Thinking about a post regarding Twitter's value add in the realm of customer care. It isn't what most people think, but as of 11AM ET today, I now believe there may be a there there. More soon.

Does the world really need another online video contest?

Sometimes I wonder if they are doing it on purpose. Agencies, I mean. Every single agency seems to have the exact same set of proposals (and media plans - that's for another day) and ideas that they pitch to every client they meet. Or is it just my company?

Yesterday, I saw, for what seems like the 100th time in the past 5 years, a recommendation that we pursue an online video contest for an upcoming campaign. Keep in mind, we are not a video company. We don't entertain people - we want to reach them and influence them and get them to choose us when it comes down to decision time. I'm just not sure how video contests are supposed to help with this.

Anyway, a quick glance at http://www.youtube.com/contests_main yields a lot of good info:

1) There are a ton of contests going on all the time.

2) There have been a ton of them that are now over.

3) Most of the submissions really suck.

4) In general, a good contest generates about 100,000-200,000 video views - hardly any exposure at all when you think about it as an advertiser.

I also think that many of the submissions come from the same people who really like submitting videos to contests. Most of these seem to have been shot with the built-in webcam and involve screen-lit faces rambling about nothing while looking at the screen just under the camera. Not a lot of them are good-looking people either. Are these really the people we want to market to? Or have marketing us? Seems maybe no.

Here's a thought - instead of trying to advertise on TV by developing a network, fan base, original programming, and slots in the program to insert advertising into maybe we could just buy ads on popular shows? Or product placements? Just sayin'.

If you have to do a contest, probably the best approach is to get people who are actually good at online video - Nalts, for example (www.willvideoforfood.com) and who have an audience to be the contestants. That way you get lots of exposure, better quality video, and way less cost.

Another idea is to do something really, really cool (like the new State Farm "This Too Shall Pass" ad - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qybUFnY7Y8w) and promote it so that it takes on a life of its own. Very costly but the results can be amazing.

What do you think?