In the case history of user generated content, one of the object lessons often discussed is the Chevy Tahoe campaign for users to create video advertisments for the new SUV.
The campaign, which formerly lived at Chevyapprentice.com, but has since been discontinued, provided users with video clips and soundtracks, which they were encouraged to remix, provide text for, and remake into commercials.
Unfortunately, as covered here and here, the platform turned into the perfect opportunity for users concerned about the environmental impact of SUVs to express their concerns on Chevy's dime. (Although the site itself has been taken down, many of the videos can be found on video sharing sites).
While some commentators have used this example to show that user generated content has no place at large consumer brands, I have to agree with the Jackie Huba of the Church of the Consumer blog, who points out that the issue wasn't lack of control but ironically, too much control:
A better way to engage enthusiasts? A "send us your video about how much you love the Tahoe" program. . . . It might not generate a million entries, but so what. It certainly eliminates the drive-by digital graffiti vigilantes. A few hundred submissions of authentic, homemade videos would be pretty remarkable and some nice word of mouth. . . .
Instead, we get more big-brand control. Providing movie clips, music and the ability to add text is not the solution to more a efficient "messaging strategy," like some sort of large-scale hypnotism sideshow disguised as engagement.
The issue comes down to when and how to excercise control, in working with user generated content. The prepackaged clips and soundtracks were so tightly packaged, on-message, scenes of grandeur and power, that the opportunity to express real creativity could only emerge in the text. What the most successful anti-SUV ads created on the platform took advantage of was the contrast between the packaged, glossy clips and the authentic, non-marketing-voice text users created.
What other brands can learn is not to stay away from user generated content, but to recognize that conversations can include arugments as well as agreement, and systems need to be designed with this fact in mind.
Chevy did ultimately respond to the whole discussion on the FastLane Blog, rightly noting that they never supressed the negative ads, and trying to participate in the discussion by describing the Tahoe's environmentally "responsible" design. Too bad this part of the conversation didn't get as widely spread as the videos themselves.
