In a series of seven posts authors from London –  this month celebrating the coming together under one roof of six TBWA companies – will share their thoughts on successful brand behavior, highlighting topics like upcoming brands, the impact of digital, music, the future of PR and new trends in retail. Enjoy some some inspirational thoughts and join in the Media Arts discussion. Todays post by Jess Greenwood, Deputy Editor of Contagious.

When YouTube was invented, it brought with it waves of user-generated video content that by 2006 had threatened to drown us all in trampolining cats. Predictably, there was much kerfuffle in the advertising industry. When haphazard attempts at ‘viral’ communication were compared with the generally hilarious mishaps, exploding Diet Coke bottles and sleeping pandas that populated the channel, the future of video-based advertising communication on the internet looked bleak. Brands just weren’t that fun….

More than anywhere, it was London that suffered. A corner of the industry that prided itself on big budgets and high production value, a place where, even if we’d never seen it before, we’d seen it all before, London was swiftly overrun with innovative digital hotshops and planner-bloggers proclaiming the death of the traditional agency model. It was here that the user-generated, low-budget, crappy handheld revolution seemed likely to strike hardest.

Thankfully, we’ve all grown up a bit since then. Several recent campaigns have harnessed the power of non-video-based UGC to staggering effect. Walker’s ‘Do Us a Flavour’ campaign through AMV BBDO, for example, attracted 1.2 million suggestions for new crisp flavours – a million more than expected. TBWA\London’s Skittle Skuffle allowed punters to create their own avatars, and pit them against friends and family using social networks like Facebook and Twitter. The game drew 370,000 Facebook fans in a matter of weeks. But the arrogant days of getting consumers to make your commercials for you thankfully seem to be over, with most brands realising that in order to make people care enough you either have to pay them lots of money (Doritos) or recruit semi-professionals and promise them a glittering career (HP).

The Triumphant Return of Film

As the impact of the user-generated commercial quietly declines, the impact of the ‘statusphere’ – the evolution of the web into a short-form, comment-driven mechanism based on the uploading of short status messages to platforms such as Twitter – is making itself felt in Adland.

Despite much wailing and gnashing of teeth from the mainstream media, social networks are unarguably good at one thing – the speedy dissemination of information. Links fly, comments are retweeted and a smart piece of content becomes a global phenomenon in the blink of an eye. However, with a new platform comes a shift in our psychology, and our approaches to sharing. On Twitter, content is like a badge. Sending it on means wearing it for the rest of the day.

We have something of a mantra for judging the criteria of a Contagious campaign, namely – is it useful? Is it relevant? Is it entertaining? Twitter is the ultimate meritocracy, for those who care how they’re judged at least. If you pass something on, it had better be at least one of those three things, or you and your online reputation will be stuck with it.

From an advertising perspective, this has interesting ramifications. Three of the most widely distributed pieces of advertising content of the last few months – as far as video goes, anyway – were high budget, beautifully produced films which took full advantage of online distribution channels to extend the audiovisual format way beyond a traditional commercial.

Nike’s skate wear commercial, ‘Today Was a Perfect Day’, starred Paul Rodriguez and Ice Cube and was released online in a web-only format of 120s to a rapturous reception from the skate and film communities (Brand Kitchen, Johannesburg). Philips’ ‘Carousel’ played with interactive technologies to allow users to investigate an elaborate heist at their own pace, to sell the 21:9 TV (Tribal DDB, Amsterdam). And finally, Diageo’s work for Johnnie Walker, a six-minute, one take narration of the history of the brand by Scottish actor Robert Carlyle as he tramps over the highlands (BBH, London).

All three films are slick, boasting extraordinary production value – and importantly, a strong creative idea. Philips’ clowns are menacing, and the stop frame action enticing. Carlyle’s performance for Johnnie Walker is assured (although that, too, may have been expensive). And Nike’s laid-back examination of a day in the life of an affable skater is the stuff of which slacker dreams are made.

With this in mind – could we see a return to the big budget gosh-that’s-pretty production of yesteryear at which London so excels? Is it time for all those newly rebranded ‘digital’ creatives and ‘viral’ directors to start dusting off their pens, paper and 35mm reels and get out there to show us what they can do? Is London’s creative renaissance about to come from the most unlikely of directions – the resurgence of film?

A word to the wise, however. As digital production techniques are further democratised, the cogs will begin to turn. Making something look big budget will no longer cost big budget. And so the cycle of user-generated content will begin again, perhaps marking a return to the scratty, off-the-cuff production of 2006. Crank up the Gnarls Barkley….

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions please email Jess Greenwood, Deputy Editor of Contagious Magazine.

www.contagiousmagazine.com

Click here for the Contagious round-up of the year featuring TBWA\London’s Little Big Planet.