Sponsored consumer-generated advertising in the digital era: what prompts individuals to generate video ads, and what creative strategies do they adopt?

This study investigates individuals' motivations to create sponsored video ads in response to corporate online advertising competitions, and the creative strategies they employ when so doing. The findings from two studies that combined qualitative (42 semi-structured interviews and netnography) and quantitative (content analysis of 1,102 ads) research methods showed that individuals are motivated to produce sponsored video advertising by six factors: learning, enjoyment, self-expression, remuneration, recognition and influencing others. In turn, these motivations can be categorised as intrinsic, extrinsic, rational and affective, leading to a typology of four advertising creators. It was found also that individuals tend to use narrative forms of advertising more when creating commercial ads, and expository forms more when creating nonprofit ads. The study demonstrates that individuals are willing to co-create and transmit brand value by producing sponsored video ads, and have become an essential element of marketing communications in the digital era. Organisations may benefit from sponsored CGA by gathering consumers' insights, through improved individual-organisation relationships and by obtaining promotional material that might persuade audiences and stimulate online conversations.