Penguin Young Readers Group has just released a young-adult novel about a girl who becomes unwillingly famous as the inspiration for a smash hit you-dumped-me song. And in a neat mashup between fact and fiction, Penguin is promoting the book with a user-generated content contest to find the best video performance of a song written to fit the lyrics published in the book.
The promotion, which runs until midnight June 10, asks fans to submit video clips of 45 seconds to two minutes’ length of the original music they have composed to fit the song lyrics in the novel “Audrey, Wait!” by Robin Benway. The title refers both to the hit song, and to the embattled main character, who must dodge rabid fans, tabloid reporters and paparazzi on the street and in her high school.
Entrants must register for an account at Votigo, the service provider hosting the contest, after which they can post their submissions at http://www.votigo.com/audreywait/. They can also download the lyrics without buying the book.
Registered visitors to the Votigo site for the book will be able to vote for their favorite song. They can vote more than once a day, but not for the same video; and they can return and vote for a favorite as many days as they wish. After the contest closes, the performance gathering the most votes will be named the People’s Choice winner and its creator awarded a gift certificate to Best Buy worth $250.
Meanwhile author Benway and a judge chosen by Penguin will select a grand-prize winner from among the entrants, based on creativity, originality and relevance to the book. That winner will get a $1,000 American Express gift card and advice from penguin on how to create their own online promotional campaign—just in case they’re not as opposed as the novel’s heroine to becoming famous.
Votigo will let voters in the “Audrey, Wait!” contest link to their online address books and send out e-mail to their friends encouraging them to come to the site, view the videos and cast their own votes. They will also be able to share their favorite videos from the contest using widgets designed by Votigo.
Penguin has designed both a microsite for the book and a MySpace page. The UGC contest will also be promoted with signs during in-store signings by Benway, and postcards inserted into every copy of the book will drive visitors to the microsite, where they can follow links to the contest.
“Teens spend a lot of their time on social networking sites and creating their own content,” Penguin Young Readers president Doug Whitman said in a statement. “Today’s teenagers aren’t interested in the one-way communication model. The musical them of ‘Audrey, Wait!’ lends itself perfectly to creating a multimedia experience for teen readers.”
“Penguin is definitely pushing the envelope in trying to bridge offline and online content,” said Votigo CEO Mike La Rotonda. “They’re recognizing that they need to tap into that social-media market to promote their book successfully.”
Besides linking to the contest, Penguin’s microsite for “Audrey, Wait!” offers a “Tabloid Generator” that lets users upload their photo and picture themselves in a gossip magazine article complete with spicy headlines. They can also link to iTunes and buy songs related to the book by groups such as No Doubt, Death Cab for Cutie and Panic! At the Disco.
