Pete Blackshaw gave an energetic overview on Nielsen Online’s viewpoint of the state of CGM. Pete has also traded in his CMO title for the more verbose "EVP Nielsen Online Strategic Services."
Here are the key trends he’s seeing:
- Lack of trust in advertising
- Growth and globalization of CGM
- Continued growth of CGM2, i.e. consumer-generated multi-media. Why? Video connects emotionally and allows for benefit visualization.
- Consumer Fortified Media (CFM), e.g. Dove Evolution. Meaning that ads are strengthened by the surrounding consumer commentary.
- CGM redefining network/cable TV. Premise for "Hey! nielsen"
- Marketers discover Facebook
- Wikipedia further up the shelf, new credibility broker- Marketers and retailers embrace consumer reviews on own sites. Anticipating more CGM mashups.
- Blogs go mainstream & global.
Nielsen launched a global study on advertising trust. Most trusted channels? Recommendations from consumers (78%), Newspapers (63%), Consumer opinions posted online (61%), brand websites (60%), television (56%). While the options look a lot like the work I’ve done at Forrester, I’ve seen different results (because I’ve worked with an offline and North American sample) – recommendations still finish #1, but mainstream media don’t rank nearly as high and in-store ads are trusted as well.
Pete showed a CGM Opportunity Spectrum, outlining how marketers can get involved. From low to high participation: unaided issue or theme specific content; product/brand experience & feedback; consumer fortified media/echo effect; outright solicited (cocreation); CGM as page view creator for more ads.