike Golf spot, in which Jaff made a few subtle edits to Tiger Woods' winning putt at the 2005 Master's to showcase Nike's brand.

But corporate advertisers have thus far been reticent to employ UGC advertisements on television. This is not for lack of interest from advertising companies, themselves more in touch with cultural trends than their employers. What did Nike do in response to Jaff's commercial? They barely acknowledged its existence.

Read the rest of the entry on Steve Bryant's Intermedia blog.

Discuss User-Generated Content, Now in TV Advertisements   >>> Be the FIRST to comment on this article!

>>> More Past News Articles          >>> More By Publish