Losing Control of the Message.

As I sat and watched AMC’s new series “Mad Men” I was instantly struck at how much the ad biz has changed in 47 years.

And I’m not just talking about the three-martini lunches and smoke-filled offices.

Back in 1960, we ad guys controlled every aspect of the brand message. And the consumers, well, consumed it.

Today, with the explosion of technology, those roles are becoming blurred as our “audience” is taking it upon themselves to provide the brand messages we all see and hear.

The infiltration of the consumer-controlled branding takes many forms, from blogs to podcasts to video product reviews.

And let’s not forget YouTube.

Consumers are using this forum to affect brands in so many different ways. Here you’ll see everything from classic ads to very-well-done fake ones. Both of which I see as potential challenges to those in charge of the “real” branding.

Back in the day, a company could transition from one brand campaign to another rather cleanly: They pull one series of spots and replace them with another. But today, most of those old spots still exist thanks to consumer web postings. Miller Lite is a good example of how hard the transition can be. How can they possibly create a new brand message when all the old brand messages from “Tastes Great Less Filling” to the ineffective “Man Laws” are still out there for everyone to see?

And then there are the fake ads.

Consumers, it seems, all have a hidden desire to be the next Joe Pytka. Just search “Fake Ads” on YouTube, and you’ll see pages upon pages of spec spots. And even though these ads are not real, they are having a real impact on how we all perceive a brand as a whole.

Take the VW “Suicide Bomber” spot for example. At first, it appears to be a real ad. It’s shot well. The production values aren’t bad. But the ending is anything that the “Love Bug” company would want on the air. Yet, there are 19 postings of the spot on YouTube, with close to 250,000 total viewings. That’s a quarter of a million people who’ve seen it and talked about it with their friends. Some of VW’s paid spots probably don’t get that much exposure.

And what about the ever-popular Barack Obama love song video, which was created by an adoring fan? Sure, it’s pro-Obama. But for a man trying to convey a presidential image and important ideas, does he really want a message that trivializes his candidacy?

I’m not sure.

There are those who will argue that any publicity is good publicity. And to some extent that’s true. But if our customers are going to take over a chunk of the branding duties, we must, now more than ever, do everything we can to make sure they are true advocates for our brand. That means moving them from “I’ll simply buy your product” to “Your product defines me.” And it means finding new ways to engage them emotionally. This change of branding duties also means that the messages we do have control of must be true to the products we sell. Because if they’re not, we’re just setting ourselves up for ridicule.