Show Me your Vids, Kid. at The TrendWatch

When you have a fan base like Apple, no need to say that tons of creative user-generated content about the brand is posted on the lovely Interweb, from fantasized product mock-ups to fake ads.

So when last September, Nick Haley, a 18 year-old British student, fell in love with the iPod Touch and decided to make a commercial about it, I bet he was just hoping for his 15 gigabytes of fame on YouTube.

But the Ad Fairy was also watching and Nick’s work got noticed by some ad execs in Cupertino who decided to fly him to LA to re-shoot the video in hi-resolution with the help of their ad agency, TBWA \ Chiat \ Day. The result was broadcasted this weekend during the World Series:

Compare it with the original, and yeah, that’s right, they’ve hardly changed a thing! Coming from Apple, whose lawyers are more trained to send cease-and-disease letters, that’s a surprising move. In case you didn’t believe the 4th slide of the Summer ‘07 Trendwatch and needed another proof that the web engaged a Socratic dialog between Brands and Users.

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Talking about User-Generated Videos, I invite you to discover or rediscover current.tv, a TV channel that gives assignments to its viewers, from serious (Is affirmative action racist?) to lighter (Stuck in porn?). The channel was launched by Al Gore and Joel Hyatt who, after the 2000 U.S. Presidential Elections were disenchanted with the existing news networks, especially CNN. Rapidly, the concept evolved into a viewer-generated channel with young people as its viewer base. Few weeks ago, Current TV won an Emmy award for Best Interactive Television Service. From a design standpoint, don’t miss the TV guide/schedule.

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In the same trend, Raphappy, a website developed by 2 NYU students, just won the $100,000 prize of MTV and Cisco’s “Digital Incubator” contest. It’s web 2.0 for amateur rappers, encouraged to share their rants and engage in battles, with the de rigueur Facebook application. Videos and concepts from Raphappy are already finding their way to the multiple MTV broadcasting platforms.

2 Responses to “Show Me your Vids, Kid.”

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1 olivier PEYRE Oct 31st, 2007 at 3:04 pm

Consumers creating commercials “is part of this brave new world we live in,” said Lee Clow, chairman and chief creative officer at TBWA Worldwide, based in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Playa del Rey.

“It’s an exciting new format for brands to communicate with their audiences,” Mr. Clow said. “People’s relationship with a brand is becoming a dialogue, not a monologue.”

in today’s New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/31/business/media/31adco.html?ex=1351569600&en=d9ee176fef5532e3&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink