Doritos (Based on a True Story)

Doritos’ “Crash the SuperBowl” is the “white elephant” of video contests.  In short, your 30-second submission could get played during the Super Bowl, AND could win you a million bucks.  It’s a big contest, with a potentially huge payoff, and as of this writing, there are 8 hours before the submission deadline ends, and over 1700 submissions thus far.  Here’s our entry:

Of all the submissions, I’d venture a guess that ours is one of the only ones whose storyline was based on actual events… Truth told, a similar turn of events as played out in the spot actually occurred while at my folks’ place for a weekend visit.  Up till then, we were stuck for an idea we deemed “Crunch-worthy” to submit for the contest.  After we all had a good laugh about the “uncomfortable moment,” we agreed that was the “ah-ha” moment for the commercial as well…

Production was turned around VERY quickly and inexpensively, and my parents even traveled from New York to Maine to help with filming and production.  From concept to completion, the spot was produced in less than 2 weeks time.  The biggest challenge was establishing characters and relationships, and telling a cohesive story in just 30 seconds.  I think my team came through in fine form, don’t you?

Six finalists will be chosen, each of whom wins $25K and a trip to the Super Bowl in Miami on February 7, 2010.  Of those 6, the top 3 vote-getters will have their commercials broadcast during the game (A HUGE prize in and of itself for anyone in the advertising industry).  And then, if you take the top spot in the USA Today Ad Meter the morning after the game, Doritos pays you the million-dollar prize.

Feedback on our submission thus far has been positive — we’d love to hear your thoughts.  And mark my words:  If we don’t get it this year, then we’ll assuredly be in attendance in Arlington in 2011.

Thanks, as always, for reading and watching… Wish us luck!

“Eyeing” Another Video Contest

Here’s the latest one we’ve entered for the AMD Alliance:

AMD is “Age-Related Macular Degeneration,” the leading cause of blindness in adults over the age of 50.  Millions are affected worldwide, and the AMD Alliance is in the middle of a video contest to help raise awareness.

Just about all the shoots we do for contests are fun, but this one was a particular treat.  The little girl in the video is my niece Georgia, and the grandpa is played by my father-in-law, Wayne.  This was the first “directed” piece either had starred in — I’d posted a few videos of Georgie over the past couple years on YouTube — and I thought they both did very, very well…

The contest submission period doesn’t end till late February, but the premise for the video involved shooting in bike-riding weather, so we had to put something together during milder weather.  So we arranged a chilly shoot during October, before the snow flew.

The idea was spawned in a conversation with my dad, who suggested something “shocking” to startle viewers into thinking twice about letting AMD symptoms go unchecked.  Hopefully, we hit the mark.

Embedr for Custom Video Playlists

My YouTube channel is where I post ALL my videos:  commercial production, contest entries, stuff I do just for fun… And for quite some time, I’d been looking for an easy way to build a playlist featuring just some portfolio pieces, and post it “Widget-style” on my website, so that potential clients can view the spot for Rocky Knoll Golf Course, without having to suffer through “Disguising the Groceries.”

I discovered a great tool a few weeks ago, which I saw being used on the website of a colleague of mine in Atlanta, Rick Griffin of Le Voyage Productions.  Behold, Embedr!

Until recently, due to my somewhat average tech savvy, I’d only been able to embed YouTube videos one at a time, and stack them one-by-one on my home page.  It took up a ton of page space, and it didn’t look very good.

But I found Embedr to be pretty easy to use.  It’s free to sign up for an account, similar to YouTube.  It’s clean looking, and it stacks up my videos in the familiar “Cover Flow” layout of iTunes.  Building a playlist is easy — just enter the URL’s of the videos you want to include, click “Save Playlist,” and you’re done.  Then, you just copy and paste the HTML code for the Embedr widget, and voila, it shows up on your website.

Bottom line, great tool.Build your own custom video playlist at embedr.com

Damon’s Pizza – Recession Proof!

Received an e mail from a friend and had to share …

“I came across a newspaper ad that caught my eye. I saw the Damon’s logo at the bottom of the rather large ad and it said “There is no recession at Damon’s”. My first thought was wow, this is interesting and what a great idea. I read on.

Long story short, I finally looked up to the top in the fine newspaper print and verified the date of the ad.

 

It was from July 29th, 1961!!

 

Think about it. This ad was advertising their 10th anniversary in 1961. The economy was in recession yet this pizza place was refusing to participate!!

 

I did a little research online and learned that there have been 7 recessions since 1960 – not including the current one. Apparently Damon’s has chosen not to participate in any of the ensuing recessions and if my math is correct they are now 57 years old. Not a bad run.

 My assumption is that Damon’s is not planning on participating in this recession either. 

The meatball sandwich was very good.”

This “recession ” is NOT a big deal.  It is a time for us to reinvent ourselves – to become stronger – better. 

 I personally do not choose to participate in this recession.  Join me in boycotting the recession.  Go out and buy something – GO SHOP!

The 7 Commandments of Video Contesting

I was recently fortunate enough to win the Grand Prize in the Maine Association of Realtors’ “My Piece of Maine” video contest which ran April to June of this year. And over the past year or so, I’ve had a pretty good batting average with many of the “consumer-generated advertising” contests that brands have held online, be they on their own, or through creator/company matchmaker sites like XLNTAds.com and GeniusRocket.com.

Many people ask, “How do you find out about these contests?” or “How do you come up with that stuff?” So, this post is an attempt to answer some of these questions, and share a little about what I’ve learned at this stage of the game.

1) Thou shalt be brief. This is one for Advertisers to bear in mind as well as Creators, and to me, it’s the most important. With the internet cultivating such short attention spans in its users, you gotta make your point, then wrap it up, especially when you’re making an ad. 60 seconds is plenty. 30 is better.

2) Thou shalt play by the rules. This one’s simple. Read the creative brief, contest rules, instructions, etc., and follow ‘em to the letter. If they ask for an .mpg, don’t send an .avi. If they say “no more than 3 minutes,” don’t submit a video that’s 3:45. Don’t give contest administrators any reason to disqualify your entry before it even gets viewed.

3) Honor thy target demo. Is the advertiser trying to reach women 35-54? Men 40+? Pet owners? Gamers? Make your video a mirror of that target viewer, so when they watch, they see themselves.

4) Remember thy deadline, and keep it holy. Don’t be late with your submission, and don’t ask for an extension. It’s not fair to the people who were on time.

5) Thou shalt not be a poor sport. Be humble when you win, and gracious when you don’t. Congratulate the winner(s) sincerely and affably, or don’t say anything. You may not agree with the judges’ decisions, but they were made for a reason. Besides, if you hit the target every time, it’s either too close or too big, right? Get ‘em next time.

6) Thou shalt get involved in the community. As creators, we all strive to be original and unique, but we do have at least one thing in common: each other. Interact. Read and subscribe to related blogs. Comment and ask questions of other creators. Learn as much as you can, and offer help to those who ask it of you. We’re at the forefront of this burgeoning advertising medium, and in a few years’ time, we’re going to be the seasoned experts, so we’re gonna have to know what the hell we’re talkin’ about.

And finally,

7) Thou shalt not enter a contest in which I am also competing. Because face it: I don’t need the competition, and neither do you.

Obviously, I’m kidding about the last one. I actually welcome the competition, and quite enjoy it. There are a TON of outstanding video creators online, and when I see a good video, it always makes me want to step up my game a little more.

If you have any other tips you think would make good “Commandments” for your fellow contesters, by all means, please post ‘em!

Good luck!

Guest Blogger

I just posted a guest blog entry at Sephone Internet Solutions — the web designers who do my Slater’s Garage site. They asked me to contribute a piece about YouTube, and the increasing popularity of online video as a marketing vehicle.

Hop on over and check it out when you get a minute.

Localize AND Viralize…

    One of the “white elephants” of online video is to have your video “go viral,” and become one of those things that gets passed around the world and back again in e-mails between friends and co-workers who say, “Dude, check this out!  It’s SO funny!”  And if you’re a company or brand that happens to be attached to such a video, then whoa, baby.  Because THEN, you’re looking at potentially millions of views — millions of impressions for your brand.  However, of those millions of viewers, how many become customers?  I know, I know… It doesn’t matter, right?  An impression is an impression… True, I suppose.

But, what if you just ain’t that lucky?  And what if you’re a small, local business who wants to enhance your marketing by using online video?  Can you still benefit on a smaller, local scale?  Of course.  I think it’s VERY doable.  You may just have to be a little more precise in where you place your online video(s) in order to maximize your visibility.

1)  YouTube — obviously.  Great place to start.  Millions of people watching any number of videos, and you never know who’s gonna see yours.  While the chances of your video going viral on YouTube are slim, it COULD happen.  But don’t count on YouTube alone.  Besides, it’s easy to embed a YouTube video onto other sites… Such as:

2)  Your own website.  Why not?  If your current customers are visiting your site, are you giving them something fun and entertaining to look at each time they come back?  Then kick it up a notch, and give them something to SHARE… A video about an offer you’re having.  A video about someone local — maybe a “featured customer?”  Maybe a video about a tip or hint related to your business… GIVE your web visitors something to take with them, AND pass along.

3)  Are you using local media to advertise?  Ask about added value they can offer you by posting your video on their sites as well…  Many local radio and TV stations (at least in my neck of the woods) haven’t quite figured out how to embrace online technology to its fullest potential, so many of them also have PLENTY of online “inventory” for sale.  Make ‘em an offer.

4)  Other local websites like your town’s Chamber of Commerce site.  Again, ask ‘em if you can include your video (or a LINK to your video) along with your “Local Business Directory” entry.

5)  Related businesses websites — Do you run a cafe or restaurant?  Try the site of a local hotelier.  And vice-versa… Maybe you two could work out a barter deal.

Don’t forget to make your video something that people want to watch, RE-watch, and SHARE.  Make it entertaining, make it informative, make it funny!  ENHANCE peoples’ web experiences!  Even if the word spreads locally, it still spreads, and with consistency and frequency, it WILL lead to increased impressions and traffic…

Good luck!

“The New Phone Book’s Here!!”

The new phone book arrived this week…

We keep it at the bottom of a large, heavy-duty, black contractor bag with all the other stuff we no longer need or use. Where do you keep yours?

Not That Different

I think that when it comes to garnering results from advertising, online video is not that different a medium as TV or radio or even print.  It’s the old postulate about sending “the Right Message to the Right People at the Right Time and Place.”  The difference in online video is the specificity of choices when it comes to what The Public wants to view.  How The Public responds to advertising isn’t really that different.

If you want to produce a “traditional” video ad, and run it online, you gotta run it OFTEN (frequency is STILL the best way to get results if you ask me) — WAY more often than an ad may be broadcast on TV, because of the vast fragmentation of the online video audience. And you have to run it on the sites where your prospective consumers congregate. A spot that runs on YouTube for an auto repair joint in Bangor Maine won’t get nearly as much ROI as if you post the video on maineautosearch.com, a local used auto dealer site. The old adage is “all advertising is local.” So, localize your online marketing! You may not get millions of views, but you’ll get a higher percentage of quality inquiries…

… That is, of course, if your message is salient and entertaining enough to be remembered, and then acted upon.

Peter Who?

Mehlman.

So, who’s Peter Mehlman?  Ask Jerry Seinfeld.  Everyone knows Jerry, Elaine, George, and Kramer.  Peter Mehlman, however, is largely unrecognized.  Mehlman wrote more Seinfeld episodes than anyone except Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David.  He’s the guy who coined the term “Spongeworthy,” and gave us the Soup Nazi.

Why mention Mehlman?  Because, while it may be that Michael Richards played one of the greatest characters in the history of TV, let’s not forget to recognize the people who actually create those characters — those quotables — those words and images that live in our hearts and minds.

Don’t get me wrong.  Great acting takes a certain level of skill.  But these men and women are still just going off a script that someone else dreamed, realized, and wrote.   Everyone knows who starred, or who directed.  But I don’t think The Writer is always remembered and recognized for the immense talent he or she possesses.

So as you (re)watch the final The Sopranos, the new CSI, or your favorite Seinfeld rerun, bear in mind that before Kramer, Grissom, and Tony Soprano ever spoke their first lines on camera, they existed in the ideas and dreams of a Writer.