FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 21, 2009
Media Contacts:
“HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO TO PROTECT YOUR BUTTERFINGER® BAR?”
Winning Response Earns $25,000 in Nationwide Video Contest; Top Butterfinger Video to Appear On-Air as 15-Second TV Commercial
Video Contest to be “Peer Promoted” by Butterfinger FUNterns via Social Media Channels; Social Media-Savvy, Summer Hires Announced after Flood of Butterfinger Job Applicants
GLENDALE, Calif. – As reality television looks for the next “front-of-the-camera” star, BUTTERFINGER® is more interested in finding the next “behind-the-camera” visionary – someone who can capture the best “crispety, crunchety, peanut-buttery” experience via video. The search is on for an irreverently-clever, commercial creator who can show the world how far they would go to protect their Butterfinger bar. One undiscovered directorial talent will have the opportunity (and bragging rights) to see their video air as a national 15-second commercial for Butterfinger. Reintroducing the tagline, “Nobody’s Gonna Lay A Finger On My Butterfinger,” Butterfinger has created the user-generated video contest as a fresh, new, social media way for fans to respond to its NEW national TV ad campaign.
“We know that no one can express the one-of-a-kind Butterfinger experience better than a real-world fan,” said spokesperson Tricia Bowles of Nestlé USA Confections & Snacks, “and since our biggest fans are also avid social media users, we’re hoping to find ‘a vlogger with a vision’ to potentially become the next commercial video sensation.”
The Contest: “How Far Would You Go to Protect Your Butterfinger Bar?”
Butterfinger officially unwrapped details today of its video competition titled “Nobody’s Gonna Lay A Finger On My Butterfinger” Video Contest. Beginning today, contestants can log online to www.ProtectYourButterfingerBar.com to enter. Upon following the online instructions, contestants may submit a video (up to one minute in length) in one of the following four categories: 1) Best Use of a Gadget; 2) Epic Fail; 3) Sweetest Kung Fu Moves; and 4) Workplace Shenanigans. Amongst other requirements, each submitted video must incorporate a Butterfinger bar, showing how far one would go to protect their Butterfinger, and must include the tagline: “Nobody’s Gonna Lay A Finger On My Butterfinger.”
A panel of judges will select one finalist video in each of the four categories. Video entries will be judged equally on the following criteria: 1) integration of the Butterfinger candy bar in a clever way,
2) originality and creativity, 3) overall appeal, and 4) laugh factor. In other words, the judges want to be “wowed” with cleverness, irreverence and the unexpected! The top video in each category will be posted online from September 1-22, 2009, at www.ProtectYourButterfingerBar.com, where consumers can click, chuckle, and vote on their overall favorite video.
The Prize
Winning this contest is almost as sweet as winning your own reality TV show, minus the headache of paparazzi, but with all the bragging rights of being selected as a bonafide TV commercial director!
One grand-prize winner will receive $25,000, and have their video featured in a 15-second TV commercial, as well as online on the Butterfinger Comedy Network, the Butterfinger Facebook page, www.ProtectYourButterfingerBar.com, and in various other online venues. The grand-prize winner also will receive a one-year supply of Butterfinger candy bars. Additionally, three first prize winners each will receive a $1,000 check and a one-year supply of Butterfinger candy bars.
Meet the FUNterns! Butterfinger Video Contest Promoters and Brand Ambassadors!
Building on the reality-esque nature of this video search, there’s an exciting apprentice-like twist. The actual promotion of this “irreverently-clever” commercial video contest will be handled in part by the four Butterfinger FUNterns, who earned their highly coveted positions after a nationwide summer job search yielding more than 400 applicants.
As a virtual extension of the Butterfinger marketing team, the Butterfinger FUNterns will help to promote the amateur video contest during their six-week summer FUNternship. The FUNterns will have fun online as Butterfinger ambassadors in the social media know, where they will tweet, text, vlog, blip, flickr, digg, and then some, about the video contest, as well as their own summer adventures with their favorite candy bar. The Butterfinger FUNterns also will enjoy fun offline in the sun, attending cool events around town, where they will film videos of their experiences as they spread the “crispety, crunchety, peanut-buttery” joy with new fans and Butterfinger enthusiasts alike.
Meet the four Butterfinger FUNterns!
- Los Angeles: A.J. Mayers
- New York: Debbie Ebalobo
- Chicago: Corey Austin
- Atlanta: Kat Goduco
Throughout the summer, consumers can follow the Butterfinger FUNterns on their adventures via their respective online sites, links, vlogs and blogs. To find those links and read the latest news on the Butterfinger FUNterns, visit Facebook.com/Butterfinger, and click on the “FUNternship” tab.
The Rules
Contestants can enter up to four (4) video entries; however, they can only enter once per category and each entry must be sufficiently different from each other (as determined by Butterfinger), meet the requirements stated in the rules, and be individually submitted. Each submitted video entry must feature or depict a positive reference to, or visual of, someone protecting their Butterfinger bar and must include the tagline: “Nobody’s Gonna Lay A Finger On My Butterfinger.” Contestants are required to have a Yahoo! ID to submit their video entry online. The contest ends and all entries must be received by 11:59 p.m. ET on August 25, 2009. Complete rules and regulations can be found at www.ProtectYourButterfingerBar.com.
About Nestlé USA
Named one of “America’s Most Admired Food Companies” in Fortune magazine for 13 consecutive years, Nestlé USA provides quality brands and products that bring flavor to life every day. From nutritious meals with LEAN CUISINE® to baking traditions with NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE®, Nestlé USA makes delicious, convenient, and nutritious food and beverage products that enrich the very experience of life itself. That’s what “Nestlé. Good Food, Good Life” is all about. Well-known Nestlé brands include: NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE®, NESTLÉ® NESQUIK®, NESTLÉ® COFFEE-MATE®, STOUFFER’S®, LEAN CUISINE®, HOT POCKETS® and LEAN POCKETS® brand sandwiches, NESCAFÉ®, NESCAFÉ® TASTER’S CHOICE®, NESTLÉ® JUICY JUICE®, BUITONI®, DREYER’S/EDY’S®, NESTLÉ® CRUNCH®, NESTLÉ® BUTTERFINGER®, and WONKA®. Nestlé USA, with 2009 sales of $10.4 billion is part of Nestlé S.A. in Vevey, Switzerland — the largest food company in the world with a focus on Nutrition, Health & Wellness — with 2009 sales of $99 billion.
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