• by Aaron Baar , October 14, 2015

GoPro doesn’t just want to be seen as the hardware that makes the videos you enjoy online, it wants to be seen as the place that enables and provides them. 

In an effort to beef up its online video offerings (and develop into an entertainment destination), the high-def action camera maker has launched the “GoPro Awards,” in which everyday people to turn their videos into cash and have the opportunity to be seen by audiences beyond their own social networks. 

“What we want to do is give back to our community a portion of our revenue,” Zander Lurie, GoPro’s vice president of media and entertainment, tells Marketing Daily. “It’s good for our community, it’s good for our business, and it’s good for us.”

The company is calling for users to submit photos, raw videos and edited videos across a vast array of categories with the promise that those used (based on internal review for content that “emotionally engages, amazes or excites,” according to the company) will receive financial awards, ranging from $500 (for photos) to $5,000 (for edited videos). A two-minute online video explaining the awards, features examples of some of the content that could be used, from action sports shots to nature videos to family videos, as well as a combination of some of those genres, such as a point-of-view video of a baby being playfully tossed in the air). 

“We are big believers in the sharing economy,” Lurie says of the notion of asking everyday users to submit their own content for profit. “We want to help the people who are helping us grow our brand, and our content and our revenue.”

Categories range from action and adventure to science and “how-to” to travel. The goal of the effort, Lurie says, is to generate enough content to help the company develop itself as an online entertainment brand, as well as the makers of the products that enable that entertainment.

“This has been a vision of our CEO’s for a long time,” Lurie says. “We are laying the foundation and asking people to help us launch an entertainment business.”