Each time technology advances, the world’s behavior changes accordingly. Just as the printing press and copy machine revolutionized the publishing world, the online interactive technology and World Wide Web in a very short time had dramatically altered how people communicate as well as the way products and services are advertised and sold to consumers. The marketers are rushing to get a piece of the global marketplace by establishing itself on the web-based media environment. Ultimately, advertisers have an interactive medium for reaching a prosperous, technologically educated, and savvy target market.

When stopping to look back at the leading trends in internet usage over the past year, it becomes obvious that 2006 was the year that consumers took control of the internet. The explosive growth of User-Generated Content (also known as UGC) prompted “Time magazine” to name "you" (i.e. the consumer) as its "Person of the Year." Ad Age also chose "the consumer" as its agency of the year. And according to BIGresearch's latest Simultaneous Media Usage Study, marketers in 2007 are faced with the new reality of a consumer controlled communication model.  

But how did UGC begin? How did the advertising industry embrace this new and challenging medium? Is Consumer-Generated Ad (CGA) just a gimmick or is it the way of the future? And what’s the implication for advertisers? This paper begins with a brief history and development of the Internet, the World Wide Web, and online advertising. Next it will discuss the definition, origin, format of UGC/CGA in an effort to project the future of User Generated Content within the advertising industry, and more specifically, Consumer Generated Ad. The paper also provides a look at the practical implications for advertisers and marketers in the world of UGC.

 
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