Chaos Scenario 2.0 - Reaction, Part 2

Thinking some more about what we—ad agencies and clients—can do now in reaction to the situation Bob Garfield describes in his Chaos Scenario 2.0. Here's a stab at addressing Bob's third point ("The consumer is in control. No really.")

[Solution #2:  Develop a UGC practice]

Imagine a strategy that commits 20% of every project budget to encouraging, mentoring and harnessing user generated content. The other 80% goes towards the agency's "traditional" integrated work. But the trick is—it's all got to hang together.

What if your agency established its own UGC group? What if agencies created their own production systems, ala CurrentTV's V-CAM operation, to inspire, manage and integrate consumer work along with their own?

Call it the farm team, or the interns, if you want. There's something fresh and intriguing in the notion of inviting the audience inside the agency as part of doing business today.

My buddy Colin helped develop Current's V-CAM system. And that's how he pitched Current—as a controlled/controlable, vetted part of a client's entire campaign. The agency writes the brief. The agency and client set the rules for approval. And the consumers do the work. Oftentimes, the UCG work inspires the agency to create a new campaign around a particular piece of UGC.

I suppose this could also sound like branded content. But that's a subject for another entry.