JungleSmash

JungleSmash is an interesting new project by James Altucher, a Hedge Fund manager and finance writer.

JungleSmash is all about user generated video ads. They have chosen Crest toothpaste as a launch brand, and are offering $2000 for the best video someone can make about Crest. (They have no affiliation with Crest; they say they chose the brand because they like the toothpaste.)

Then, they'll choose another brand and so on.

I read about this on the Freakonomics blog. In the comments after the post a lot of people say that it's been done before, and of course it has, by the brands themselves, but not by disinterested outsiders.

It'll be interesting to see what the public come up with. So far it hasn't set the blogging world alight, as evidenced by these 8 posts to date, inclucing the original post on JungleSmash, but I have faith that some interesting films will be made.

(The issue of the low bounty is not necessarily an important one - Adam and Joe got an amazing response to their competition as detailed here earlier - as long as people think that it's fun.)

The real question for me is whether people are going to use their imagination, or just go along with existing advertising concepts for Crest. For example there is no shortage of lame rip offs of the British Hamlet ads of the 1970s & 1980s like this one here

Let's wait, with open minds, and see what JungleSmash turns up.