• The New York Times, Monday, October 16, 2006 11:30 AM

If you're a marketer, sometimes you have to think in terms of stereotypes and over-simplifications to deliver the right message for your brand--and protect it from appearing in the wrong place. Therefore, you have to think that MySpace is a place for dirty old men to prey on young people, YouTube is a place to watch ripped-off videos, and Facebook is where minors go to see photos of their underage drinking exploits.

User-generated content is dangerous territory precisely because users can create their own uncensored content. But that's what you do at these user-generated sites, so that's what marketers need to do, too. A few have, and it's working. On MySpace, marketers can create profiles. On Facebook, they can create groups where members can join. They can add features to these pages, like video clips, downloadable freebie coupons, ringtones and other stuff--and of course, provide links to their Web pages.

They can also become "friends" themselves, and the kids don't mind any of this, says Danah Boyd, a sociologist who studies social networks like MySpace. "Teens have grown up with being barraged with advertising," she says. "They just want it to be relevant, but they expect it."

Here's a good example: Unilever helped turn its Axe deodorant into the No. 1 brand by interacting with its core base of 18-34 males. A recent campaign included an hour-long show on MTV devoted to "Gamekillers," or guys who block other guys from getting a girl's attention. Unilever also posted a page on MySpace where people could trade stories, share tips and take a quiz about how to deal with Gamekillers.

The site was hosted by Christine Dolce, a blonde bombshell and MySpace celebrity who already has more than 1 million friends. The response: more than 250,000 people took the quiz, and 74,000 people designated the Gamekillers page as a "friend."

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