Holy Chip

By Kaitlin Villanova

Apparently Doritos had the right idea when they gave consumers the opportunity to create there own chip commercial for the Super Bowl (although Bob Garfield wasn’t impressed), now Pringles is up to the same thing with their jinglesforpringles contest. In this contest they are giving the consumer the chance to write a Pringles jingle hoping to spark some brand awareness and engage the chip-loving consumer.

At the TV Forum on Tuesday, Beth Comstock of NBC Universal talked of the “viewser” those who live in an “always on world,” they are connected, engaged, and in control. This brings me back to my point on the Pringles, in this contest they are hoping to reach this group of techy viewsers who, may or may not eat Pringles, but certainly watch American Idol (most likely on a 20 minutes delay so they can skip the commercials with their DVR), cast their vote via text, and are savvy enough to whip up a witty, comical skit about potato chips on their Mac computer in under an hour. This viewser is going to see the value in participating in a community activity such as the jinglesforpringles contest.

I know we are all getting tired of hearing about “user generated content” but I was perusing my bloglines when I came across an article in The Opine:

“The User Revolution [is] largely driven by the proliferation of media options, the emergence of    the Internet, and the growing sophistication of consumers. If you have been keeping up with the web and consumer trends, this is no surprise. Consumers no longer have to succumb to brand clutter and noise. They know what they want and they know how to get it. The niche is king and the choice is theirs.”

Okay, now what do you guys think about jingles for…..Pfizer??