Free Ads Can Be Really Expensive

An anonymous reader writes "Companies are finding that this 'Web 2.0' user participation thing sometimes isn't all its cracked up to be. The New York Times reports on the efforts of big companies to harness consumer enthusiasm for assistance with advertising. Heinz, for example, is running a campaign asking users to submit videos using their product in inventive ways. The problem, of course, is that most of the submissions are utterly terrible. The result is a headache in terms of quality control and making use of the turned in submissions. 'Heinz hopes to show more than five of them, if there are enough that convey a positive, appealing message about Heinz ketchup, he said. But advertising executives who have seen some of the entries say that Heinz may be hard pressed to find any that it is proud to run on television in September. "These are just so bad," said Linda Kaplan Thaler, chief executive of the Kaplan Thaler Group, an advertising agency in New York that is not involved with Heinz's contest. One of the most viewed Heinz videos -- seen, at last count, more than 12,800 times -- ends with a close-up of a mouth with crooked, yellowed teeth. When Ms. Kaplan Thaler saw it, she wondered, "Were his teeth the result of, maybe, too much Heinz?"'"

Comments

Amature production, what did they expect...

[Safiire Arrowny]

Oh no, the people in your free commercial didn't have perfect actors teeth. Welcome to the real world Heinz, what did you expect to get for free from amatures?

Re:Amature production, what did they expect...

[An Onerous Coward]

Welcome to the real world Heinz, what did you expect to get for free from amatures?

Probably a highly popular OS kernel. Smothered in ketchup.

Re:Amature production, what did they expect...

[I(rispee_I(reme]

Boston (as a hole) didn't know what the hell those little LED signs were

 
Oh, such accidental truth!

Subject matter

[Raptoer]

Perhaps the "free" part of it is to blame, maybe its more that people that make good videos don't like Heinz enough for make an ad for them?
I mean would you really spend your free time making a video for a ketchup company?

Re:Subject matter

[suv4x4]

Perhaps the "free" part of it is to blame, maybe its more that people that make good videos don't like Heinz enough for make an ad for them?
I mean would you really spend your free time making a video for a ketchup company?

Indeed. I'm sure if Apple got that contest out, they'd get amazing submissions. But there's only so much inspiration and affection you may have for a bottle of ketchup.

The guys who thought up this contest didn't see that far I guess. Well, there's always a way out: hire one or more ad agencies incognito, produce 5 amateur-looking (but good) ads, submit them to the contest.. let those win and tadaaa!

Victory.

Re:Subject matter

[Bloke down the pub]

I wouldn't. Perhaps somebody who just graduated in a related field and who wants to get hired might.

Re:Subject matter

[zappepcs]

You have exactly the tack that they need to be thinking, but won't. Use the new media or rather exploit it without expecting others to do all your work. Will it blend would be a good place to start. Will a bottle of Heinz blend? hmmmmm

That is what viral marketing is about, not asking others to do your work for you. Produce something that people will watch for whatever bizarre reason, and let it go...

"for just 39 cents per day, you can keep a needy hotdog or hamburger clothed in Heinz ketchup." Now do a YouTube commercial type video on that premise. Advertising agencies are only good about 10% of the time. Web 2.0 has them all flummoxed.

Variatio on Sturgeon's law.

[Hognoxious]

Companies are finding that this 'Web 2.0' user participation thing sometimes isn't all its cracked up to be.

90% of web 2.0 stuff isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Re:Variatio on Sturgeon's law.

[WrongSizeGlass]

90% of web 2.0 stuff isn't all it's cracked up to be. And the other half is p0rn.

why no direct link to the ads?

[anagama]

Sure, we can all RTFG, but the blurb really should include a link to all the videos.

Greedy advertisers

[syousef]

Let me get this straight. These companies want you to make an ad for them, for free on a zero dollar budget and they're complaining that the quality is crap?

Morons.

Re:Greedy advertisers

[Aladrin]

That's okay, they clearly haven't watched the professional ads lately, anyhow. Most of them are complete crap, too. They send the wrong message, they have annoying sound and video, and they play way too often. I find it hard to believe this 'horrible' videos could do any worse than they already are.

Sending the wrong message is actually my biggest gripe about most commercials these days. Most of them try to show an 'average' person, but miss the mark end up at 'loser'. The end result is that 'product X is for losers' instead of their intended message. They even hit on this about the yellow teeth in the video, questioning if the message is that the bad dental hygiene was caused by their own product.

I'm not against commercials any more than I'm against movies or music. I'm against BAD commercials, movies, and music. Good commercials can actually be 30 seconds of humor, or awe, or heaven forbid, information you actually care about. (Cingular, Geico (old commercials), Apple.) The world is a bit short on awe and informative commercials, and I can't think of a single one now.

Re:Greedy advertisers

[indiechild]

The companies (well, Heinz, in this case) aren't complaining. You didn't read the blurb or TFA, but that's OK. It's the advertising agencies who aren't involved who are complaining that the quality is crap. Pot, meet fucking kettle.

Gee, an ad agency thinks that user generated content which is competing with them (indirectly, or directly) is shit. Big fucking surprise.

Heinz already states that soliciting user generated content and then sorting it all out isn't cheap, and is at least as expensive as hiring a marketing/ad agency. No wonder the ad agencies are scared -- that's money that they lost out on.

It's a completely stupid and blindingly obvious news story, filled with loaded statements.

Re:Greedy advertisers

[sjames]

Most of them are complete crap, too. They send the wrong message,

I'm amazed how little advertisers think about the message their musical choices send. A PILL commercial with a bit of "We're not Gonna take it" in the background? Well, if they're not gonna take those pills, I sure won't! Then a commercial for "clean" coal with "Sixteen Tons" playing in the background? Why would I want to support exploitation of workers?

Web 2.0: Utter failure?

[philovivero]

Yeah, this web 2.0 thing is just crap. I mean, you have a multimillion dollar company, and you try to get a bunch of people on the internet excited about your stupid sauce product, and no-one seems to have any enthusiasm for your boring corporate image whatsoever.

All eight people on the internet that ARE excited about your stupid sauce product are just mediocre media creators without the creative vision required to make your stupid sauce product look hip and cool.

Obviously we should just move directly on to web 3.0, where everyone is fucking stoked about sauce products. The top DJs of the world will do entire sets themed on ketchup, mayonnaise, and mustard. Beautiful runway models will gyrate and make kissing faces at your stupid sauce product.

Hells yeh, babies. No more of this web 2.0 BS. It just wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

A few good links

[Nymz]

There are too many crappy ones, so here's a few that are less crappy.

The Cute Kids - 23
The Girlfriend - 42
The Fisherman - 45
The Punster - 62
The Ketchup Pass - 65
The Wrestling Brothers - 67
The Dog Food (animated) - 72
The Rappers - 79
The Ninja Kids - 126
The Dirty Joke - 208
The Behind the Scenes - 241
The Hot Hot Hot Girl - 291

I've waited years for this

[Joebert]

When I was in 5th grade, I waited untill the last minute to do my science project.
My mom & her friend decided I was going to see which brand of ketchup dripped the slowest.

I'm proud to say, Heinz ketchup dripped the slowest & thus was the thickest ketchup.


Mark me whatever you want, but this is proof that my shitty last minute science project was truely ahead of its' time & I should have got a fucking A++. :)

Re:So every YouTube video is Oscar quality?

[owlnation]

Not only that, but the product they are using is flawed as well.

And not only that - but food and product photography is as hard as it gets photographically.

It is a highly skilled niche job that most professional photographers and cinematographers do not know how to do. You need to know how to get the right colors, temperatures and lighting to make food look like food. Often it's just faked too. For example, most whisky bottle shots you see contain tea, not whisky, because real whisky photographs to look like a bottle of urine.

Svelt Athletic people -- not big Ketchup market

[cathryn]

Maybe they're just shocked at finally finding out who the core market for ketchup really is. It's not those thin and toned muscular people like on TV. That's a rare breed, I've never even met one myself, though I see them on TV and in the movies. It's your good ole' fat, diabetic, round-bellied, yellow-toothed American. Slaving away at some crappy job, coming home exhausted, and collapsing with the TV and Jim Beam. That's who is guzzling down those giant Walmart-sized ketchup bottles. More power to 'em!