Countdown To Consumer-Generated Mania

General Motors yesterday introduced the first of eight "reality Webisodes" about the 11 college students who are vying for the opportunity to have their ad for Chevy broadcast during the Feb. 4 Super Bowl. The winning ad will be one of several consumer-generated ads airing during this year's big game.

At the chevycollegead.com site, visitors can view the finalists and learn more about a Feb. 2 TV special, "Super Bowl's Greatest Commercials." Web visitors can vote for one of 15 commercials that will go up against the perennial favorite, Coca-Cola's "Mean Joe Greene," and the winning commercial will air during the show.

Alka-Seltzer, which invited consumers to compete to be featured in its Super Bowl ad, on Friday announced a winner in Josh Anderson, a radio personality from Greensboro, N.C. He takes part in a recasting of the company's advertising jingle, "Plop, Plop, Fizz, Fizz, Oh What a Relief It Is." The commercial is being directed by British-born filmmaker Nigel Dick, who has won three MTV awards, two Billboard awards and three Music Video Production Association awards.

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The new jingle, which can be heard at PlopPlopFizzFizz.com, is in the mold of Coke's "I'd Like To Teach the World To Sing," where one voice begins, another is added and another until there is a crescendo of voices, while a deep male voice extols the virtues of the bubbles. In a statement yesterday, Alka-Seltzer promises the ad will have "an amusing twist in line with the brand's predilection for memorable and often humorous advertising."

Gino Bona, director of new-business development at marketing communications firm Garrand in Portland, Maine, is on location in Los Angeles, where his idea for a National Football League Super Bowl commercial is being directed by legendary ad director Joe Pytka. His pitch can be viewed at www.nfl.com/superad.

Voting by consumers closed on Friday for PepsiCo.'s Frito-Lay Doritos brand Super Bowl ad finalists. The winning ad will be unveiled during the first quarter of the game. The ads are posted at http://promotions.yahoo.com/doritos/.

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