Two World Wide Web-crawling Spider-Man enthusiasts will have the chance to report breaking Spider-Man 3 movie news as the winners of Columbia Pictures’ “Face of the Fan” contest. Building on the success of Columbia’s partnership with online user generated video portal Grouper, the “Face of the Fan” contest will provide at least 250,000 Spider-Man Movie Network members with the chance to become the official online correspondents for the network. The two winners (one male and one female) will be tasked with creating videos that will offer breaking Spider-Man news, information, and special promotions across the Web at least once a week leading up to the highly anticipated release of Spider-Man 3 on May 4, 2007.
Beginning immediately, aspiring Spider-Man 3 webcasters can find everything they need to enter the contest here.
At the site, contest entrants can join the movie network, as well as find tools to help them tape, edit and submit their entry. Fans are encouraged to show their true colors in their screen tests. Entrants will be judged on the presentation of a pre-provided script as well as their enthusiasm and credibility, articulation, and ultimately, they will be selected on the quality of their overall submission. The contest is open to any U.S. resident who is at least 18 years-of-age or older unless otherwise indicated in the official rules. Entries must be submitted by February 23, 2007.
Commenting on the announcement, Dwight Caines, Executive Vice President of Worldwide Digital Marketing Strategy for the Columbia TriStar Motion Pictures Group, said, “Since we launched the first ‘Spider-Man’ film in 2002, we have used the internet in exciting and innovative ways to reach our core fans with news and information about the upcoming movies. With ‘Spider-Man 3,’ we are taking our commitment to the online community to a whole new level. This is the largest digital campaign we’ve ever attempted and the ‘Spider-Man’ Movie Network is its backbone. The ‘Face of the Fan’ contest is just one part of a very aggressive interactive campaign that we will be rolling out in the coming weeks to support this franchise.”
The studio has tapped Grouper to power the User-Generated Video submissions for Spider-Man fans vying to become the “Face of the Fan”. Grouper will enable fans to upload any video of themselves or even record one instantly with Grouper’s Webcam feature.
The winning fans will then take a leadership role for the highly enthusiastic Spider-Man fan community on the official Spider-Man website. The two winning correspondents will record and post additional videos on a regular basis, which will also be hosted and served by Grouper.
Commenting on his company’s association with the campaign, Grouper president and co-founder Josh Felser said, “Grouper is making it possible for fans to display their creative acumen as passionate followers of Peter Parker and the continuing adventures of Spider-Man. With this contest we are demonstrating the power of engagement that user-generated video offers, while enhancing our mission to reward the best user-generated video on the Web.”
Online, the Spider-Man fanbase has proven to be one of the most enthusiastic movie communities on the web. Since the first Spider-Man site was first launched in March 2001, there have been more than 100 million visits to the film’s official site.
Source: Columbia Pictures
