Garfield's Ad Review
How Etsy Made Us Rethink Consumer-Generated Ads
Finalists in Online Craft Community's Contest Have Created Commercials Better -- and More Charming -- Than Many Professional Ads on TV Now
Uh-oh.
As our worldwide cult of followers is only too well aware, AdReview has just published a book about the digital revolution, death of advertising, collapse of everything we've ever known and loved, blah, blah, blah.
In one of the chapters, titled "Off, Off, Off Madison," we explored the world of Consumer Generated Advertising, which we spent a lot of time watching and thinking about only to come away with a lot of skepticism about the future. For most of its brief history, CGA has consisted of shabbily produced, usually pointless and typically self-referential imitations of the very professional advertising it seeks to replace.
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Title: Etsy Handmade Moment Marketer: Etsy.com  Agency: Etsy's consumers |
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| The results from online crafts marketplace/community Etsy.com's 30-second spot contest are positively remarkable. |
But suddenly we are obliged to reevaluate, thanks to Etsy.com. The online consignment crafts marketplace/community ran a contest seeking 30-second spots from the general Etsy-sphere. The results are positively remarkable. The 10 semi-finalists are as a group better thought-out and realized than any 10 random commercial running on TV anywhere in the world. And a whole lot more charming. As for the three finalists, each is a means of telling the Etsy story in the Etsy-ish of ways.
Handmade ads
The worst of the three is still plenty cute, in a Mr. Bill sort of way. It features four finger puppets doing a tutorial -- in paper-and-aluminum foil-and-claymation -- on how to buy and sell handmade crafts on Etsy.com. Along the way we see animated silk-screening, clay cutting, jewelry soldering, fabric embroidering and step-by-step instructions of how to use the site. "Your place to buy & sell all things handmade," it says, and that pretty much says it all.
Another announces an "Etsy Handmade Moment," and artfully features in the left side of the frame an attractive, hippie-dippy craftswoman by the name of Rebecca. This "ecologicalartist" in a big, floppy straw hat looks fresh and sweet and whole-grained, yet still, you know, pretty hot.
"I've always been into textile design and fashion -- but natural fashion, and ecologically correct fashion," she says. "The natural dyes, the found objects and then my interest in textiles came together and my natural-dye recipes were born. I've always been really fascinated with color and making color from things I can find around me. I'm Rebecca, and [big, toothy grin] I made it!"
The best ad comes on the screen as simple animation in the style of 19th-century postcards and/or a magic-lantern show. The central character is a sort of tin-man -- his faced metal-plated like a Russian icon -- consigned, in this narrative, to a life of soul-crushing assembly-line production. But the voice is from an unseen contemporary narrator -- the Etsy craftswoman who has crafted him.
"See, there's a lot of robots out there. A lot of these robots are sad, because they're stuck making these boring, mass-produced things. It's the shackles of robotic slavery. I, I really can believe all that great stuff about how it helps the environment and microeconomics and feeling special about getting something handmade by someone else, but the real reason I make handmade goods is because every time somebody buys something handmade, a robot gets its wings."
Which the animated robot does, flying away to a happier place. It is simply magnificent -- in a way that my book strongly implies CGA will seldom achieve. And in a way that the agency business had better take note of. In fact, here is what they should be saying:
Uh-oh.
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http://weplayintraffic.com/2009/09/16/consumer-evangelists-to-the-rescue-at-retail/
Increasingly, we are seeing the production of creativity EVERYWHERE. This does not bode well for the 3.2x agency world as the keepers of creativity and its production.
In my opinion, the only thing agencies have going for them are the relationships with their existing clients, which is big. The world still mostly operates on relationships. But as those relationships age and expire, the next version of creativity and its production, I think, is going to increasingly be much more wide spread, with the one person shops and smallish low-overhead agencies increasingly making their presence known and making the high overhead traditonal shops increasingly fragile.
These offerings were all pretty intense on a visual level, and not because they were shot through a certain lens, or because a post house ran AfterEffects - but because there was a lot of really interesting stuff to look at.
What's most compelling about these submissions is that you KNOW the users who created them (the entire creative & production process: conceived, reflected, scripted, storyboarded, art-directed, shot and edited,) were passionate about every frame. (Let's not be naive - there was motivation there, too...they were all trying to win a contest.) The key is, they were interested in creating something truly reflective of their experience.
This post, and the whole idea of CGA, really sheds light on one of the great paradoxes of advertising: how can someone make a "great" ad if they're NOT actually having the experience? Should all copywriters, art directors, creative directors and everyone in film production have as intimate a connection with the product as we saw in this Etsy case study? It probably wouldn't hurt. And it would likely lead to really great ads coming out of really great shops, unlike, say, DDB Brasil's blunder for WWF. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xz0UWnqbcPA
Nader Ashway
Twitter: @nashway
Blog: www.marketingthingy.wordpress.com
Just askin'.
The Etsy contest submissions prove that great creativity can come out of an activated community intent on spreading an authentic message about their passion. The agencies that are willing to participate in a world based in this kind of impassioned trust will prosper. They can only do this by by overcoming the fear of losing their status as the creative elite.
Read more strategies for energizing the community here: http://wholehead.blogspot.com/
Nader Ashway's comment makes me wonder if some of these are CGA. They could well be done by someone, for example, in the professional ranks on their own time, whose husband/wife/GF/BF is an Etsy artist. They could even be free work done by an agency to win the contest.
I can't argue too much with Steve. He is right most UGC/CGA work is not good enough.
My point though, is that IF the Etsy contest entries are CGA, I think they all show that the spectrum of people capable of doing "good enough" work is widening. Even if I am only partially correct, a widening spectrum of talent outside the bounds of an agency model is going to make agency life more and more difficult.
I continue to think that the relationships and networks owned by the BD people within an agency are increasingly their most valuable asset. The talent has escaped and/or is emerging elsewhere.
Anyway, do you think any of these 10 finalists could do the heavy lifting of successful multi-channel branding over 5 years or so? Or are we simply talking about the fireworks factor - you know, "oooooh" "aaaahhhhhhh."
Doesn't it stand to reason that CG content/advertising will be better when it's promoting a vertical filled with highly passionate people/users (versus say generic snack foods)? These people understand the experience better than most (and probably WAY more than any agency). Beyond that, the "agency is dead" angle, though, is really boring. Is it all changing? Sure. So what? Move along...nothing to see here.
Todd Lieman
Founder/Co-President
Skadaddle Media
@skadaddlemedia
My point is that different brands and different communities will leverage their customers skills in different way - but to not engage users and invite them to be creators for your brand is missing a powerful new tool in the marketing toolbox.
(magnify.net powers the Etsy.tv site)
Unfortunately, too much UGC is a result of aspiring (or failed) ad people and film makers trying to land some visibility.
http://news.deviantart.com/article/91399/
Browse deviations:
http://browse.deviantart.com/?catpath=contests/2009/creaturecontest
Here are 2 reason why I see it's working well for them:
1. Love. Etsy's fan base is extremely devoted. For brands that inspire passion, and consist of a very creative fan base, you'll get entries that amaze, for not much financial reward. For toilet paper and potato chips, not so much.
2. All creative entries can be SEEN.
This is important. Extremely important. It's perhaps the most important drivers for any creative person. Making something that has a chance to be seen is what drives many creative people. Since this competition is open and allows freedom of creativity,people are drawn to enter it. If only the top-voted entry were seen, it would be very different.
Unfortunately, not all clients are willing to be so open. 99.9 % of the time, the ideas creatives in ad agencies/production companies/ directors/etc come up with also never gets seen. And that's what those creative people are paid for; constant, quality creative in the face of rejection and anonymity.
I am finding this conversation interesting where I am observing that the staunch agency types deride the creativity of the Etsy ad spots under statement that one-ad-spot-does-not-a-brand-make. Of course not, for traditional CPGs that is. Here, we are talking about a handmade "movement" that comes in all shapes, sizes and colors. It likely won't be contained in a neat little cohesive, organized and consistent branding campaign. Etsy has an ardent loyal following that most CPGs can only dream of. The only consistency required here is etsy.com + handmade.
On my end, I am delighting in the creative and varied execution of these ad spots. Just as the Etsy artisans and designers are making inroads to compete with big box retailers and made-in-China-generic goods, it's fun to observe in parallel that now, their creative flair is also now being felt by "big box" advertising agencies. Way to go indie!
Rarely is such unbridled creative freedom allowed (or, for that matter, as warranted as it is here in Etsy's case).
If you are a client, remember that the 'creative flair' you're seeing here is what you rarely see when month-long assignments have been culled down to the 1-2 campaigns you are presented with to answer those multi-point briefs. Many times, the 'creative flair' ends up on the creative floor.
Come by some time and have a look.
Yes, and we know from recent experience that agency folks always STRICTLY observe contest rules.
1) Beside the point
2) Wrong
Your reputation is intact.
besides the point??????
1) yeah, nobody ever is put in an ad because of their good lucks. i totally apologize for even suggesting that.
2) that's obnoxious.