In just 75 seconds, Jeff Schmale and Chris Gorman of Bel Air, Maryland tickled the funny-bones of thousands of voters with their spoof titled “The Ant Party,” taking home the grand prize in Jim Beam’s(R) “The Remake” online video contest.
“It feels great to have won the contest,” said Jeff Schmale, grand prize winner. “It’s much more satisfying to have created something that was judged to be the best rather than winning a random sweepstakes-styled contest. It also makes me not look like such a fool for sitting in my kitchen for four nights playing with plastic ants.”
In January, the world’s No. 1-selling bourbon invited people across the country 21 years of age and older to enter “The Remake,” a consumer-generated video contest offering a grand prize of $25,000, a trip for four to Las Vegas, and a chance for the winning video to be showcased on JimBeam.com. Contestants could choose one of two categories:
“The Remake” category challenged legal purchase age consumers to create and upload spoofed versions of three Jim Beam commercials – including “The Girlfriend,” which premiered in the U.S. on January 19 on sports networks like ESPN(R) and TNT.
“Best Story” sought out the most creative individual who used humor and imagination instead of fancy video production equipment to create a successful commercial. Jeffrey Border of Reinholds, Pennsylvania, won the prize for “Best Story,” a Flip(TM) Mino video camera.
Nearly 300 video entries were received. All videos were judged based on creativity, use of humor and originality. The finalist videos were then uploaded to jimbeam.com for public voting. In a month’s time, more than 6,000 votes were cast, with “The Ant Party” receiving the top honors. The creators of the runners-up – “The Boss”, “The Culture Gap”, and “The Eco-Tragedy” – each received a Sony(R) HD Digital Video Camera.
“Every video submitted brought the Jim Beam brand to life,” said Kelly Doss, Senior Director of Bourbon and Whiskies, Beam Global. “The experience has definitely inspired us to create more campaigns that are worthy of such a savvy and funny audience.”
Contest showcases Jim Beam’s social media leadership in the spirits industry
“Jim Beam consumers – young men of legal purchase age – are living much of their lives online,” says Doss. “We know how important it is to relate to guys on their own terms, in their own environment. And this contest has proven how to be successful at it.”
“The Remake” has become one of the largest online video contests to be held without the direct support of YouTube. As contestants uploaded their entries, several of them also uploaded their submissions to other video sharing sites such as Metacafe(R), Dailymotion(R), and YouTube(R), garnering more than 3 million views.
The contest drove unprecedented traffic to Jim Beam’s main web site and related contest platforms: well over 200,000 unique visits to jimbeam.com and the contest microsite, with a million-plus contest-related page views since the contest began. The contest and the commercials that served as its inspiration generated more than 3 million views across the Web. As a result, according to the popular online ranking site Alexa.com, JimBeam.com surpassed its competitors in terms of online reach, rating among the top 80,000 web sites on the Internet.
Jim Beam credits part of this success in leveraging social networks such as Facebook(R) to promote the contest. Using shared links, communicating with Jim Beam’s Facebook fan group, and creating an application helped increase engagement among contestants and their followers. The Facebook community was the highest referring source of traffic to the contest.
Jim Beam is the first in the spirits industry to:
— Use micro-blogging through Twitter(R), attracting an estimated 20,000 viewers during the “Baja 1000” for updates on Jim Beam-sponsored racecar driver, Robby Gordon.
— Create a website that allowed users to comment on subject matter, establishing Jim Beam as the first public “conversational” brand in the industry.
— Initiate a social media call to action through an online petition and viral widget urging fans to “Save Our Ballpark’s Name” in support of Wrigley Field.
For more information, please visit www.JimBeam.com/TheRemake or www.TheStuffInside.com/Press.
About Beam Global Spirits & Wine:
Inspiring conversations around the world, Beam Global Spirits & Wine, Inc., is building brands people want to talk about. Consumers from all corners of the globe call for our brands, including Jim Beam(R) Bourbon, Sauza(R) Tequila, Canadian Club(R) Whisky, Courvoisier(R) Cognac, Maker’s Mark(R) Bourbon, Laphroaig(R) Scotch Whisky, Cruzan (R) Rum, Larios(R) Gin, Whisky DYC(R), Teacher’s(R) Scotch Whisky, DeKuyper(R) Cordials and Liqueurs, and Knob Creek(R) Bourbon. Beam Global Spirits & Wine is part of Fortune Brands, Inc. (NYSE: FO), a leading consumer brands company with annual sales exceeding $8 billion. For more information on Beam Global Spirits & Wine, its brands, and its commitment to social responsibility, please visit www.beamglobal.com and www.drinksmart.com.
