The question on the minds of many advertising-industry observers is: will the rise of CGA mean job losses for advertising creatives?

Brands often need assistance with the technical, administrative and promotional aspects of CGA campaigns, and advertising agencies have been stepping up to fill these roles. This means that rather than being laid off, agency creatives are simply being given a new set of responsibilities. They must now act as “uber managers” that coordinate the efforts of the consumers, engagement planners, and digital experts (Parpis, 2006).

Will advertising creatives, notorious for their egos, be willing to take on these less glamorous roles? At least one creative, Jamie Barrett, the creative director who handled the Doritos Super Bowl CGA campaign, believes that the modified roles performed by creatives in CGA campaigns are at least as challenging and interesting as those in traditional campaigns. He emphatically states, “We don't give a shit. We are [still the ones] creating it. We are the masterminds (Parpis, 2006).”

Some advertising creatives just don't give a shit

Certainly though, many advertising creatives do feel threatened by the possibility of being resigned to the role of facilitator rather than creator. In his editorial “About Consumer-generated Ads: Have We Gone Mad?,” agency-director and Ad Age contributor Marc Brownstein (2006) goes on the defensive against CGA, stating “if your client needs continuity of messaging, coherence of vision and an agency that spends its time thinking about the brand versus getting mired in thousands of mind-numbingly bad ideas to find a handful worthy of consideration, then a staff of conceptually-trained art directors and writers still makes sense.”

While Brownstein makes a legitimate point about how hosting a CGA can bog-down company resources, this is not likely significant-enough of a factor to deter brands from choosing CGA campaigns over traditional ones. If advertising creatives are going to pitch the value of their existence in an increasingly CGA-lusting corporate world, they should focus on Brownstein's first point, the “continuity of messaging.” We have already discussed how there are consumers out there willing and able to make sleek-looking, smart ads that are on par with those of traditional advertising agencies. If traditional advertising agencies do have one clear advantage over these CGA contributors, it's in their ability to create whole campaigns with consistent messages rather than just “one-off” ads (Leckenby, 2007).

In sum, while CGA may be a legitimate threat to the job-security of entry-level creatives, it is likely that in the end it will stimulate more new jobs than layoffs. In addition to employing advertising agencies for help with running CGA campaigns, brands are also seeking out CGA-specialized media companies. Start-up companies – always a good source of new jobs -- such as UGENmedia and ViTrue were in fact spawned by the rise of CGA (Tanaka, 2007).