Did someone mention marketing to the community by joining them?

This is being cross-posted on BMA.

CNET has the latest 'companies are going after consumers to make their ads' article here. Pay attention to this passage, including a quote from Colin Decker, the creative director at Current TV:

"Traditional marketing methods have fallen short," Decker said in explaining why he expects viewer-created ads to take off in the market, particularly for the 18- to 34-year-olds who watch Current TV. "This demographic does not respond positively to something overly produced and (that is a) hard sell."

IOW, Decker is admitting that he is part of the 'traditional marketing' community, so himself and others in his 'community' don't know how to create marketing plans that appeal to the 18-34 demographic. So they are doing the next best thing: Appealing to members of that community to create their promotions, and then they cherry-pick their favorites.

This is what you are seeing with the rush of companies running 'create our ads' campaigns. Companies are realizing that the best way to appeal to a community is to use a voice that they are familiar with, IOW, one of their own.

Ideally, we'll reach a time when companies realize that an even better idea is to cut out the middle-man, and join the community that they are targetting. Thus giving them an understanding of the voice of that community, and how to 'speak' about their products in a language that the community will understand, and appreciate.