Superbowl Sunday is coming, and for many that means chips, dip, friends and football. If you are video guy, like me, then that means the commercials. The Superbowl is well known for the ground breaking and buzz worthy commercials that play every year to an audience of nearly 40 million viewers.
Big corporations make video stars with user generated commercials
Some companies, like GoDaddy and Doritos, have taken the opportunity to promote their brand to an enormous audience and save in advertising expenses by opening Superbowl, Indy 500 and other major sporting event video contests to the general public. By offering large case prizes and a chance to showcase your work, these companies not only harness fresh talent and new ideas, but have entries submitted by top industry production companies.
Tips on winning a Superbowl commercial contest
Last year Francis De La Torre and his team entered and won the $100,000 top prize GoDaddy Indy 500 video contest with their entry “Go Mammaâ€. They utilized mass emailing, social networking and word of mouth to get in one of the top spots for judging. GoDaddy made this simple by utilizing Vimeo and YouTube links for entering your video. They also made it easy to share your video online by placing Facebook, Twitter, and other sharing options on each entry to send to your friends and family.
Francis says there are three key things to keep in mind when entering an online video contest:
1. Know your contest
This is vitally important when submitting your video. Some things to consider are: Will a panel of judges be picking the winner, or will it be by community vote? This can greatly affect how you produce and target your video. If it’s a panel of judges, you may want to research who will be watching the video to better understand what they may be looking for. If it’s the general public, you may want to go for a broader approach that appeals to the masses.
2. Use Social Networks
Francis considered this the base for garnering votes for his video. He also encourages people to visit non-mainstream site (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Myspace etc..) and visit film making / video online forums, and user groups to gain exposure.
3. Think outside the box
Create a Facebook event that encourages people to watch the video together and vote together at the same time. Host a small party to premiere your contest entry and hand out information on how to vote for your video. Create and online presence for the characters in the video. There are a number of ways to promote your entry. Be creative!
If you would like to enter a video contest, a great place to start is Poptent. Poptent gathers online contests from all over and puts them in one place for you to choose from.
There are many factors when entering a video contest for a large company. So do you research, build your support base, get creative, and win some sweet cash!
Francis’ winning GoDaddy Indy 500 commercial “Go Mama”