Make a Flash ad for L'Oreal

[joebrilliant]

Make a Flash ad for L'Oreal

Hey Newgrounds,

My name's Joe. I work on the outreach team for Current TV. I wanted to give a heads up about a new assignment for our VCAM program (Viewer-Created Ad Message) that for the first time includes Flash in addition to Video.

The assignment is to make a Flash-based online display ad or a overlay ad for our sponsor L'Oreal's new website called 'Can I Help You?'. If you're ad is selected by L'Oreal, it will run on Current.com and earn $2,500.

It's a great opportunity to hone on your Flash skills for a major brand and a chance to earn some real cash.

Deadline for submissions is September 2, 2008 and you can get all the assignment details, assets and terms at http://current.com/canihelpyou

If you have any questions, leave a comment or shoot us a note at [e-mail]

Thanks for your time, good luck!

Joe

[Ertyguy]

V-Cam is already used.

It's a virtual camera which is very popular, might want to come up with a new name.

[Ismael92]

Pretty interesting new =)

[RiotFlash]

Cool.

I'd consider changing the name if I were you. a V-Cam is a virtual camera for flash.

Maybe try VCAP
viewer created ad program

[joebrilliant]

Thanks for the feedback all, I'll def pass on the naming suggestions to our marketing and business affairs team. Looking forward to seeing what the collective Newgrounds braintrust comes up with for this assignment!

[dustyh]

I'm interested in making a flash ad, but I guess I just don't follow exactly what you want. I downloaded some assets and the ad template. Am I advertising a product specifically, or just the L'Oreal brand in general? Can it be interactive? Interactive ads can be pretty neat as long as they're not annoying. Keeping it cool and simple is the trick to these. Thanks.

[Cheektoghetto]

I have 2 questions.

What version are the .fla files that come in the assets package? (Flash 8, Flash MX, Flash CS3)

Will there be only 1 winner selected or are there multiple winners, like 1 per category or something?

[patu1]

2,500
Isn't a lot of money in a contest. It is about equal to what you will get for the job anyway (for all i know). And you get no guarantee that you earn money for all the time and hard work you put into it..

[Bryan]

What dimensions?

[zrb]

At 8/18/08 11:19 PM, patu1 wrote: And you get no guarantee that you earn money for all the time and hard work you put into it..

Yeah thats the concept of a contest, you work hard to try to make the best thing.
But your right though.

[joebrilliant]

Great questions dustyh, hope this answers them:

The assignment is to promote L'Oreal's new customized online beauty service called "Can I help you?", which you can check out here

Additionally, they're looking for ads that tie in one their main product lines to the benefits of "Can I help you?" :

Skin Care
Hair Care
Hair Color
Cosmetics
Head-to-Toe Beauty

Other than those requirements, sky is the limit and we encourage creativity. An interactive ad sounds awesome especially considering the assignment is about a customized interactive website!

Hope that helps, looking forward to seeing what you come up with, good luck!

Joe

At 8/18/08 09:05 PM, dustyh wrote: I'm interested in making a flash ad, but I guess I just don't follow exactly what you want. I downloaded some assets and the ad template. Am I advertising a product specifically, or just the L'Oreal brand in general? Can it be interactive? Interactive ads can be pretty neat as long as they're not annoying. Keeping it cool and simple is the trick to these. Thanks.

[joebrilliant]

There's no prescribed number of selections for each assignment. In the past our clients have selected and paid for an average of approx 4 VCAMS per assignment, but it varies depending on the quality and quantity of submissions and the nature of the brief.

As this is our first Flash assignment, we're not sure what kind or how many submission ads to expect, so it could be a great opportunity to jump on, especially considering the kind of Flash skills I've see on New Grounds.

Thanks again, good luck!

Joe

[joebrilliant]

All the specs are avail online here: http://current.com/topics/88823364_can_i _help_you

At 8/18/08 11:34 PM, Bryan wrote: What dimensions?

[joebrilliant]

Sorry bad link for 'Can I help you?; in my last post, try here or
http://www.lorealparisusa.com/

[dogdgey5]

that sounds cool but im having trouble understanding is there a guarantee that if they except our flash we will get some form of a reward?

(hopefully not a gift certificate i think most of us don't need our hair recolored.........)

[joebrilliant]

Hey dogdgey5

If your Flash ad is selected by L'Oreal to run on Current, you'll be paid an option exercise fee of $2,500.

Way better than hair dye, for sure.

If you want to get into the nitty gritty, all the terms are available at http://current.com/s/terms.htm#VCAM_Subm ission_Terms

At 8/20/08 12:16 PM, dogdgey5 wrote: that sounds cool but im having trouble understanding is there a guarantee that if they except our flash we will get some form of a reward?

(hopefully not a gift certificate i think most of us don't need our hair recolored.........)

[FOAME]

Thanks for posting this contest up here! I'm thinking about making an ad for this if I'll be able to think of a good and different idea. This is an awesome opportunity for artists, aswell as for their portfolio!

[silly-stungun-millie]

Egh. Being a corporate shill for a company that promotes vanity doesn't sit well with me.
However, the monetary prize sure is tempting, especially with Sallie Mae lurking over my shoulder.

I understand that the ad has to be 30 seconds long, but is there a filesize limit?

Since there's only...*looks at calendar* 11 days left until the deadline, would it be advisable to work with a group to get it done on time?

[st1k]

You definitely need to post some example videos, the rules and all are super vague and personally im not sure what to do. Im scared ill do the wrong thing because I have no examples or anything to go off of :/

[joebrilliant]

At 8/23/08 12:28 AM, silly-stungun-millie wrote: Egh. Being a corporate shill for a company that promotes vanity doesn't sit well with me.
However, the monetary prize sure is tempting, especially with Sallie Mae lurking over my shoulder.

I understand that the ad has to be 30 seconds long, but is there a filesize limit?

Since there's only...*looks at calendar* 11 days left until the deadline, would it be advisable to work with a group to get it done on time?

We all have to pay the bills don't we? : ) I do sincerely think VCAMs are a cool opp to add some work for a major brand to your reel/portfolio and possibly win some real cash, but maybe not for everybody. :30 is the suggested lengthy for a video submission, but Flash ads can be much shorter of course. All the file size specs should be there, let me know if not. You're welcome to work solo or with a group, but how you divvy up the cash if you're selected is up to you.

Thanks for your interest!

Joe

[joebrilliant]

At 8/24/08 09:45 AM, st1k wrote: You definitely need to post some example videos, the rules and all are super vague and personally im not sure what to do. Im scared ill do the wrong thing because I have no examples or anything to go off of :/

You can check out some examples of video VCAMS from our last L'Oreal assignment here http://current.com/topics/88829809_l_ore al_men_s_expert_picks there are also a few new Flash entries up on the main assignment pageif you want to see what some folks are doing, but this is the first time we're doing Flash so "the future is unwritteeennnn".

(Yes that was a Hills theme song reference and I'm OK with it.)

Joe

[dezerith]

This certainly sounds interesting, although it is a little vague.

And what about people overseas (like me) with a different currency? Would you be able to convert the money into sterling?

[joebrilliant]

At 8/26/08 02:43 PM, dezerith wrote: This certainly sounds interesting, although it is a little vague.

And what about people overseas (like me) with a different currency? Would you be able to convert the money into sterling?

It is a rather open assignemt, but that also means a blank canvas on which to vector your masterpiece. Just follow the requirements on the assignment page, and the rest is up to you.

International submissions are more than welcome! We'll melt down our gold bars into whatever currency you please! (well, not literally. That's dangerous. But if your ad gets picked, you'll get paid)