ViTrue, the user-generated advertising company that was recently formed by ex-Tandberg Television president, Reggie Bradford, with financial backing from Bradford himself and from General Catalyst Partners (note: the company has also just secured funding from Comcast Interactive Capital and Turner Broadcasting–see article in this issue), recently teamed with social networking site, Friendster, to offer what it described as a "user-generated political advertisement contest." The contest, which was entitled "Get Political!" and which ran through November 6th (the day before the US "midterm" elections) invited regular citizens to upload videos that expressed their unique political viewpoints: it ran both on Friendster (www.friendster.com/video.php) and on ViTrue’s own video-sharing site, Sharkle.com (friendster.sharkle.com).
The producers of the top six video submissions will receive a variety of prizes, including $2,500 in cash, a $1,000 Sony video camera, and four $30 video iPods. The companies say that, while all videos "true to the constructive spirit of the contest" were posted, Friendster would first evaluate each video using ViTrue’s review and approve module. "No longer do we, as Americans, have to be passive participants in the TV-driven campaign process," Friendster president, Kent Lindstrom, said in a prepared statement. "With the easy-to-use ViTrue video platform, our politically savvy members can engage in important political dialogue and use Friendster as their hub for political expression and participation. We’re excited to see the creativity and passion that our members’ political views spark in an effort to show support to their chosen candidates and political parties." Added Bradford: "ViTrue is all about the democratization of advertising, so it makes perfect sense for us to help Friendster in this effort to expand the scope of US political discourse. The 2004 presidential election demonstrated the importance of online communities in political campaigns, and this initiative takes that phenomenon to the next level."
Originally Published: November 6, 2006 in [itvt] Issue 7.03 Part 3
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