Consumers vs. The Machine

Age of Streaming approacheth.

Cam has a great post about the likelihood of consumers to stream content. eMarketer recently released some new stats as of January 2007.

As the graphs above show, the desire to stream content is becoming quite substantial.  But it gets MOST interesting when the numbers are broken down by age.  TV shows actually rate higher than User-generated videos in the youner audiences. And when we consider that these younger folks are pretty much in the most-desired category for most marketing efforts, we begin to see a substantial threat to traditional networks and a substantial opportunity for innovators.

This trend is only going to continue as fiber becomes more common place and companies like Apple continue to revolutionize the consumer entertainment experience.

Doritos shakes up the advertising world.

I have to admit that I am quite gleeful at the ongoing debate about the Doritos consumer generated Super Bowl ads.  I believe a number of big agencies are threatened.  And for good reason.  But they are over-reacting.  Read all about the debate here.

Watch the piece for yourself and you be the judge.

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Not convinced something is afoot?  Check out this chevy ad produced by students.

Consumer Generated Media vs. Co-Creation.

There is a lot of confusion between these two concepts.  And its understandable considering how close the terms are to one another.  But they are really quite distinct concepts.

Consumer Generated Media (CGM) refers to the direct act of consumers creating content and uploading it to a variety of online sites or services.  For those of us in Marketing, we often see it as consumers creating content with the intent of spoofing, supporting or even attacking a companies products, brand, marketing initiatives or any facet of the organization.  But it can also be individuals creating media about their personal views, experiences or hobbies/interests.

Co-Creation is about actively involving our customers in the process of, well, creation.  I tend to refer to it as Marketing 2.0.  It could be working together to create a show, a product or even an advertisement.  Often, the result is CGM or enabling your customers in a conversation or shared experience.  One thing that is certain is that it changes companies.  It's not about talking to your customers, it's about creating a relationship with them.

For more information on co-creation, check out my post the other week about an amazing co-creation manifesto that I still can't recommend enough.  In fact, I'm slowly giving copies to all my customers.

Tags: co-creation, CGM, Doritos, streaming content, iTV