1000 Monkeys

Ever since Ad Age named "The Consumer" the agency of the year back in 2007, consumer generated advertising has been all the rage.

Every year now some Average Joe – actually ad student, unemployed copywriter, or struggling director – gets the chance to win a million dollars in Dorito's Super Bowl ad competition. Seemingly every brand has a web contest to update a jingle, submit a product name or create a new TV spot.

Based on some of the work I've seen for major brands from some of their agencies, you can't blame the marketing director for looking for new solutions.

Ultimately though, going to the consumer for breakthrough advertising is a lot like giving typewriters (should we update that to laptops?) to 1,000 monkeys and expecting them to write Shakespeare. It may happen, but not on a deadline and there's a lot of gibberish you have to wade through to find anything good.

Consumers are great for endorsements, testimonials, and word of mouth, but when it comes to creating and producing memorable, integrated advertising ideas with legs, you're probably still better off leaving it to professionals.