User Generated Content, in particular User Generated Advertising, is very important to brands. But only a few of them are aware of this and take advantage of the feedback and spontaneous expressions of the consumer’s viewpoint.

This is an era of change; the people now have the means and the power to stand up as a consumer through popular networks like Flickr and YouTube. Users make efforts to gain popularity and the recognition of their peers.

Yet, only a small number of brands and advertising campaigns have the power to make users interact with then. These enjoy playing with them, and they experiment true engagement that can output material that ranges from homage to satire. There’s lots of brilliant User Generated Content, but only a few privileged brands benefit from what is, in my opinion, this ultimate marketing nirvana – true brand engagement via User Generated Advertising.

I remember as a kid sometimes I used to draw logos of my favorite brands during classes. Logos of Nike, Le Coq Sportif… (it was really huge back then). In a way, those where my brands and they belonged to me.

Yes, I believe brands do become part of our lives and part of what we are. Today you could feel Lacoste, tomorrow you can look Levi’s.
To have a user taking his time to create a video or taking a photo dedicated to your brand is just too good. Unlike co-creation, these are priceless expressions of spontaneous real-life brand love.

The marketing department at Rolling Rock beer is 2 days away from making history: either they’ll succeed in being the first company to make Moonvertising (they claim that on the night of March the 21st they will make their first attempt to project their logo on the Moon’s surface through laser beams) or they will face a nightmare of consumer hate.

A lot of buzz is going on, and guess what? Most of it is negative. Rumors say this is a hoax and that it is not possible at all.
Consumers are listening to these rumors and are saying that they’ll be really disappointed if this is just a practical joke. Some say they’ll never buy this “independent” and irreverent beer again. They feel like that would be an outrageous betrayal to their trust in the brand and its values.

If they wanted to play with the elements, they could have settled for Clowdvertising, which is now a proven alternative media. Or they could have settled for Earth Tattoos and rooftops in Google Earth and Microsoft’s Live Search Maps – have you checked the “bird’s eye” option? Outstanding!

I guess a lot of people at Rolling Rock must be having trouble sleeping, and for what it’s worth, I hope they make it to the moon. I really do. Not only for their sake (I’m no sadistic bastard), but for the sake of innovation and of people’s trust on marketing and advertising. If I was in the US next thursday night, I bet I would’t resist looking at the moon every 10 minutes!