IRVINE, CA. (Top40 Charts/ Taco Bell) - This year's MTV Video
Music Awards (VMAs) is all about firsts: first time to be held in Las Vegas, first time being produced by a noted musician, and Taco Bell's first ever 'avatarsment.'
Taco Bell has chosen three lucky fans to star as virtual actors in an ad for Fourthmeal � the late night meal between dinner and breakfast � set to debut worldwide during the 2007 MTV VMAs on September 9, 2007. The winners were chosen as part of Taco Bell's TV Me! contest, in partnership with Gizmoz and MTV. In less than two weeks, consumers created more than 17,000 Gizmoz clips, which were viewed more than 920,000 times.
'We wanted to put that Taco Bell 'think outside the bun' twist on the consumer-generated campaign and knew that using Gizmoz' 3D animated talking avatar service was the way to accomplish that,' said David Ovens, Chief Marketing Officer, Taco Bell Corp. 'Our customers are always creating content online, so it was natural for us to bring this opportunity to them with MTV and Gizmoz.'
'We want to congratulate everyone who participated in the TV Me! campaign,' said Eyal Gever, founder and chief executive officer of Gizmoz. 'It was very exciting to watch thousands of consumers express themselves in their own personal style and voice by using Gizmoz' life-like animated characters. Consumers on average spent more than nine minutes creating, viewing and rating auditions, underscoring the campaign's engaging and interactive appeal.'
Hunter Larson from Virginia Beach, Va., Obinna Odumodu from Huntsville, Ala., and Mallory Anderson from Weston, Fla. are the three lucky winners of the contest, which was launched in early July. Their creative use of the photorealistic avatars on Gizmoz.com, coupled with overall appeal and originality, earned each of the 3D animated talking actors 30-seconds of fame during MTV's highest rated music awards show. Following the debut on the VMA's, the winning auditions can be viewed on www.tacobell.com.
'This is a novel approach to creating a commercial using avatars and partnering with MTV and Gizmoz,' said winner Hunter Larson. 'It's a great way to get fans involved and I feel a sense of closeness to Taco Bell because I helped create the commercial.'
Using Gizmoz.com's photorealistic avatars, consumers were asked to audition for the Taco Bell TV Me! search by simply uploading a digital photograph. In less than a minute, their 3D lifelike head and personalized body was automatically created. Consumers could also use a microphone to record their own voice for their 15-second, lip-synched audition. Auditions were judged on personality, originality, overall appeal and ability to express oneself.
The TV Me! Promotion, a creation of Draftfcb in Orange County, marks Taco Bell's first entry into leveraging consumer-generated media advertisements. Draftfcb created the final TV spot and added the winning avatars into the 'World Stops for Fourthmeal' environment. The 15-second 'World Stops for Fourthmeal' spot will run first, followed by the debut of the new spot that includes the three winners.
