NOW

I was asked to write an article for the Greater China edition of Viewpoint magazine, Ogilvy's house internal magazine to all staff, media and clients. Here is what I wrote:

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We creatives live a tough and dangerous life. We have to work such long hours, we have to endure those endless meetings and we have to fight so hard to sell our brilliant ideas to our clients. As if this would not be enough pressure, now we are even threatened by the very people we are creative for: our client's consumers.

Suddenly, it seems, everyone is a copywriter, a designer, photographer or music composer. Everyone wants to, and easily can, create content and share it with the world. And it seems that many of those videos, blogs or podcasts are even more successful than our well crafted and researched ideas? What's going on out there?

The answer is short, and it doesn't sound very sexy: UGC. User Generated Content is about to spark a revolution of how we consume media and share our ideas.

mySpace.com is the biggest collections of personal blogs in the world. It has now reached the magic number of 50 million bloggers and is therefore also one of the biggest internet phenomena in history. MySpace started out as a platform where musicians and bands could post their songs and fans could chat about it. Music as the force behind the network. Now, there are up to 270.000 new blogs created a day, with topics ranging from my-cat-on-my-sofa-pictures to discussions about coca-cola's latest TV ad. The power of this incredible large amount of UGC is so attractive to other surfers, that mySpace is about to become the most frequented website in the US, with people spending hours and days reading through blogs of other people.

YouTube.com is another fascinating online idea. A website where people can share videos as easily as they can watch it. Within an instant you can upload your movie clips (from your phone, video camera or ripped from DVDs and TV) and share it with anyone in the world. Viewers can rank and vote and comment on it. Once you've started, you can't let go. You'll find just about anything on YouTube, from recorded TV series from the 80s, to exotic cocking receipts to south park episodes to music videos to the funniest clips you have ever seen. Just try it out. Already now youTube claims to have more than 45 million videos played a day, and site visitors more than amazon.com and almost as many as CNN.

Of course there are plenty other examples of places where users share their own content or mix up others. Pictures on Flickr.com, your favorite sound on Last.fm and your bookmarks on de.licio.us.

So if everyone is out there creating their own content, what are we creatives then supposed to do?

The key to survival is that we know how to make the most creative and most relevant use of these new resources. That we find ways of making it work for our brands and that we manage to make the user and his creations part of our story.

One recent example was the China launch of MP3MOTO.The campaign made use of the just emerging phenomena of home-shot lip-syncing videos, as seen in the Back Dorm Boys' performance of "I want it that way". Ogilvy recruited the two students from Guangzhou and had them sing the original track of "Radio in my head" for Motorola. As expected, the video went very viral. On the campaign's website users could create, upload and share their own videos and remix the soundtrack. Over the campaign period, the site had more than 14 million page views, there were 257 videos uploaded and 232.000 people voted on them. 545 songs were remixed and 1.3 million people voted on them. A great example of how powerful a campaign can be if we include the consumer in the equation.

Nike London took the idea of user generated content even a step further. On their runlondon.com website they offer a lot of useful content: running tips, training techniques, a schedule planner. But the real meat is this: a running-route finder based on a Google map and satellite images. You can in 3 easy steps create your very own and personal favorite running route through London. Draw it on a map or directly over a very detailed satellite image. Add your comments and then, of course, share it with every other running fan in town. Runners can search through routes based on distance, terrain, postcode or lighting conditions. And they can vote on it. This is an example of how a brand can offer a platform for users to share their passion, and their knowledge with others, in a very innovative way. It creates an immensely relevant value for the audience. And therefore for the brand.

In the future, we creatives (as well as everyone else!) have to stay on top of these new digital innovations. We have to pay very close attention to what really matters to consumers. We have to find ways of making them part of the story, part of our campaign, we have to let them own the message. If we all embrace the change and feel comfortable in this new digital lifestyle, then we will be able to create campaigns with even more impact and especially value for our clients' brands.