I’ve been giving the Dove campaign a lot of thought since it recently won Grand Prix at Cannes. I wanted to find some more commentary on it and came across an article by Pete Blackshaw of Nielson BuzzMetrics fame. Applauding the decision of the Cannes judges who, he went onto list out his ten takeaways from Real Beauty. One of his takeaways stood out to me - he referred to this campaign as “consumer-fortified media”.Pete’s comments on CFM: “Unilever’s Dove Evolutionis a classic example of CFM. The advertisers created the spot, but its meaning was shaped, or fortified, by the conversation, commentary, and debate that wrapped around the content. The right combination can create an exponential positive buzz lift or outright disaster. In the case of Dove Evolution, tens of thousands of women talked about the ad, embedded it in their blogs, and wrapped fresh commentary around the core. The same thing often happens when the news networks drop enticing news segments on their sites or YouTube. Just think about the New York TV video on rats at Taco Bell or the TV networks seeding a Justin Timberlake “rap” on YouTube. The input is credentialed and formal; the output is fortified (and validated) by the consumer voice.”

He went onto delineate CFM from consumer-generated media (CGM), consumer-solicited media (CSM), and traditional/paid media.

Pete’s comments on CGM: “At its core, CGM represents first-person commentary posted or shared across a host of expression venues, including message boards, forums, rating and review sites, groups, social networking sites, blogs, and, of course, video-sharing sites. It’s commonly influenced or informed by relevant experience with brands (e.g., “I’m so angry with Jet Blue,” “I love Target”). Although direct company feedback and general offline water cooler talk technically count as CGM, they have less of an enduring latency effect because they’re not archived online for easy access by other consumers.”

Pete’s comments on CSM: “The term that most commonly captures this form is ‘co-creation.’ Others loosely call it “participatory advertising.” In essence, the marketer sets the specs, and consumers exercise a range of creativity and brand evangelism within those parameters. It could be a create-your-own-ad contest, or an upload-your-experience photo or video utility on a brand Web site. Recent examples include the Dove ad during the Oscars (the product of a contest) and the Frito-Lay, GM, and NFL spots during the Super Bowl. One of the very first examples is MoveOn.org’s “Bush in 30 Seconds” campaign three years ago. Think about an RFP whereby we set criteria for suppliers to duke it out to win our marketing business. CSM has the potential to be hugely effective, but it’s not entirely pure or organic.”

* A couple comments about his definition of CSM.

I don’t think co-creation should be relegated to the world of CSM. I would argue that CGM and CFM are also co-created. In fact, whenever the client is asking for and actively and/or passively rewarding customer interaction the end result is the co-creation of brands, messages, and meaning.

My other comments is that he hits CSM on the head - it is not entirely pure or organic. I think there is a level of transparency and authenticity when the client draws more defined boundaries between what the customer has control over and what he/she does not. CSM is very difficult to pull off with defined boundaries - customers always feel as if they are being screened by the company asking for their input.

Good CGM gives control to the customer and the client stays out of the way. Similarly, good CFM is when the client clearly indicates that they are transmitting the message and do not get in the way when customers take it, adopt it, add to it, and share it.

Perhaps the readers of this blog are familiar with CSM and CFM, but they were foreign to me until this morning. I’m thrilled to have them in my mental rolodex as I think they are great fuel for the conversation agencies are trying to have with their clients on the concept of co-creation.

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