User Generated Advertising and a $50,000 Payday

I ran across this website (thank you Stumble) and knew right away that this isgoing to be hot.

They haven't launched yet, but Change Advertising Forever is an idea for which the world is ripe. The concept extends the success of the user-generated phenomenon in a fascinating new direction.

Change Advertising Forever will post advertising briefs from companies wanting a swank ad. All comers are invited to submit their own ads. Those chosen are paid $50,000. Cool, huh?

I'm curious to see what the ratio of neophytes to post-neophytes will be. But I'm really looking forward to seeing the work. I'm guessing edgier work. There are no constraints other than the client brief, so it's a very different cubicle of thought.

Ad agencies are an amazing amalgam of metrics, professional bonhomie and a creative product. Usually, these disparate people come together without coming to blows, but it's a sustained balancing act. There's an air of hiptitude that belies the fact that creative advertising is some of the hardest brain work there is. Madison Avenue and its less iconic brethren are seldom as free spirited as we'd like to be.

But in this scenario, it's a creative brief and a creative product, without any other pressures. The clip below tells the story:



Is this the wave of the future? Is that a good thing or not? Will elderly creatives be lunching on Alpo because of clever 16-year-olds?

Of course not. This concept is applicable to a thin stripe of the ad rainbow. Good advertising of a broad scope and lasting sort depends on relationships and expertise.

That said, I think it could be an incredible showcase for giving talented unknowns the chance to get noticed.