Here’s a tip to anyone interested in winning video contests: If you come across a contest that has a “barrier to entry” you may want to consider going after that contest. What do I mean about a “barrier to entry?” I mean that there is some rule in place that makes entering the contest difficult. When the barriers to entry are too high, most people give up and look for an easier contest to enter.

Gearmax, a company that makes a very cool looking brand of folding backpacks held a video contest where entrants were supposed to film a short script that the company had written or make a unique video that promoted their backpack. They offered a bunch of prizes: $2,500, $1,500 and $1,000 plus 5 runners up would get two free backpacks.  Oh, and each of the top three winners would get 5 free backpacks each. That’s a lot of prizes but in the end Gearmax got only 6 entries. That means TWO runners-up prizes went unclaimed! What a waste.

So why did they get so few entries? Two reasons I think. First, the rules required that videos must be submitted to Gearmax on DVD. I couldn’t believe that when I read it. Why not just let people post them to youtube? Gearmax had to upload them to the web anyway to post on their site. So the DVD thing must have been a big turn off. But I bet what really kept the entries from coming in was the fact that the video had to feature a Gearmax backpack. That makes sense of course but I looked all over the Gearmax website and there is no way to order one of these packs online. They have a list of stores where you can go and buy them IN PERSON but they are scattered around the country.

So if you were determined enough to hunt down one of these packs you would have had a serious shot at winning one of the cash prizes. Here are the videos that did win:


First Place. Prize: $2,500

Second Place. Prize: $1,500

Third Place. Prize: $1,000

Pretty decent. The first place winner is really slick and does a nice job showing off how the backpack works. Just try not to spend too much time wondering why the backpack was on that roof or why that skateboarder just picked it up and took off. The other two videos were based on the “Area 51” script that Gearmax posted to their website.

You can see the other three entries here. If you watch them you can see that Gearmax picked the only three videos that were good enough to make it to the top three. One guy made two really nice entries but he didn’t win for two very obvious reasons; he didn’t show the backpack for more than a split second and he showed the backpack doing unrealistic things like being able to hold a computer…and his mom.