Southwest Airlines recently held a consumer-created ad contest for its "Wanna Get Away?" campaign. The contest, which prompted users to send in embarrassing and awkward moments similar to the scenes shown in the company's official campaign, generated about 140 entries. You can see the winning entry and runner ups at http://www.southwestwannagetaway.com

Consumer-generated marketing is here to stay. However, I find it annoying sometimes. 140 entries? Uhm... the web site of Southwest Airlines says that they received tons of videos. I guess 140 entries is a good number if we take into consideration buzz.

I believe it's OK to have consumers - think - they are telling the companies what to do, or how to do it... and when I say think it's because after all there has to be a certain management on the side of the marketers... yes everything is changing and marketers cannot talk to the consumers the way they used to... but that only means they should learn how's the consumer thinking (a few more psychology classes maybe?), it doesn't mean that everything will be as it used to... it just means that the knowledge they gain will maintain the difference marketer/consumer.

I think consumers should be involved - you're getting free advice from a loyal customer - what better research could you ask for? And people who are excited over a product or service want to spread word about it - why not harness all that great energy? I actually think marketers have to totally re-think their approach to marketing - I think marketers who take psychology classes will be caught out in the end if all their doing is trying to manipulate the consumer.

Thanks Younjee - hope you don't mind, but I'm putting your example in my section on how consumers can get involved with brands....

One risk of involving consumers is that by responding to the loud (and often very public) complaints of some, you may expend energy on the wrong things. A good point brought up in the following article: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/4781.html#original.

I think you have to take these risks. It is all about getting attention and turning this into a marketing advantage.

It's definetly not about manipulating the consumer, but it's a new consumer we're talking about and to... and marketers are definetly talking to the "old" consumer... that's what I meant by taking psychoogy classes....

I don't necessarily think it is a new consumer - I think we've always been here. We just now have the technology to have a voice that can be heard. Yeah, consumer!.... But I do see your point about forcing marketers to take psychology classes - or maybe a new technology class would be better.

I think it is a new consumer, it is a whole new generation!!! It is like the consumer revolution... they've learned that they have the power and are willing to use it.... because back then they had a voice, it was probably slower, and it was usually unheard... but now that they're shouting and discovering that they can make companies turn their heads and listen to them, I do think it's a new generation of consumers... It's like women, we're the same ones... just that now we dare to talk, we're able to have a job, maintain a family, and still be ladies ;)

If your voice is unheard, do you have a voice? Yes, there is a new generation involved, but the older generation - of which the baby boomers are the biggest segment still (I think...) are now using new technology to speak up far louder than they ever could - and they are being heard. That's what I mean by the consumers not being new. And if we didn't have new technology, do you think the younger generation would have a voice? I think it's the same consumer who's suddenly realized s/he can have their voice heard - and now that they are realizing that, they're speaking up in droves.

true that. i also think it'll be interesting to watch how much louder the 'consumer voice' gets when the generation growing up now (ie. the gen. that's grown up on the net) grows into their wallets. when they're the generation that holds the highest purchasing power - we'll see an pronounced shift in how loud that voice gets. we're still a little shy online. take online dating for instance...a lot of people in our geration feel to private to through it all up there, but the next generation's grown up on myspace...they're used to living, and talking, digitally.

I believe that it doesn't matter if the consumer is "new" or if they have always been there, but have never been heard. The thing is that all generations are getting used to be part of the market process, and that reminds me of the Experiential Marketing concept: uses brand relevant experiences to engage key audiences while creating a forum where these audiences interact with a brand. It involves high levels of interactivity and sensory impact and seeks to elicit an emotional response among the target through a more personal level of engagement than other media.

That means not only using the online tools, but any other opportunity to reach the consumers by letting them "experience" whaterever you are marketing (brand;idea; service; product etc).

Here are some interesting stats from the Doritos Ad Contest/Campaign that invited consumers to create Super Bowl ads.
-generated a billion impressions (equal to $36 million in paid media)
-attracted 2 million clicks on the contest microsite
-attracted 750,000 unique users, and 2 million total video views
Even if these numbers are inflated, the contest/campaign was clearly a success by today's standards.