User-Generated Content (UGC) is definitely the latest trend in website content. Production costs and barriers to entry have dropped significantly so that anyone with a $500 camera and a video editing program can be the newest Quentin Tarantino. Combine that with programs like YouTube, Ziddio and other video publishing sites and getting your 15-minutes of fame is easy, .e.g., Diet Coke + Mentos.

In fact, some of the most popular commercials during the Super Bowl last year were UGC. Chevrolet, Doritos, Yahoo and more have turned to consumers to provide the commercials for the over $2 million time slot¹². This new trend is obviously much less expensive than the Ad-agency created alternative, but will that continue to be the case? Will these novice video makers begin to charge big bucks for these monoliths to deliver a seemingly more authentic message?

While there’s a lot of millennials creating bizarre, interesting, beautiful, silly videos, does this mean the content is “good” or “relevant”? No. UGC-bearing sites are being called a virtual flea market where there is some interesting content but it often takes a lot of sifting and searching to find it. Is there an emerging business model around UGC? Absolutely. Will it commoditize this content and therefore make it inherently commercialized and therefore not authentic? Unknown.

Perhaps this newest trend will bring us back to our roots and democratize advertising. Or perhaps, it’s just a trend, like Napster that started out grassroots and became a multi-million dollar commodity.

Libby Niemi, Client Services