Companies continue to experiment with consumer-generated content, as Dove initiated an online contest that will result in the winner having their ad presented on the Academy Awards telecast, promoting its new Cream Oil Body Wash. The winner will have an entire 30-second spot on the Sunday broadcast.
It is interesting the risk that's willing to be taken as a 30-second spot on the Oscar's will cost around $1.7 million this year; the equivalent of $57,000 a second.
What Dove did was provide some mashup material for women to use with their video creations at DoveCreamOil.com. They received about a 1,000 ads, of which three were selected as finalists. It won't be known which ad wins until the commercial is aired on the show.
Also included is another 30 second spot bought by Dove that will run ahead of the winning ad with Grey's Anatomy star Sara Ramirez introducing the winning ad and its creator. "I like the fact that Dove is doing a preamble," says John Moore of ad media buyer mediaHUB. He added that it will help the new product's ad stand out.
With 40 million people expected to watch Sunday's ceremony, it will draw the second-largest audience on network TV, only behind the size of the Super Bowl viewership.
The fact that it also usually draws a larger female audience of about 60 percent adds to the value for a product like Dove is promoting.
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