Something good, just got a whole lot better.
After recently completing and submitting to MOFILM’s Walmart commercial assignment, my wife and I discussed with each other the total experience. We knew that at this point, it could likely be the conclusion of the experience and we needed to compare it to other spec. work we’ve done for various crowd sourcing portals. We determined that it was one of our best spec. creation experiences, and for a bunch of reasons. The two most important being: Even if we failed to sell anything to the brand, we still enjoyed more open communication channels between all three parties during production (MOFILM, Walmart and JCF), and secondly: the production grants from the brand/MOFILM allowed us to pay our talent and crew leaving only ourselves as the owners of Jared Cicon Films to work on a speculative basis. This increased level of risk-sharing does so much to increase the strength and value of so many assets of production.
We concluded that regardless of the judging outcome, we would definitely produce again for MOFILM.
Well, a funny thing happened on the way to the rock concert. With only a week to go before the scheduled announcement of 1st, 2nd and 3rd place, Walmart informed MOFILM they were still in the judging phase and hadn’t yet determined a ‘best’ Walmart submission. They had as yet only narrowed it down to a top ‘3’. But wait a minute! The 1st place prize included a trip to Chicago to meet the brand, receive the award, attend events related to the Lollapalooza music festival, etc., and if Walmart hadn’t yet chosen a 1st place pick, how would they know who to send to Chicago?!? MOFILM’s answer? Send all top three creatives and a guest each to Chicago and let ‘the lot’ enjoy what was originally promised to only a single creative.
Since MOFILM contacted yours truly informing him his Walmart spot was one of the top three chosen by Walmart, Yeah, something great just got even better.
So the ‘King’ and Queen Cicon will be visiting the land of Lollapalooza later this week courtesy of the generosity of MOFILM. Air fair, five days and four nights accommodations, dinners, brunches, hobnobbing with Walmart executives and the MOFILM family, VIP passes to Lollapalooza music events, and whatever else MOFILM has up their sleeve.
OK, I’m gloating. And is it really ‘news’ that the king prevailed in his kingdom and won yet another video contest. Hardly. After all, it happens with such frequency that it’s not exactly headline material anymore. What ‘is’ news though, is how MOFILM handled the situation. Kudos to them. Kudos to Walmart. And “here, here” to the evolving nature of crowd sourcing that seems to be of increasing benefit to the freelance creative as our role in an ever-changing advertising world becomes more appreciated and further defined.
The King
Video Contest King 