Doritos top Super Bowl ad meter, VCAMs you can bank

Who says you can't have 15 seconds of fame and a million dollars? For Dave and Joe Herbert, two amateur film makers from Batesville, Indiana, a bag of chips and a snow globe was all they needed to gain prime time coverage during this year's Super Bowl. Well, almost.

The Super Bowl is notorious for mega half-time shows and tier one commercials which live online long after the game is over.

This year, Frito-Lay invited amateur Doritos junkies to "Crash the Super Bowl" by submitting their own ads, with the winner featured during the Super Bowl commercial breaks. The contest ran online January 5-24, with a grand prize of $1,000,000. By voting, you were entered to win tickets to the Super Bowl.

This isn't the first community-driven online ad contest, and it won't be the last. While the Herbert brothers' ad was rated best Super Bowl commercial by USA Today's Ad Meter real-time consumer rating, the buck doesn't stop there.

For example, Current TV features up-to-date contest listings for VCAMs - Viewer-Created Ad Messages. Past contests included HP, L'Oreal, Nikon, and there are still 23 days left to enter T-Mobile's G1 ad contest.

Of course, don't think that good old fashioned marketing and PR aren't involved here. The PR and marketing that goes into publicizing these contests and getting communities excited about the payoff (filming, fame and fortune) only add to the hype around your product, service or brand. Smart, huh?

It's the age of DIY commercials and the economy is bad, so get your camcorder, get creative and go.

Straight No Chaser lands Atlantic Record deal thanks to YouTube

Adolescent international singing sensations, Charice Pempengco and Nikki Yanofsky, have no doubt had their careers boosted by YouTube. Though they've been compared to celebrities like Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and Etta James, the counts on their video views don't even approach those of male a cappella group, Straight No Chaser.

The group from Indiana University posted a ten-year-old video of their rendition of "The 12 Days of Christmas" on YouTube, which has received more than 9.7 million views in just over two and a half years. Amongst the viewers was chairman and chief executive of Atlantic Records, Craig Kallman, who arranged a five album record deal with the group.

CNN interviewed two of the guys this weekend. About their careers outside of singing as a hobby, member, Jerome Collins said: "I was doing a festival of 'The Lion King,' and I was Simba. We have one guy selling medical devices, another guy a reporter for ABC, one guy working at a bank, another guy a teacher. ... You name it, we have it."

My college a cappella group, Talisman, was invited to sing for George Lucas and toured South Africa, but we never went viral. I doubt Page One PR's Christmas caroling video will, either. Talk about a big break for Straight No Chaser – the whole story is yet another iteration of the American dream, really. You can learn more about the group here.

Holiday Cheer Rings through Page One PR

I think you know your employer is cool when they ask you to sing on their behalf. At Page One PR, business isn't just about the press releases, the speaking abstracts or the contributed articles – but yes, we work hard on these. Our inspiration comes from engaging with clients, working to support real business goals and enjoying what we do.

We've been behind-the-scenes to build social media campaigns for our clients this year, but decided to turn the camera on ourselves this holiday season. Get ready for our 15 seconds of fame – lights, camera, action!

Rather than design and print our usual satirical holiday cards, we decided to save a few trees by dusting off our singing voices for your viewing pleasure.

I hope you'll check out our hi-res video – yes, that is a penguin in the photo! – and maybe even smile. I had a lot of fun filming, enjoyed singing and loved being merry. Hope you like the video. Here's to warm wishes for the holidays and to a happy new year. Cheers!

P.S.– If you like crazy reindeer, don't forget to check out this special feature from the Page One PR Santa Barbara office. Boy, that guy can deck the halls!