YouVert

Avid Fired Their Ad Agency and Wants You

Avid  (The original high end digital editing company) has a contest running where they have claimed to have fired their ad agency and want their users to create their ads. These ads and the creator will be showcased and given VIP treatment at Sundance 2007. Figuring that anyone visiting the Avid site is probably a good target as someone who can create an interesting video, the contest makes sense and is a good use of the medium. Let's see if their ads end up better than those on display at the Superbowl. Voting begins Dec. 1.

LINK: Avid :30 second spot contest

Penis Generated Content???

Did we really need to see that video of you simulating sex with a moose or a police car? Let me state this, just because many people are jazzed about user generated content at the moment, does not mean you need to add it to EVERYTHING!

I mean come on Durex,  you had me at the Penis Name Generator. The BANG IT video submission just doesn't seem to to work and with about 4 submissions makes you seem like you are really stretching.

Is it me or am I too old for this??

LINK: The Pants Whisperer

Get Hurt On Film...Win Some BEER!!

In a recent low in the CGC arena, Bud Light wants viewers to submit daredevil videos to it's Ted Ferguson MySpace page and win a 'Bud Light Ted Ferguson Party Pack'. Just do something nuts, perferably while under the influence of low taste, low calorie beer and make sure the camera is on because you could win...a prize equivelent to $100. Yes, the rules state that for all this, AB not only owns the video, the rights to reproduce your stunt and likeness and deems that you give up all ownership, but in exchange for this, you, the victor will receive:

Grand Prize (1): One (1) entry will be selected to receive the Grand Prize package including: A-BI’s consideration for broadcast of the winning Video on the Bud.TV online channel, scheduled for launch in February 2007; one (1) Ted Ferguson Bud Light DareDevil Party Pack. Estimated retail value of Grand Prize is $100.00. Total Promotional Value: $100.00.

Yeah, that all seems like a good idea. I will run out and throw myself off a jungle gym.

LINK: The Ted Ferguson Myspace Lame Contest Page

I will Supersize that McVert please.

It has been reported that McDonald's corporation paid an undisclosed sum to two high school students who made a video of themselves singing an order into a drive up box in Waukesha, Wi.

This is the beauty of consumer created videos. The video is both hilarious and creative. It has a bit of critique but also some harmless brand humor in it. McDonald's also thought so and have been playing the clip at corporate meetings and may also be using it for in-theater advertising soon.
What i think it shows best is that consumers think of brands in much different ways than ad agencies. I don't see the Creative Director at the large agency thinking to himself "yeah, and some high school type stoners drive up and start singing in the box." And yet, i can see these guys sitting at home and saying to themselves how much fun it would be to do this. Luckily, a few hundred thousand other viewers seemed to agree with them.

LINK: Milwaukee Journal Article on Greg Calhoun and Nate Gessner who created the spot.

Hot girl gets a new laptop - User Generated Media Space?

I'm Leah Culver and I need a new laptop.

Well, I am not, but she sure did. And she came up with the idea of offering anyone who donated more than $30 to her laptop fund an ad space on her new laptop cover, etched forever in pure pr stunt history. While advertising on your actual body is so last year (Pregnant Belly, Foreheads, Posteriors, and wherever else you can think), Ms. Culver came up with the idea of selling the real estate on the top of her laptop that she plans to bring and display all over San Francisco. While local companies bought into the idea, probably for the desired press factor, Ask.com and Firefox also got on board. It does not hurt that she is an early 20's, attractive female who also offered to meet anyone for a drink who contributed the $30 buy in.

So she got her laptop and etched up with the logos of her donors [ebay anyone?] and is planning on being SEEN around town with it at a location near you.

Is user created media channels the new buzz?

LINK: LeahCulver.com

A Remixed Life

We just came across this article from last month on the current Remix culture of video. It points out that remixed video is hitting hard these days, both with music, nightlife, film and the general user. There are snippets from the creative folks at Addictive TV as well as a bit from Mike Folgner from Jumpcut. The more that basic editing tools are available to everyone and with the widespread dissemination of  footage, the more users will "sample" footage for their own creative needs.

LINK:  A new trend is hitting our screens: filmmaking without a camera
Addictive.tv (Check out their Blondie vs. the Doors Mash-up!)

NEWSFLASH: Readers Don't Go To FHM For The Ads

"Consumers aren’t going to FHM looking for marketing messages.”

“As a matter of fact,” he added, “it’s a bit of an intrusion.

“What we really want is to go from consumers looking to avoid our messages to consumers seeking out our brand and our content.”

So says Dave Genel, director for media services at the Miller Brewing Company in Milwaukee, to Stuart Elliot in an article from today's NYTimes Biz Section. And in a nutshell, he hit it on the head. Advertisers at current state are plagued with consumers doing almost everything they can do to avoid advertising. This is occurring in most traditional ad venues. It is up to marketers to figure out a way to not only get consumers to pay attention, but in fact to engage and want to contribute to the brands they are interested in.

FHM, which has a huge audience of boys, men and those in-between, is running this contest with Miller where FHM wants it's readers to upload photos of guys violating "Man Laws" as are stated in the recent slew of celebrity Miller ads.

The good news, it is the right forum for such a user photo submission contest. The bad news? well to date there seem to no user submitted photos in there. So we will see if it has traction.

Another interesting tidbit here is that the magazine came up with the campaign, not the ad agency. Is this another example of how brands are starting to feel like their agencies are not contextually relevant? Or is it simply that the medium (FHM) knew more about what their readers' behavior would be.

LINK:     The NYTimes Article
               The Contest

Editing For Everyone

A new slew of companies are popping up with browser based software allowing consumers the basic editing tools to mash up existing or their own camcorder, digital cam or phone cam clips. Sites like JumpCut and EyeSpot are but 2 of the these companies offering these easy to use DIY editors. While apple has been including iMovie in it's basic OS suite for a while now, there have not been nearly as many such offerings for non-apple users. Now, anyone who can pop open their web browser can upload clips, cut them up, add effects and sounds and save as showpieces for their friends, family and the youtube generation. Both of these sites are also jumping on the CGM bandwagon by offering many contests for people to remix film trailers, music videos and ads. While these tools may not match the AVID or Final Cut Pro in sophistication, they are showing user's creativity and showcasing original ideas. 

CGM for Nerds 2- Ascii Film

Now this is great. I was just sent an amazing consumer generated piece. Basically, someone, i have no idea who, created this - an ascii version of Star Wars. This is not the web, this is not youtube, this is old school, telnet baby. For those who still know how to telnet, this rocks. And those very people who do know how to telnet are the ones who get so jazzed by this and talk about it with others. It ups the social currency of the creator and sender and then gets passed on with completes the loop.

If you can (i.e. know how to) open a terminal screen, then try it.

open up a DOS/term window and telnet to towel.blinkenlights.nl . . .

Thanks to MATZ for sending the link!

Homemade Ads for Nerds

Well who isn't getting into the CGM game at the moment? Other World Computing (???) launched a 'You Make The Commercial' contest. Winners get a chance to have their spot shown at their booth at Macworld and 'distributed on the web.'

I am not sure of the user base of OWC and maybe they are a player within the tech set, but i wonder what kind of creativity they will get. In addition, the prizing does not seem to appealing. Having your video shown in a trade show booth and distributed to YouTube, etc., is not the most amazing thing I have heard of and prob won't earn the street cred that doing your ad for Hennessy might, but ya never know. This smells to me of when CGM goes bad. It is not needed, not necessary and potentially not really relevant, but we will see.

LINK: OWC Contest