Click to view and vote!

One of the things I like best about filmmaking is that sometimes you have to plan a shoot and just hope that you get lucky and something crazy/amazing/perfect happens while the camera is rolling.  Last sunday I was shooting an entry for a contest about globalization when I had one of the luckiest breaks I’ve ever had while filming.  My entry is a Top 10 list of “fun facts” about doing business with people in different parts of the world.  The sponsor is a company that helps other companies work “globally” so each fact was actually related to an issue the sponsor can help with.   Last Sunday was the annual Chinese New Year parade in Chicago so I decided one of my facts could be about how people in different countries celebrate different holidays.  A friend and I went to the parade and the plan was that I would say my line as the parade went past.  But the parade sucked this year!  I’ve been to it before and it used to be a lot more fun.  There were almost no floats or dragons and it was insanely crowded.  So the parade ended and we were never able to get the shot.

I was really bummed and I didn’t know what to do.  So I told my friend we should just stick around for a while and maybe we’d get lucky.  And we did!  We just happened to meet a guy who was a “lion” in the parade.  (They look like dragons but they’re called lions.)  He was letting people take pictures with him and well, he let me do something pretty ridiculous.  I got to wear the freaking lion head!

Anyway, I’m pretty happy with how the video turned out and I think I have a real shot at winning.  But first, I have to get enough votes to make the top 20.  There are only like 36 submissions so I’m really hoping I can make the finals.  The grand prize is $15,000!  If you’d like to help me out, I would really appreciate a vote.  To vote, all you have to do is click on the facebook “like” button while logged into your facebook account.  And that’s it!  You don’t have to “like” a page or allow any apps.  And if you have a twitter or Google + account you can cast votes using those to.

Thanks for the support everybody!  To view my video and to cast a vote, CLICK HERE.

I was watching the Today Show this morning and they were interviewing Michelle Williams when my mouth dropped to the floor.  Just look in the background of the photo I attached to see what I mean.  And no, there was nothing on the show program today that even mentions CTSB.

And here’s the photo he sent me:

Screen shot of the Today Show

Sling Baby is of course one of the five Crash the Super Bowl finalists.  That stunt was funny but I’m not sure that type of thing will generate a lot of votes.  So anyway, who will win?  Damned if I know.  But I’m predicting HOT WILD GIRLS will wind up receiving the most votes.  Why?  Because its title is “Hot Wild Girls!!”  Imagine you were a random guy who didn’t enter the CTSB contest.  But you saw an ad online and you decided to to cast a quick vote so you could have a shot at winning one of the Voter Prizes.  Which of these 5 ads would you want to click on?

Just from the titles and the thumbnails you can tell that two commercials are about dogs and one is about a baby.  “Bird of Prey” just looks like it’s about some guys in an office.  So I think most people (both men and women) would click on Hot Wild Girls just out of curiosity.  And if you don’t care much about who wins, you’re just going to vote for the first video you watch.

Final predictions:  Doritos is scheduled to air 2 commercials on Sunday but I bet they’ll air three.  I think Hot Wild Girls will get the most votes and I think Fritolay’s picks will be Bird of Prey and Man’s Best friend.  That’s a nice mix; you get one ad about a hilariously giant dog, you get one about a crazy bird man and you get one that’s about technology….and rottweilers.  The other two ads, Sling Baby and Dog Park are getting crushed in the unofficial view count race on the CTSB youtube channel.  So I think Doritos will have to go with the most popular, most exciting ads.  But I don’t think any CTSB ads are going to land in the Top 3 on the USA Today ad meter.  A lot of this year’s Superbowl ads have already been made public and the competition is looking very, very tough.  Seriously….have you seen Volkswagen’s official Super Bowl commercial??  Holy shit!  Not only does it have a dog, it has Hammerhead and Ponda Baba from the original star wars!  If you haven’t seen it, head here to check it out.  And man, don’t even get me started on that Ferris Bueller ad.  If a CTSB entry lands in the Top 3 this year it will really be an amazing accomplishment.

Quick Note:  We’ve got a big post in the works so check back tomorrow for some very interesting inside information about the Crash the Super Bowl contest.  Quick Update:  Actually, I’m going to wait to post that story until after the Super Bowl.  More details coming soon!

The entry went on to be featured on the front page of Yahoo, CBS This Morning, NBCsports.com, Mashable and a ton of other websites.  But things really got crazy when Make Your Own appeared on the front page of Reddit.  After that the video just went fully viral.  Today, Make Your Own has recived 2,378,000 views on youtube.  Here are the current stats for the five videos that actually did win the contest this year:
 

Man’s Best Friend:  199,903 views

Hot Wild Girls:  199,966 views

Bird of Prey: 200,486 views

Dog Park: 128,736 views

Sling Baby:  112,536 views

Combined total views:  841,627

 
So Make Your Own has a view count almost three times larger than all the finalist ads combined!  That is simply an amazing accomplishment and it’s certainly no fluke.  This is an awesome submission and I think it would have made a kick-ass finalist.  The hilarious dude playing the host is named Byron Brown.  The concept is great but I think it’s the Brown’s performance that added just a bit of insane magic to this ad.  The guys who actually made this entry are three friends from Austin TX; David Ward, Jack Dreesen and John Ramsey.  This is their third year entering the Crash the Super Bowl contest and this time around they shot 3 (very good) submissions.  You can seen all their various entries on Ward’s youtube channel.  Oh wait a second….as I’m writing this I just noticed these guys created one of my favorite Doritos submissions of last year’s contest!
 

 
Back to Make Your Own; because the ad has become so popular, the producers have been asking fans to tweet at Doritos and ask them to “reconsider” their entry.  Obviously it’s way too late for this ad to become a finalist but Doritos does love to pull surprises on Super Bowl night.  I think it would be freaking amazing if they actually decided to run this spot; if not during the superbowl then maybe at some later date.  After all, I think Doritos really owes these guys.  Look at all the free advertising they got out of this one entry that didn’t win a dime!  If Fritolay were paying one cent per view, they would owe the producers of Make Your Own more than $23,500!  if you’d like to join the campaign to get Doritos to air this ad, click here: http://clicktotweet.com/dlO2L

Crash the Super Bowl finalist, Man's Best Friend

Though I’m not totally crazy about some of Doritos’ picks in this year’s Crash the Super Bowl contest, I will admit that all of the 2012 finalists are….ok.  In fact, I think they all range from decent to awesome.  Last week I posted an interview I did with one of the creators of the CTSB finalist ad, Hot Wild Girls.  I mentioned that I thought his entry was one of the “awesome” ones and that I personally would be voting for it every day.  But this year, Fritolay has made it so you can vote a bunch of times in a bunch of different ways!  So I’ve been splitting my votes up between my two favorite ads; Hot Wild Girls and Man’s Best Friend.

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw that “Man’s Best Friend” made the final five; not because it was bad but because it was….I don’t know…pleasant.  It doesn’t assault your senses or your intelligence like some of the other finalists do.  Sure, it has a gigantic dog in it but it’s smart and subtle and even a tiny bit dark.  And the most amazing thing of all is that Man’s Best Friend was produced for only about 20 bucks!  So it’s really exciting to learn that that low budget, “homemade” ads still have a shot in this contest.

Man’s Best Friend was created by a very nice dude from Virginia named Jon Friedman.  Let’s get to know him, shall we?

VCN:    So Jon, tell me about yourself.  Who are you, where are you from?

JON:  I am a freelance graphic designer, filmmaker, photographer, and musician from Virginia Beach, VA. Filmmaking has always been a passion of mine, as is music (I play piano, guitar, and drums.) In the graphics world, I am best known for my design of the “Conversations with God” books, which have sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. I was also fortunate enough to design Richard Bach’s last two books–he is the author of the classic books, “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” and “Illusions.”

VCN:  Have you entered many video contests in the past?

JON:  This is the first video contest I’ve entered.

VCN:  What made you want to enter the CTSB contest?

JON:  Well, I can think of a “million” reasons . . . But seriously, I’ve always thought it would be fun to make commercials. I’ve had a lot of ideas for them over the years, and while I was watching the commercials during last year’s Super Bowl I thought “why haven’t I entered this contest? This is something I’ve always wanted to do.” So I made a decision right then and there to enter CTSB the following year.

VCN:  Where did the idea for Man’s Best Friend come from?

JON:  The inspiration for “Man’s Best Friend” was triggered by a thought I had one night. It just occurred to me that in most ads involving an animal, the animal is always trying to acquire the product. So I thought to myself, “What if there was a twist on that, or it was the opposite of that?” After having that thought, the idea for “Man’s Best Friend” popped into my head. I think that’s how inspiration works in general. Something usually triggers it–a thought, a memory, a feeling. It can be anything.

VCN:  How was the ad produced?  What kind of camera did you use?  Mind if I ask what your budget was?

JON:  I shot the commercial for about $20 using a Canon 7D (which I already own). I had to buy some Doritos, a few props, and some dog treats. I originally thought the commercial would only cost $13 to produce, so I went way over budget. The most difficult part about the production was getting “Huff the Great Dane” to cooperate. He’s really just a gigantic 120+ pound baby who wants to run around, sit in people’s laps, and eat treats (he was also fond of shaking hands/paws with everyone). Huff knew the word “sit” but that’s about as far as his training went. It took some patience and cleverness to get what we needed.

Jon Friedman in Fritolay's secret underground PR bunker

VCN:  How and when did you find out you made the finals?

JON:  I don’t remember the exact date, but I received a phone call between the second and third week in December. I was told to keep quiet about it of course, so that was very difficult. It’s tough to walk around acting like everything’s normal when you get news like that!

VCN:  This is kind of an insider question but I think some readers will really like to hear the answer.  I’ve heard that actors in CTSB ads actually get paid SAG “scale” by Fritolay.  Is that true?

JON:  Yes, that’s true. I only had one on-screen actor in my commercial and he had to fill out a SAG contract.

VCN:   So who are you taking to the Super Bowl?

JON:  I’m taking my brother (and assistant director.) We often collaborate on creative projects and his help has been invaluable.

VCN:  What are you doing to promote your entry?

JON:  I don’t know that I’m doing anything too special–Facebook, local media, friends and family. I’m hoping that will be enough!

VCN:  What has been the reaction of your family and friends to all this?

JON:  They’ve been incredibly supportive and I think many of them are more excited than I am! I’m still in shock by the whole thing.

VCN:  Here on VCN we’ve talked a lot about finalists who are able to win the CTSB more than once. Are you already planning your entry for 2013?

JON:  I have so many ideas, and I’ll admit, I have thought about what I might do next year. If I don’t win the big prize this year (which I believe automatically disqualifies you from entering the contest again), I will probably enter it again next year. I had a lot of fun making this commercial, and even if I don’t win again, I know I’ll enjoy creating another one.

VCN:  Any final thoughts you’d care to share?

JON:  This whole experience has been amazing, and I still feel honored that “Man’s Best Friend” was chosen as a finalist. If people have any questions or comments they’d like to share with me, I can be contacted at jonathan@frame25productions.com
 

 
To vote for Man’s Best Friend, head here: www.mansbestfriendcommercial.com

Now that I think about it, this commercial might actually have a decent shot of scoring well on the USA Today ad meter.  It’s very likable and the comedy keeps building and building so I bet it will get a really high score.  Wouldn’t it be funny if this consumer-made spot beat out all of Doritos’ Crash the Super Bowl ads??

Besides the top winner, Chevy gave out a ton of prizes to finalists in different regions of the globe.  Actually, they wound up awarding even more prizes than promised.  You can see the full list of winners on Mofilm’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MOFILM

Yo, suck on these!

I try and follow what goes on over on Poptent.net pretty closely and over the last few months I’ve noticed an odd trend developing.  It seems like more and more companies are running video “assignments” on Poptent that are sort of like the first phase of a larger video contest.  The brand’s judges review all the Poptent submissions they receive and then they select several finalists.  These finalists each get paid a few thousand dollars so the brand can post their videos on their websites or facebook pages for a few weeks.  Once the finalist videos are posted, fans of the sponsor are invited to vote on their favorite “consumer made” ads and the video that gets the most votes wins a big, fat cash prize.  So basically, companies are using Poptent so they can have their cake and eat it too.  Since there is so much talent over on Poptent the brand is almost sure to get a ton of high-quality videos to choose from.  (Bonus: they also don’t need to worry about non-winners posting their embarrassing, low-quality or offensive videos elsewhere on the web.)  And then when they run the second phase of the contest they also get the social media exposure that comes with running an online vote.  When all is said and done, the brand gets high-quality content, the are technically no “losers” so the fans don’t feel like the sponsor wasted their time, the sponsor’s website or facebook page gets tons of traffic and the directors that made the finals get at least a little cash for their trouble.

So it’s an interesting contest model.  But it really only works if all phases of the contest are run well.  The people at poptent obviously know what they’re doing so Phase One is guaranteed to run pretty smoothly.  But these types of contest can easily crash and burn once the brand takes over and launches the contest phase.  Case in point: Jolly Rancher’s Crunch ‘N Chew video contest.  Late last year Hershey’s ran a Poptent video assignment for their new product, Crunch ‘N Chew Jolly Ranchers.  In total they recived 189 videos which is a hell of a lot of submissions for a Poptent contest.  On Monday the company announced that they had picked three finalists and each winning filmmaker would be getting $2,500.  Then all three videos were posted on Jolly Rancher’s website for a month-long public vote.  After 30 days, the video with the most votes will be purchased by Hershey’s for $7.500.  And the winning filmmaker will be paid an additional $10,000 so they can produce two sequels to their first video. Hershey’s built a beautiful and simple webpage for the contest.  You can see it and all three of the finalist videos by clicking on this image:

Click to check out the actual site

As you can see, one video has already managed to get over 3,000 votes in about 4 days!  (Note: I’m writing this on Thursday night and the voting began on Monday morning.)  The website says you can “vote once a day” but 3,245 votes in 4 days still equals 811 votes a day!  That’s insane.  Unless you’re an Internet superstar, you’re not going to be able to pull down numbers like that.  So where are all those votes coming from?  Well, I did a little test and if you want to vote multiple times in this contest all you have to do is clear your web browser’s history and refresh the page.  Yep, it’s that easy.  You can vote an infinite number of times that way.

So I’m going to guess that most of Video #2′s votes came from the same computer.  Last night at 12:45AM I took a screenshot of the contest site and video #2 had 2,258 votes.  Nine hours later I checked the site again and video #2 was up to 3,022 votes.  So that video gained 764 votes overnight.  Right now it is 9PM on thursday night.  Since 10AM video #2 has only gained 223 votes.  How does a video get 764 votes in the middle of the night but only 223 votes during the day?  The only answer that makes any sense is that somebody stayed up all night voting for the same video over and over.

So these guys are cheaters and they should be disqualified immediately….right?  Wrong.  As far as I’m concerned anyone who casts multiple votes in this contest isn’t doing a damn thing wrong.  If you cheat in a contest you should get disqualified.  But “cheating” is BREAKING THE RULES.  And guess what?

The Jolly Ranchers video contest has no rules.

Seriously.  I’m not trying to be hyperbolic.  There are literally no rules for this contest.  The finalists have received no instructions from the sponsor and there are no rules on the contest site.  And if there are no rules, how can you possibly cheat???  The website says that “You can vote once per day through February 15th!”  But a single, random sentence isn’t legally binding.  And the site certainly doesn’t say you “may not vote more than once per day.”  How are contestants supposed to know what is ok and what isn’t if the sponsor doesn’t bother to tell them?  If Hershey’s REALLY didn’t want people to vote more than once a day, why did they make it so easy to vote over and over?

So frankly, you can’t blame the repeat voters.  The blame here belongs to whoever set up the voting phase of this contest.  I’m simply amazed that someone built that site without realizing people could easily vote for themselves as many times as they wanted.  I mean for Christsakes, $17,500 is at stake.  It’s just human nature to want to do everything you can to win a prize like that.  In fact, I don’t believe that no one realized this would happen.  I’m going to guess that the poor web designer or IT guy who set up the contest site probably tried in vain to explain to the marketing folks running this project that it was going to devolve into a pointless vote-a-thon.  I’ve been a tech and I spent years working with people in marketing.  They seem to just have a biological aversion to hearing about technical problems.  They pretty much just plug their ears and don’t want to acknowledge that something could go wrong.  And if they have to choose between fixing an important technical issue or preserving their vision well…their vision wins out every time.  So some marking person somewhere probably got the idea in their head that voting in this contest should be as simple as possible.  And the vision of a one-click vote wound up trumping common sense.

But as I said, the voting period in this contest lasts until February 15th.  That’s a long ways away.  Hershey’s still has plenty of time to fix this.  Because there are no rules the sponsor has no grounds to disqualify anyone.  And really, they don’t even have cause to throw out any of the votes.  But what they can do is post some freaking RULES.  Then if people get caught breaking those rules the company will have grounds to disqualify them.  But really, I think the smart thing to do at this point is just cancel the vote and pick a winner.  And maybe they can give the non-winners a little extra cash to compensate for what they’ve had to go through this week.  Seriously, this is one of the biggest video contest debacles I’ve ever seen and I would be freaking out if I had to endure a month-long, phony voting process. Right now this is a voting contest, not a video contest and that just sucks.

THURSDAY NIGHT UPDATE:  I was going to wait until Friday morning to post this but I’ll publish it now.  It’s now a little after 12:45AM and Video #2 is now up to 3734 votes.  That means that video received 1,476 votes in the span of 24 hours.  And 480 votes came in between the hours of 9PM and 1AM tonight.  That’s twice the number of votes that video got all day on Thursday.  Again, it’s not really possible to cheat in a contest where there are no rules but someone does seem to be voting for one of the entries over and over.  So I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if anyone at Hershey’s cares enough to do anything about this.

MONDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE:  Unfortunately, Hershey’s hasn’t done a thing to try and stop this out of control contest.  In fact, they have let things get much, much worse.  Video #2 is now up to 10,134 votes.  That means they got about 6,000 votes in 4 days.  But now, the team who created Video #1 have also apparently decided to try and win this contest.  Yesterday Video #1 had about 1,000 votes.  Today they have 4,000 votes!  As I keep saying, this contest has no rules so none of this can count as cheating.  But I have to ask, what the hell does Hersey gain from running a joke of a contest like this?

TUESDAY MORNING UPDATE:  Someone who called himself “Jolly Fan” left a comment accusing me of being the creator of the video that has the least number of votes in this contest.  Just for the record, I am not.  I didn’t even enter the Jolly Rancher assignment.  Click the comments button to see “Jolly Fan’s” very un-friendly message.  If you read between the lines it seems pretty obvious that Jolly Fan is actually the creator of Video #2.