Dove Evolution Video Campaign as Engagement?

Today I wrote an article in ClickZ (Real Beauty, Real Breakthrough in Consumer-Fortified Media) suggesting that the much-discussed Dove Evolution spot nicely captures the essence of engagement.

• "Success by viewer engagement. In many respects, this spot perfectly puts the concept of viewer engagement in perspective. A key goal of the engagement initiative is to explore and qualify new metrics and measures that push well beyond the overly simplified reach and frequency metrics. In Dove's case, there were views, comments, blog entries, links to blog entries, forum entries, board mentions, video responses, tell a friend, and even video mashups and manipulation that took the message in different, yet mostly reinforcing, directions. Each of these metrics informs perspective on ad effectiveness."

The other important point I underscore is that co-creation is a complete cycle not just a collaboration from the beginning. Along these lines I introduce the concept of "Consumer Fortified Media" (CFM). " Unlike the vast majority of viral videos out there," I note, this ad was 100 percent brand or agency created. But it was fortified by intense consumer commentary, conversation, and dialogue. Put another way, co-creation was an end result but not the starting point. Looking ahead, expect CFM to become a key success criteria for brands looking for tangible evidence of consumer appeal, involvement, and engagement. Every Super Bowl ad, for instance, has latent potential as CFM, but it's not a guarantee."