Looks As If You Are an Ad Agency

This week I criticized Advertising Age for naming "you" the agency of the year. Among other things, I felt it was too similar to Time's person of the year.

Yet the general notion persists. Doritos is airing an audience-generated ad during the Super Bowl, and the NFL is running a contest, too.

OK, so be it. But this trend toward free labor continues.

As I pulled up Youtube this afternoon, I see an ad for a Dove Cream Oil contest. You can win a contest if you come up with the best 30 second ad for the body wash. Importantly, however, many of the ads are likely to end up on Youtube, where countless viewers will see it.



It will be interesting to see how this fad pans out. Much of Youtube's popularity is based upon viewers posting response videos. If advertisements elicit this type of competitive creativity, it could be quite lucrative for brands.