Firefox Seeks Consumer Generated Ads with New Campaign

Mozilla tonight is launching an innovative customer evangelist marketing campaign called Firefox Flicks that will run on the Spread Firefox web site. The campaign supports the launch of Firefox 1.5, according to Rafael Ebron, product marketing manager. The site will incorporate a tool that Firefox users can use to capture video from their webcam and share their love for the browser. All videos will be vetted by Mozilla before they appear on the site. Ebron himself demonstrates the concept here on Google Video!

More importantly, Mozilla is also launching a contest seeking the best consumer generated Firefox ads. According to Ebron, the best ads may eventually appear on TV. “We already had one guy do a firefox commercial and then other ads,” Ebron said. Full details for this promotion will be released on December 13th. Here are some screens from the new site ...

As Ebron explained to me in an IM, after Firefox ran its popular open source New York Times ad last year, “folks were coming up to us saying hello, I'm in that ad and they pointed their names.” He went on to add: “We took photos and then we thought this is cool; (we) want to meet everyone. So we thought let's get this tool built where folks on the web can video themselves talking about how they've spread Firefox - kind of a live new york times ad.” The videos will look like these found on Google.

Clearly this grassroots campaign demonstrates that the appetite for rich media advertising is not limited to the AOL Videos of the world. With the tools to create video content now in many individuals' hands, it's quite possible that some of the most creative advertising work in the years ahead won't come from the agencies, but from the consumers themselves! This campaign could become a model for others. Don't bother coming up with the big idea yourself - tap your customer evangelists and see what they do. This is one to watch.

Technorati Tags: Advertising, Firefox, Video