• by September 13, 2005

AND WE JUST MIGHT GET A GLIMPSE OF THE REALLY REAL THING -- It's official. Consumer-generated media has come full circle, and now is competing directly with Madison Avenue. We saw the first signs of this earlier this year, when brand fans created instant, unsolicited ads, which they posted on the Web. They spread like viral fire. There was high school teacher George Master's animated spot for Apple's iPod Mini. And, of course, Joe Jaffe's clever adaptation of Tiger Woods' magical putt of a Nike golf ball, which he turned into a "Just Do It" spot. We have no idea how many other civilians have just done it, but the consumer-generated ad movement took a new twist today when it officially pitched one of Madison Avenue's biggest prizes: Coca-Cola Co.'s massive worldwide advertising account.

Adcandy, which bills itself as "the world's first virtual, or open source ad agency," Tuesday said it was joining the account pitch. Of course, it's unclear what Coca-Cola Co. might think about that. Adcandy wasn't invited into the review, but is "crashing the party" just the same, says Per Hoffman, president and founder of the virtual ad shop that is building a community of civilian copywriters, art directors, ad slogan meisters and jingle scorers.

"Here is the problem with advertising as I see it," says Hoffman. "It is almost completely created by professionals."

Actually, some critics of Madison Avenue might say the real problem is that advertising is often created by the less-than-professional. But that's not stopping Hoffman and his citizen ad army, which he claims is more in touch with everyday citizens precisely because they are, well, everyday citizens.

"Obviously we can't provide the hand-holding that a traditional agency offers, but what we do provide are raw, inspired ideas siphoned straight out of the consciousness of consumers," explains Hoffman. "Why not let people who use the product figure out how to sell it?"

Hoffman is so committed to the idea that he's even willing to do spec. Well, he's willing to hold a competition among Adcandy's 3,000 members to see what kind of speculative ad concepts they can develop for Coke.

"Several substantial prizes are being offered," confides Hoffman, "although it should be pointed out that the competition is not sponsored by Coke."

For the moment, the folks at MediaVest can relax. Hoffman says he doesn't have any plans for consumer-generated media buys and plans. And just to make sure, we checked to see if there was a Mediacandy.com site under development. Turns out there is one, but it's a Los Angeles-based photo and graphic arts studio. Phew!