Amateur directors will get a chance to win the ultimate prize -- one of their commercials on television during the Super Bowl.
According to The New York Times, Frito-Lay and Chevrolet will both hold independent contests to determine the best user-submitted 30-second video spot promoting their brand. The winning ads will run during Super Bowl XLI, which airs February 4, 2007. Thirty seconds of ad time during the Super Bowl usually costs around $2.5 million, according to the NYT story.
Chevrolet's advertising firm will choose the winner for its contest, but Frito-Lay is pursuing a far more interesting model. They'll choose five finalists from a pool of Doritos spots, and the final five videos will be posted on Yahoo Video. The general public will get to vote on the spots and decide which one is Bowl-worthy. Each of the five finalists will get $10,000 each.
There's a real sea change happening in big business' attitudes towards user-submitted content. The NFL is going to launch its own Super Bowl contest, joining companies like Nikon, Country Music Television and Current.tv who are using user-generated videos and photos to promote their brands.
