Think of an idea for a DORITOS commercial. Shoot it and upload it on YouTube. If the judges place it in the top 5 videos, you’ll win $10,000 and a trip to Miami for a private Super Bowl XLI viewing party. Then, if America votes it their favorite, your video will be aired as a real DORITOS commercial during the Super Bowl XLI broadcast.

Go to Crash The Super Bowl to upload and watch!

NBC is headquartered outside Rockefeller Center and is the offical network for the event. During tonight’s one hour Christmas in Rockefeller Center spot you can enter to win the Zales “Win The Perfect Gift Sweepstakes” which includes a $5000 shopping spree.

For Monday’s broadcast NBC has partnered with Phillips Electronics to have them be the sole sponsor of the Nightly News show in a $2 million deal. During the half hour run, Phillips will air three commercials instead of the usual 14 commercials. Maybe people will be happy that Phillips bought out all that time just to keep commercial times shorter? NBC will keep with its’ recent advertising gimmick string over the next few months I am guessing. Recently they have messed around with product placement in shows like The Office and 30 Rock.

Time Warner Cable has recently launched the first collection of interactive tv ads in the New York area. The ads are called ‘telescoping ads’ which are a traditional 30-second spot with a decision to be taken to an area with more information on the product or service. Ad Age reports that advertisers will be able to target by household and use the direct response opp. by asking viewers to register, request a brochure packet, or call a toll free number.

Lost Remote reports an interesting voice over in a recent NBC’s “Heros” episode in which the narrator says “don’t hear about it in the morning. Be there Monday night.” The voice over is an obvious ploy at telling people indirectly not to use a DVR and skip over commercials. Valuable ad dollars are being improperly used and the network wants to build a live network to accomdate its advertisers.

That’s right. Since this has been reported numerous times here is the statement from Justin Long himself:

“As for the Mac commercials, I don’t know where that report came from that said I wasn’t going to do anymore - I’m literally setting my alarm right now to wake up for a Mac shoot tomorrow - if I’m not doing anymore I guess I can sleep in on my day off - that’d be nice. But, yeah, we’re doing some holiday spots now which I think will be pretty funny - not nearly funny enough to justify the money they’re paying me though, I’ll be honest with you.”

Do I care? No, I am more in tune with the Japanese Justin Long version now.

CSPAN has recently started negotiations to combine its interests with online media storage provider StreamLoad to develop an user submitted video web site to launch this month. They are calling the web site “ViewFinder” It seems to be everyone in the advertising / marketing world wants their piece of the user submitted video market.

The CSPAN user submitted video website is a definite gamble. However, it would be interesting to see people submit videos that had to deal more with the ‘unreported news’ rather than videos of some guy and his buddies jumping off a house with a skateboard. Hopefully there will be a little value coming out of the new ViewFinder website from CSPAN

Two big time traditional marketers, General Electric and Pepsi Co., are changing the way they approach marketing reports the New York Times. Pepsi will begin by launching an offbeat consumer-generated commercial at StaySharp.tv and make it available on television for its’ MDX Mountain Dew soft drink. The Pepsi ads will appear on YouTube and on popular cartoon shows such as Futurama and Family Guy.

GE will toss its’ hat in the consumer generated advert game when it introduces its Imagination Theater - a collection of four funny animated films which center around the idea that creative actions can solve challenging problems.

Once, Macys operated under many regional brands such as Marshal Fields and Filene’s. After Federated Department Stores launched its’ largest national ad campaign in September, many are wondering if they will use the same tactic nationally for Macy’s. This could mean big losses for local television stations who are faced with the mid-term elections recently ending and the possibility of regional department stores discontinuing local ad campaigns.Read

MTV has a very fresh and innovative approach to handling both innovation and organizational structure. The company’s culture of innovation stems from unusual hiring practices which blend people from different backgrounds. For example, the company’s founder had imported textiles. The head of MTV International is an Army Veteran. A chairperson of MTV Inc. is a former copywriter. The company says that “we have a diversity of talent, backgrounds, and experiences. We bring these diverse experiences with us.”

As MTV continues to expand world-wide, the company’s organizational structure must be maintained. The decentralized approach to organizational structure appears to be working for the company as hit after hit show come rolling out. Localization and good control over operations will keep things going in the right direction for MTV this year. Read

Phillips Electronics will be sponsoring an entire college football game to air on TBS to shorten commercial breaks and in an act of appreciation for the game (yeah right). Phillips has done this before when they bought all the time during a 60 Minutes airing on CBS back in Oct. 2005. No word whether or not buying out all the commercial time for a show or football game is a good or bad thing. (via)

The marketing board for the next Super Bowl needs your ideas and they are lazy and desperate at getting them. In this semi-new ad we see the words “Pitch us your ideas for the best NFL Superbowl Commercial. Seriously” plastered across the screen. I love that the marketing world is starting to involve the ‘consumer generated content’ world but am afraid the backlash might be job cuts or even worse.. the perception that the marketing industry is just plain lazy.

To propose to his girlfriend, a man is blogging to raise donations so he can buy a 30-second commercial spot during the 2007 Super Bowl. In the commercial, the man claims he will be proposing to his girlfriend. This has got to be the craziest idea I’ve ever heard. The idea is pretty reasonable considering this year everyone is creating their own viral videos for big corporations to run during the Super Bowl. It’d be interesting if the guy comes close and the NFL covers the rest come game time.

The NSA (National Security Agency) believes that targeting devout followers of the hit television series ‘Lost’ and ‘CSI’ will bring in a fresh batch of employees with ‘Carmen San Diego’ like skills. In your dreams fellas.

The NSA recently released its first television recruitment campaign during a recent episode of Lost and CSI (Crime Scene Investigation) in the hopes of bringing in fresh recruits. The campaign will be targeting high school and college students who are looking to get into the professional field of ‘tactical spying and espionage.’ A boost of 4,000 hits came to the NSA’s website after the ad aired and generated a lot of interest. The ads featured “techno music blares and a radiant blue globe” in the background. (Via)

JibJab has teamed up with Verison Wireless to collaborate on a short film contest in which wanna-be comedians will be pitted against each other in a bid for a shot at $10,000 ‘cash-money’ (Wilmer Valderama joke). The winner of the short film contest will also win the opportunity to work with acclaimed comedic director John Landis of ‘Blues Brothers’ and ‘American Werewolf in London’ fame. The buck doesn’t stop there. The winner will also be featured on Verizon VCAST Service!

The six semi-finalists will be voted upon through the JibJab website from now until November 16th, 2006. If you have a funny bone, get a tickle massage and check this videos out. AWN