CNN Proudly Works with Fans to Promote MSNBC
Tapping into your customers and your community to co-create content can be an excellent strategy for building engagement with your brand.
Let me emphasize the important word in that phrase: can.
Because sometimes, it just seems to go all wrong.
Like when Chevy invited customers to create their own Tahoe commercial, and people responded with taglines like, "$70 to fill up the tank, which will last less than 400 miles. Chevy Tahoe."
Unfortunately, CNN missed the lesson on how to appropriately work with communities to generate content with their new T-shirt generator that let’s fans create custom T-shirts out of real CNN headlines, or upload their "headline." CNN can now rest assured knowing that there are T-shirts in the wild proudly displaying the iconic CNN logo above the headline: "I prefer MSNBC."
Bonus points for the first person to submit a Viget headline to a CNN T-shirt.
[Update]
While there are plenty of great examples of excellent co-creation and customizing content, one of the newer entries to the field is Moleskine, who is offering customers an opportunity to upload their own design and have it laser engraved on their book. Perhaps altering the historic design of the Moleskine is an abomination to some, but others will no doubt find the personalization a wonderful enhancement to an already storied product. Great way to blend a strong brand with a personal touch.
This reminds of this: http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/09/write-and-vote-.html
Which is also quite comical. =)
What a great lesson to be learned from this. User-generated content has worked so well for some. I think the important thing is to consider all possible outcomes before starting this kind of initiative - put yourself in the shoes of your brand’s worst enemy and anticipate any ways that the campaign could be used to damage your brand. Risks are necessary, but proper preparation and strategy are key.
Sidenote: There was a recent article in Ad Age about social media “packets,” by Mat Zucker. Anyone know of examples of this concept in use? Would love to learn more.
It’s worth noting that while communities have a little fun with custom content like this, they tend tear apart custom content that in some way censors or monitors user input (see: users spamming a White House contest with offensive terms in order to map out what the administration deemed “offensive").
I think that Tahoe’s mistake wasn’t so much implementation as blind optimism. They gave internet users an incredibly lame task (make an ad for a super-expensive car?) and then gave them a platform for publishing their creations.
CNN, on the other hand, is just selling you a shirt with some text on it. They still get 15 bucks from you, you don’t get to put your shirt in an online gallery on the site itself, and you’re not doing anything that you couldn’t do through a dozen other services if you manage to hack the shirt through the URL (although it looks like they fixed it). I think that getting users to pay you fifteen bucks to mock you might still be a decent idea.
@Doug Avery - you make a good point. If CNN is willing to roll with the punches and maintains a healthy perspective, that will help mitigate a case of UGC gone awry. While it’s a small and obviously fun endeavor for them, it does fit with their larger vision of bringing more users into the news cycle as evidenced by their iReport project. Overall, while CNN will no doubt have their fair share of hits and misses, I do think they are to be applauded for trying new ideas and recognizing that their long-term success will require increased participation by their audience.
@Heidi Ofinowicz - thanks for your input and raising the topic of packets, which in many ways are along the lines of “branded utilities,” interestingly enough a concept pioneered in part by the same folks behind CNN’s t-shirt web app. Here’s an interview that’s worth checking out: http://www.psfk.com/2006/11/branded_utility_2.html. Whether you think of them as social media packets or branded utilities, I think that’s where digital marketing is headed - developing branded experiences that add value to the user’s life in ways big and small.
I agree with Doug on a his points. I think big companies are too busy thinking about how they can look like they “understand social media” more than thinking up a clever concept to implement. Chevy’s go at it was a weak concept. CNN however, is a bit of a different situation all together because of all the things Doug mentioned ( ie: no online gallery) I think CNN’s attempt is more to show the playful side of a news network. Have you ever seen Brian Williams on a late night talk show? That guy is funny. The reasoning for him to go on Conan O’brien is about the same as CNN’s T-shirt maker. Brian can play well with the late night genre and CNN can play well with social media. Inviting their users to make a shirt and letting themselves be open and vulnerable to cheap shots is similar to Brian Williams being put in the line of fire on SNL. I actually think it is awesome.
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