We Want You! Custom Viral for Youth Pranksters & Politicos

Youth will no doubt give this one a nudge up the internet viral video charts, right up there with the ol’ Elf Yourself campaign we wrote about last season.

Witty, seamless, and oh-so-relevant for the U.S. 2008 fall election year blitz, this campaign’s for you (literally) whether you’re ‘red, blue, or green’ in partisan politics…

Insert YOUR name (long lag time, be patient) as the ‘write-in’ candidate in this awesome little media ditty, and whammo, you’re positioned as the surprise grassroots entry in the U.S. Presidential race, vaulting to news team channel 3 coverage, bumper sticker signage, taxi tents, and even seen tattooed on the backs of diehard supporters eager to cast their vote for you! Clever.

What a hoot. Gotta love the conceptual creativity and techno-capacity of internet fodder. I e-mailed it to a few pals with the subject line, “You KNEW this was comin’…” and received a few gotchas and guffaws…

Since my Senior Class President duties from yesteryear have somehow cast me into our high school’s ‘president for life’ slot, I think I’ll zap it to a few kamaaina pals in Hawaii for fun to see if it shows up on classmates.com. (yes, I’m ornery, and love a good spoof)

By the way, the shirt at left is from Girl Mogul.com featured later this week on Shaping Youth in an interview with Andrea Stein, founder. I also launched a slogan contest to win a Girl Mogul tee on Eco Child’s Play here…so check it out and enter for a freebie!**

As for the clever personalized politics video and who is behind it?

Sponsorship-wise, it was produced by chat room site and massive multiperson video hub PalTalk, (see TechCrunch articles and wiki here) with ads by Southern-Tool (don’t ask me what power tools have to do with election demographics) and bandwidth by OpSys and Connected.net (which needs a boost, because it’s crashed a few times from overuse in my goofin’ with it!)

My Gen X family members have already sent me back a few pithy comments and thumbs up enthusiasm with “you’ve got my vote” pings, so hey, a female in the White House could be right around the corner! —(Yes, we can!) 😉

p.s. **On the Eco-Child’s Play site, my newly launched “slogan for a GirlMogul tee contest” has Amy R. in the lead so far with, “Alternative Energy=Girl Power!” C’mon, give her some competition!

I’ll also launch a contest on Shaping Youth for meaningful media messages, next…So stay tuned!

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Comments

  1. I should add…here’s another fun nonpartisan ‘play’ via Moms Rising.org called “CONVENTION BINGO”
    http://www.momsrising.org/candidatesbingo

    Essentially, they spell out M-O-T-H-E-R-S and ask folks to rate all candidates in these categories (see sample card here)
    http://www.momsrising.org/files/2BINGOcards.pdf?key=30138717

    Very fun and effective on ‘single issue voter’ focus re: key issues for moms…Here’s more:

    Posted August 25th, 2008 by Kristin, http://www.MomsRising.org
    “Play MomsRising Presidential BINGO with Us!

    “We’ve made a great Presidential Bingo card for you and yours to print & play while watching the candidate convention acceptance speeches (Scroll down and click the blue button below to get your card). Who scores better: Obama or McCain? Let’s talk!

    First up is Senator Obama’s speech on Thursday night, then next week is Sen. McCain. Print the card, watch Sen. Obama’s speech this week, then put your bingo scores & thoughts up at: http://www.momsrising.org/candidatesbingo We’ll share your results with the media & candidates.

    Let’s show the nation that moms are paying attention and our issues matter. Invite friends to play too by forwarding this link!

    *After you fill out the brief form below, click the “Download BINGO Cards” blue button at the bottom of this page and get your Bingo card now.”

  2. From SF MOMA…a great idea for an art exhibit/public program…

    “Choose the Winners of Tony Labat’s I WANT YOU Competition”

    Uncle Sam meets American Idol in a live performance competition at SFMOMA on Thursday, September 11.

    Contestants will take on the role of the finger-pointing Uncle Sam by performing one-minute monologues in which they make demands of the public. Join a live audience to watch fifty unique performances and vote for your favorite five!

    Each winner will appear on a poster to be placed around the city in the week leading up to the presidential campaign. Participants will be featured in artist Tony Labat’s new video project, I WANT YOU, screening at SFMOMA in November.
    “Thursday, September 11 / 6:30 p.m. / Phyllis Wattis Theater
    $10 general; $7 SFMOMA members, students, and seniors.

    More here: http://www.sfmoma.org/calendar/calendar_event.asp?eventid=1240&etype=2&func=repeat

    Thursday, September 04, 2008
    Live Art
    Tony Labat: I WANT YOU
    Solo Auditions
    6:30 p.m.
    Phyllis Wattis Theater

    Riffing on the iconic “I Want You” army recruitment campaigns of World Wars I and II, Labat invites you to make your own demands of the public. What if you had one minute to seize the voice of authority, to be the finger-pointing Uncle Sam? How would you fill in the rest? I Want You… to do what? And what if these demands were performed before and voted on by an audience?

    On September 04, 2008, individuals can deliver one-minute monologues in solo auditions. On September 11, 2008, 50 contestants chosen from the auditions will appear before a live audience and a host of documentary cameras. At the end of the evening, the audience will choose five winners.

    Each winner will appear on an “I Want You” poster, to be put up around the city in the week leading up to the presidential election. Participants will be featured in Labat’s new video, I WANT YOU, screening at SFMOMA in November.

    Free and open to the public. Register to perform by September 01, 2008 by emailing your contact information to edu@sfmoma.org.

    Support for Live Art at SFMOMA is provided by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Thursday evening half-price admission is sponsored by Banana Republic. Virgin America is the official airline of Thursday Nights at SFMOMA.

    Thursday, September 11, 2008
    Live Art
    Tony Labat: I WANT YOU
    Live Competition
    6:30 p.m.
    Phyllis Wattis Theater

    $10 general; $7 SFMOMA members, students, and seniors. Tickets are available at the Museum (with no surcharge) or online.”

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