Documentary Advertising & Survival of the Fittest

by on 26 July, 2005 - 16:46

by: Josh Hawkins

As Steve Rubel points out, "it was only a matter of time."  A new group has emerged to pitch "documentary advertising." CoBRANDiT officially launched today as "the world's first open-source documentary ad agency."

Ben McConnell at Church of the Customer asks, "are brands ready for the ride." I think the answer is clearly yes. Consumer generated media (CGM) has emerged as a core component of brand communications. It's important to note, however, that this is not necessarily by choice. Advertisers and marketers are loosing control over first-impressions. In today's splintered and on-demand media environment, consumers rely on search to find information about products and services. CGM, which is characterized by frequently updated and link-rich content, is given preferential ranking by all the major search engines. Thus, CGM is intercepting consumers before they even make it to "official" brand content. These dynamics have created perfect storm for a new breed of advertising and marketing agencies. 

CoBRANDit joins an emerging cottage industry that provides strategy and tactics designed to produce and control CGM.  Agencies that survive the inevitable bubble will focus less on "viral marketing," and more on three key deliverables: 1) campaigns built on authentic community interests; 2) social and vertical search optimization; and 3) integrated measurement services that tie CGM back to ROI. These are the value dimensions that will determine natural selection in this environment. 

Original Post: http://splinteredchannels.blogs.com/weblog/2005/07/documentary_adv.html