• Ad Age, Tuesday, February 13, 2007 11:01 AM

The story of the Super Bowl may be that five of the big spots were created and produced by everyday consumers, but consumer-generated content is but one part of the larger media conversation. The oft-cited Doritos spot is remarkable less for costing $13 than it is for demonstrating that we're entering a new era in the ad business.

Not an age, necessarily, in which ads cost less to produce (though that may be part of it), butan age in which marketers engage the public with their brands. You've heard that before, but imagine how much engagement went into that Doritos competition. Consumers were more engaged too, wondering if non-agency work could rival the pros.

That's all part of the conversation. The consumer-electronics industry played a crucial part in making that possible, but mostly, it was consumers. Brands these days depend on consumers to promote their products in a way they never did before. People trust others for their unbiased opinions. They listen to them, read their blogs, watch videos they created, and absorb an ongoing conversation nobody knows who started.

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