Is it User Generated Content or Did a Marketer Create It?

An interesting segment aired this morning on NBC New's The Today Show. In the second half-hour, Today Show host Meredith Viera interviewed ad-man (and host of CNBC's The Big Idea) Donny Deutsch about the latest in USG online video campaigns. USG stands for User Generated Content. One trend that is emerging in the web video marketing arena is campaigns that simulate USG content but are, in fact, created by marketers and companies.

As a web video marketer, I was pretty thrilled to see a segment on The Today Show about online video campaigns. You know something has really hit the mainstream when a morning news program reports on the topic. I think it is extremely positive that a traditional media organization was discussing the relevancy of web video marketing. Online video has seen a tremendous amount of rapid growth and it is nice to see the this marketing medium discussed in non-marketing/non-technical circles.

I'm not going to provide a critique of what Meredith's and Donny's individual opinions about the relevancy of the faux USG campaigns. It was a pretty heated conversation, see for yourself.

Rather, I believe the larger question emanating from this interview may ultimately be the relevancy of viral video campaigns. Lately, it seems that many marketers are creating and launching web video marketing campaigns in the hopes that the campaign will go viral and generate an immense amount of views.

The question remains, do viral video campaigns help brands extend just beyond the eyeballs and engage consumers enough to purchase a product? Or are these initiatives just buzzed about within the marketing industry?