Jean-Marie Dru, worldwide chief executive of TBWA Chiat Day on user-generated content: I don’t believe in it too much, to be honest. . . . I don’t think you can have consumers telling you what you should do. We believe our best campaigns have been done with our clients, not our consumers.”
Make those words the epitaph for him and his business: ” don’t think you can have consumers telling you what you should do.” That is precisely what you should do.
The Reuters story that reports his sentiments also says: “However cutting-edge the idea of crowd-sourcing may be, companies that tap the public for content risk losing control of the message.” Yes, we hear that from controlling marketers: Our efforts might be off-message. Which only means that your message is off.
In the end, it seems to me, one must strike a balance between crowd-sourcing and UGC with the output of creative professionals. An increasing use of creativity is channeled into designing better and more thoughtful ways of crowd-sourcing and interacting with publics. However, as you assert, control of the message—in the way Ms. Dru appears nostalgic for—has already been transferred to the consumer.
I don’t think he’s saying don’t listen to the consumer. I think he’s saying the best ideas aren’t designed by committee, be they a committee of ad types or a committee of consumers.
It’s like the old magazine rule. You don’t design and create a magazine from focus groups, but you can test whether your magazine is working by testing it with focus groups.