Winning Consumer-Generated Content Not Created by 'Real' Consumers

MIT Advertising Lab has an interesting story that highlights the not so secret fact many of the consumer-generated commercials that made there way to the Super Bowl and elsewhere aren't created by "regular" consumers but by consumers who also happen to work in creative industries.

The winner of this year's Doritos Crash the Super Bowl consumer-generated ad contest, Joshua Svoboda, is a creative director at 5 Point Productions.

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YouTube's Goofy Boi Pimps Pretzelmaker's Four Buck Hook Up

As you all know, we occasionally really love things most people don't. This might be one of those things. We just can't get enough of this work from 16 year old Goofy Boi who hooked up with Pretzelmake for, ahem, the Four Buck Hook Up, a music video that plays like an actual music video more than it does a commercial for the pretzel chain.

We're a sucker for derivatively simple, Owl City-like sing-a-long style songs...even though we never sing along. And anyway, who doesn't like a great young love story? Even if it comes in the form of a commercial?

In September, a Pretzelmaker executive found Goofy Boi's work online and worked with him to create this ideo to support a current promotion. Goofy Boi recorded the song in October and shot the video at a local mall the first week of November.

Give it a watch. And be nice to the guy.

Because The French Play Scrabble Too

Mattel's Scrabble along with Ogilvy and Wizz Paris bring the game's classic wordplay to life in a series of new short film animations. The press release says UGC, but, vraiment? Hmmm. That's some pretty tightly animated UGC. Everyone else? C'mon, admit it, you know you do shit like try and make senary a double-word score with fard. NOW TRY IT IN FRENCH. (My fav so far is Road of Wonders below.)

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Own Pabst Brewing--But Who Gets to Be CEO?

I. Love. This. Concept. Crowdsourcing that actually means something. Recently, there was the We Own GM effort by Harry Webber. Now, agencies The Ad Store and Forza Migliozzi, llc. are pooling resources to look for enough people to buy Pabst Brewing Company on Buy A Beer Company. Total cost: $300 million. Minimum contribeertions start at $5. Other crowdsource membership pledge levels include Six Pack Membership ($25.00), Case membership ($100.00) or the Brewmeister level of $250,000.00. Dorito-lovin', Super Bowl commercial havin' brands, listen up, you started it. This is the double-edged sword that is crowdsourcing. After all, consumers "own" social media, AM I RIGHT? What's more social than beer!

I woulda crowdsourced the logo though. I KID.

Swiffer Spoofed, Axe Effect Debunked, Eighties Hyped (Again)

- Logo's The Big Sketch Comedy takes on the infamous Swiffer commercials. Horrifically funny.

- A fan or product of the 80's? The you might like the "80s-iser" from Russell Athletic.

- Dial takes on the whole Axe Effect thing and debunks it with an Attraction Field Study in which a guy stands on the sidewalk for two hours after showering with Axe. The result? Nothing. There's also the Get Magnetic site which takes a decidedly more scientific looking at why humans and animals are attracted to one another.

- Following its DEWmocracy effort, Mountain Dew has hooked up with 12 Seconds for a competition which will determine who gets to shoot the brand's next commercial.

Ford Goes Social Again With Fusion 41

Following its Fiesta Movemant, Ford is seeking 2010 Fusion and Fusion Hybrid owners to participate in Fusion 41, an automotive relay race which aims to build awareness and excitement around the new Fusion. The Fusion owner of the winning team will have their vehicle paid off, and team members will win free gas for one year.

Eight participants will be chosen based on "their passion for Fusion and their ability to share compelling information about the vehicle on the internet." Think hot chicks with tens of thousands of followers.

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A Halloween Promotion Disaster Detailed in 14 Easy Steps

"Not only am I a terrible copywriter but my client actually approved this shit." That's the apparent confession of a DeVito Verdi New York creative during a Copywriters Anonymous meeting earlier this week. The copywriter was referring to recent television commercial created for client Meijer, a Midwest-based retailer. You can view the disaster here.

But that's not what we're really talking about here. The retailer recently launched a Halloween promotion that, OMG, lets you make a video of yourself wearing a Halloween mask! It's really easy. Here's what you do.

1. Fire up your webcam (Oops, don't have one)
2. Go to http://meijerhalloween.com and oops. You have to give Adobe Flash Player permission to access your webcam and microphone which you don't have. No worries, we'll just check it out anyway.
3. Click Allow and oops. "Total Immersion D'Fusion Web Plug-in Installation Required." Say what? Never heard of that. (Why do we need yet another plug in when Flash would have worked just fine?)
4. Throw your hands up and download the plug in anyway.
5. Refresh.
6. View screen as it reload and, again, tells you, "Total Immersion D'Fusion Web Plug-in Installation Required." (Um, say what? We already did that.)
7. Oh wait. Note onscreen verbiage, "You have to manually launch it."
8. Proceed to waste more time digging around your hard drive to find out where exactly that weird ass plug in downloaded to.
9. Give up and move on with your day.

And if you're the one reviewing this less than wonderful Halloween promotion:

10. Feel sorry for the creator who sent you the work and link to what one of these video creations would look like.
11. View the video and, again, feel sorry for the person who sent you this work because you know them.
12. Don't publicly out them because your not a dick and don't want to hurt their feelings by telling them this is one of the lamest pieces of shit you've reviewed in a long time.
13. Have second thoughts about mentioning this at all.
14. Then click the Publish button. Because it's your job.

Halo Rocks, Bruno Blocked, Crispin Aided, Bull Balled

- Halo 3 gets its Orbital Drop on in a new trailer that's as realistic as any action flick you'll see on the screen. And, Halo 3 fans may actually get to see a movie version of their favorite game in 2012.

- Bruno ads don't get the love in Hong Kong. An outdoor company has refused to put the ads up.

- We like the guy but this is just weird. Very weird. Very very weird. All to...promote a book.

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Tap Jennifer's Body

WITH THE NEW IPHONE APP TO PROMOTE THE MOVIE, ya sick freaks. To promote the upcoming release starring Megan Fox, Tapulous is claiming to be the first iPhone app to run a user-generated contest. (How will I ever sleep now.) Download themes and contest info here.

Justin Timberlake Wants Your Ideas.

Cue hungry agencies licking their lips over another opportunity to have interns enter a contest. Justin's 901 Tequila announces more loser-generated mayhem. Yawn. You know the drill: Create. Enter. Wait. More details here and sample clip of what not to do below.

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