Heinz playing catch-up with contest videos
Share with others:
A couple of months ago, the H.J. Heinz Co.'s vice president of ketchup called a family that had its entry rejected from a contest in which the Pittsburgh company offered a $57,000 prize for the winning 30-second commercial.
Dave Ciesinski apologized, according to a post by smsdavis on a YouTube.com discussion board. He did the job right, too.
"I put him on speakerphone and he apologized to all six of the kids," wrote smsdavis. "He was very sorry about how everything turned out and just wanted the kids to know that he wished us luck on the upcoming contest and hoped we would try again."
The incident, confirmed by a Heinz spokeswoman yesterday, illustrates how hard the big ketchup company is trying to make sure that a marketing program meant to celebrate people's love affair with its iconic product doesn't break hearts instead.
As the deadline for those trying to enter the company's second consumer-generated commercial contest approaches -- midnight tonight -- it appears Heinz learned some lessons the first time around.
Not that the company didn't get lots of splashy attention and buzz from its first venture into putting the videocamera into consumers' hands. Officials said last summer the contest brought in 8,000 videos. Of those, 6,000 were submitted properly but just 4,000 met all the requirements, including length and copyright issues.
Complaints began showing up on message boards from consumers upset to discover too late that they'd done something wrong. Heinz quickly announced TakeTwo, a second contest offering the same prizes -- $57,000 and national TV exposure.
The company also moved to avoid having the same issues the second time around. That included offering more detailed instructions on how to upload entries and assigning a moderator to take e-mailed questions.
In addition, contestants got feedback. "Everybody who submitted a video does get an e-mail," said Jessica Jackson, senior manager of public relations for Heinz North America. If their commercial wasn't accepted, they were told that and told what the problem was.
Armed with that information, people have been trying again. "We are seeing a lot of resubmissions," she said. The company also has been hearing from consumers who appreciate the help.
As of mid-day yesterday, about 1,400 entries had been submitted. That's fewer than the first time around, but Ms. Jackson said Heinz hadn't focused as much marketing spending on the second contest. She said officials were happy with the quality and number of commercials coming in.
There's at least some buzz around the second contest. A quick check of the Internet found bloggers posting about their efforts and at least one person in Detroit advertising on Craigslist for actors. Those interested were warned not to expect pay unless the commercial wins something.
There's been a last-minute rush of sorts this week with at least 200 new entries popping up in the first couple of days. Those posted at www.TopThisTV.com have been screened for compliance with the contest rules.
After the cutoff, Heinz judges will choose 10 semifinalists. That's fewer than last time, but Ms. Jackson said the goal was to make it simpler for voters to watch all the videos. Voting will start April 7 and continue through April 21.
For those still scrambling to finish, it's time to get a move on.
"Don't wait till the last minute to try and upload," Ms. Jackson warned. She noted the process could take longer than expected or that other issues could arise. Computers don't listen to pleas for extra time. "If the clock passes midnight, it will not be accepted."
First Published March 14, 2008 12:00 am
