Got CGM?

For a recent slew TV ad campaigns, both Geico and KFC drew from user-generated video sites in search of funny videos related to their respective brands, reports USA Today.

This week, KFC will air an ad entitled "Celebration," a montage of KFC fans leaping in ecstasy over news that the fried chicken restaurants will no longer use trans fats. KFC evaluated 400 videos, got permission to use 35 of them, then whittled it down to 13 for the final cut.

Meanwhile, Geico pokes fun at the CGM craze in four ads showcasing consumers jousting with mattresses or juggling in a human-size plastic cone.

"We say that Geico.com is so easy to use that's it better to do than watching that horrible content," explains VP of Marketing Ted Ward regarding the ads, put together by the Martin Agency.

Using that content in 15-second ads shaved off 75 percent of the average $200,000 cost for ads with professional videos. They can also be made in about a third of the time.

Concerned that actors are losing work, the Screen Actors Guild is funding a study looking into the impact of new media on advertising production.