• by Tanya Gazdik , September 24, 2010

PetSmart is offering one furry customer the chance to appear in a TV spot.

Pet parents can enter the "Scare Your Way into a PetSmart Commercial" contest on PetSmart's Facebook Fan Page by uploading photos of their pets decked out in their Halloween best. PetSmart will accept entries through Oct. 27 and 10 finalists will be selected by a combination of public voting and input from a panel of PetSmart experts.

The grand prize winner will then be chosen from those 10 finalists by votes Oct. 28-31 on Facebook from fans, pet parents and their friends and relatives. Winners will be announced Nov. 1. The grand prize winner will have their pet cast in a national TV commercial due to air in 2011, win $1,000 cash, and receive free round-trip airfare to the commercial shoot for both the pet, pet parent and a guest.

The first runner-up will receive $1,000 cash and the second runner-up will receive $500 cash. Seven runners-up will each receive a $250 PetSmart gift card. Six weekly prizes will be awarded to entrants based solely on public voting. The weekly prize winner will be the entry that receives the most votes during each voting phase. Each weekly prize winner will receive a $500 PetSmart gift card and will also have their pet photo entry featured as PetSmart's Facebook profile photo for one week. Thirty-three weekday random drawing prizes of a $50 gift card will be awarded throughout the submission period.

Pets can also strut their stuff in their Halloween fashions at PetSmart's annual Howl-O-Ween Costume Contest and Photo Event, which will be held Oct. 23, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. local time in participating PetSmart stores around the nation. Pets can have their photo taken and placed in a commemorative frame, receive a free goodie bag sponsored by Nutro/Greenies (for the first 100 pets) and participate in a pet parade and costume contest.

PetSmart is promoting the contest and in-store events on social media, including Twitter and Facebook.

More than 13 million families plan to dress up their pets for Halloween this year, according to a 2010 PetSmart survey. PetSmart is catering to those consumers with more pet-related Halloween gear than ever before, including The Martha Stewart Pets collection, sold exclusively at PetSmart, which offers costume designs for pets including a mummy, skeleton, vampire, ghost, spider and devil.

New costumes this year include the monster, shark and tiger. Perennial favorites like the bat, bumblebee, cheerleader, cow, football and pumpkin are available, and cats can also sport their own Halloween looks with colorful hats, like the cowboy, princess, and witch hats.