Frito-Lay Calls On Consumers To Make The Next Great Super Bowl Ad

Bleeding Edge

from the dorito-bowl dept

We’ve written before about the challenges marketers face in getting their messages across in today’s media-rich environment, and how one strategy for success is to create marketing campaigns that get people to pull in ads, rather than just passively accept what’s shoved at them. An extension of this is to get consumers to do your advertising for you, by giving them a platform and worthwhile motivation to do so — like Frito-Lay is doing by running a contest that will run a user-generated TV commercial during the Super Bowl. While something like Doritos probably isn’t a brand that a lot of people feel particularly passionate about, the opportunity to have an ad run during the highest-profile TV event of the year should garner a lot of interest and attract a lot of entries. All too often, when marketers talk about interactive advertising, the extent of the interactivity is watching a video or clicking on a Flash ad. But new media allow for real interactivity, which means things flowing in both directions. Smart marketers are taking advantage of this, by offering users interactive platforms that aren’t focused on cramming a marketing message down their throat, whether it’s giving them the chance to make a Super Bowl ad, or by playing a game with their cell phone . Traditional advertising simply hopes that users will absorb a message they’re exposed to, or remember a brand. But new media lets advertisers use interactivity to hold people’s attention and create an extended experience that’s more likely to stick in their mind.