Over 100 million users have downloaded the browser Mozilla Firefox during the past year, attracted by its improved security and tabbed browsing feature. Now Mozilla is offering Firefox users something even better: a chance at $5,000.

The browser, a way to view Web pages based on open-source software, is now employing an open-sourced advertising campaign. Aspiring filmmakers and tech lovers alike can take part in the first Firefox Flicks Ad Contest.

‘All the money in the world is not going to buy a really passionate ad. Anything a user would produce would be more sincere, more genuine,’ said Blake Ross, a software developer and founding member of Firefox.

To enter, contestants must submit a 30-second video for the Internet ‘in any style (live action or animated) that brings Firefox to life for the millions of Web users who have yet to discover Firefox,’ according to the contest Web site, firefoxflicks.com. All entries will be reviewed by a panel of celebrity judges, including McG, the director of both ‘Charlie’s Angels’ movies, and a winner will then be chosen.

The idea to use Internet advertising came from Mozilla’s disdain for traditional marketing, Ross said. Other than a two-page ad in The New York Times, almost all of the advertising for Firefox so far has been initiated on the local level by satisfied users.

‘We had people preaching to their congregations in churches,’ Ross said, in addition to a group of Oregon State University students who painted the Firefox logo on their quad.

The move to active Internet advertising, though, is extremely new, and there is a potential risk that these ads will not be seen by infrequent Internet users. But that problem may be solved by simple peer-to-peer recommendation.

‘There have been some very effective Internet campaigns that work largely because of … viral marketing,’ said Larry Elin, an associate professor at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, referring to the Net version of word-of-mouth advertising.

Elin referenced an ad campaign by BMW that featured short films posted on the Internet that became very popular. He added, ‘If Firefox can pull off the same kind of viral marketing that BMW did, then what they’re trying to do could be very popular.’

When ads appear on the Internet, they are usually closed without a second glance, said Corey Futera, an undeclared freshman in The College of Arts and Sciences. If an ad were passed along by a friend, Futera said she would be likely to pay attention and would ‘probably’ pass it on again.

Jonathan Smith, a freshman policy studies major, also said he would spread an Internet ad to his friends, so long as it contained ‘nudity or something lewd.’

Online advertising also carries the benefit that viewers ‘can take action immediately, which is exactly what advertisers want,’ said Dr. Guohua Wu, associate professor of advertising at Newhouse. Wu stressed that when Web surfers see an ad they like, they can immediately receive extra information, which is more direct than traditional advertising methods such as television commercials.

‘There’s a feedback loop on the Net that doesn’t exist on traditional TV,’ Elin said.

An important part of the ad campaign is to reach the audience that has never used or even heard of Firefox, Ross said.

‘I would have (entrants) focus on a commercial that their parents would like,’ Ross said.

Jonathan Smith, a junior social studies education and history major, agreed that his mother would likely be swayed by a commercial that ‘shows all the viruses you can get through Internet Explorer, all the spyware, how it’s not as safe as Mozilla.’

The contest has been running since Dec. 21, 2005, and submissions will be taken until 11:59 p.m. Pacific time on March 31, 2006. The winner will receive a $5,000 gift certificate to B&H Photo and Video. Second prize is a triple screen X-Top desktop display with 19-inch SlimLine LCD’s and third prize is an Alienware DHs5 media center PC.

Beyond using Firefox Flicks to attract new users, the contest is about giving ‘our community a chance to profit off their creation,’ Ross said. Because not all Firefox enthusiasts can write code, Ross is very excited to open the project to other kinds of submissions, because ‘Firefox is all about finding ways for non-developers to contribute.’

Published on January 31, 2006 at 12:00 pm