ITV commercial boss warns brands that 90% of content is 'crap'

ITV's commercial boss Simon Daglish has warned big brands that want to become programme makers that "90% of content is crap".

Daglish told the Ad Week Europe conference in London on Monday that most consumers "don't give a stuff" about brands.

"The thing about content is 90% of it is crap," said Daglish, who is ITV's group commercial director.

"Most people do not want a one-to-one relationship with a brand," he added. He said ITV still sometimes got it wrong despite 57 years of experience and a £1bn annual programme spend.

He said ITV had experimented with advertiser-funded programmes but said it had not worked because it interfered too much in the relationship between the broadcaster and viewer.

Daglish used his appearance on the conference's opening day to announce ITV had signed up with sponsored content service, Twitter Amplify.

ITV said advertisers would be able to "align media campaigns with ITV's programme content via the social media platform.

"Brands will have the option to feature in pre- and post-roll idents within video tweets, as well as drive further engagement via customised hashtags, in-video banners and promotional video tweets."

Daglish said a recent tie-up between Guinness and ITV's Saturday night talkshow The Jonathan Ross Show had failed because of the way it was executed rather than the concept.

Last October's campaign, which took over all three ad breaks during the show, hooked in to Twitter and tried to get viewers to tweet with #RoundUpYourMates, only for it to be hijacked by people who questioned the Diageo brand's credibility.

Daglish said: "The concept was great but the creative delivery was poor."

Speaking to the Guardian after his appearance at AdWeek Europe, Daglish said: "One needs to be careful in this world of anybody-can-produce content – everybody's got a video camera, a mini studio, and everybody thinks they can produce content.

"Actually the game is producing great content and that is fabulously difficult, really difficult.

"For a brand just to leap in and go, 'Here I can do content now, here it is, isn't it great?' No, actually. You have to be really, really good at it.

"There's a warning sign to numerous brands out there. For all the great successes we could name – Nike, Red Bull, a bit of Guinness – there are millions of examples of appallingly produced content by people who think they can do it. Be careful."

Daglish added: "We have been doing it for 57 years and we get it wrong. We pay billions of pounds a year to get that content right.

"If you are a brand, and thinking about producing content, talk to people who produce content.

"Britain's Got Talent is 10 years old and we are getting it right, we are spending millions and millions of pounds on that product. It takes that sort of investment and knowledge to get the content right."