Bloghound

While there’s been a lot of talk about consumer-generated ads, Diane Hessan, CEO of Communispace writes in Advertising Age that consumers want to do much more than make ads.

“Let’s not kid ourselves about the value of consumer-generated ads. The consumer-in-control movement isn’t just about developing new ways to create ads, as fun as that may be. The real deal is that consumers want to have a say about everything from a company’s overall direction to its products and services —how they should fit into their lives; how they’re designed and packaged; where they can buy them, and, yes, even how they should be advertised. In other words, what consumers are screaming for is the desire to help companies make decisions, not just ads.”

Diane’s article includes examples of companies that are doing just this, including Frito-Lay, Starwoods’ new Aloft hotel brand, Hewlett Packard and GlaxoSmithKline.

(Full disclosure: Communispace is a Foghound client.)

PS: Thanks to Talib Morgan over at Marketechnology for his review of my recent speech to the American Marketing Association/New York City about conversational, word of mouth marketing and other highlights from my new book Beyond Buzz.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.