If you were to ask for a model for online viral marketing and utilizing user-generated content, Gregg and Evan Spiridellis of JibJab would be the guys to call. Beer maker Anheuser-Busch has already tapped the comical brothers to spearhead an online campaign, and tonight JibJab’s latest feature entitled, “BIG BOX MART,” will premiere on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
JibJab.com exploded in 2004 after the Spiridellis brothers released a musical parody for the US presidential election called, “This Land,” to be followed up by a second, “Good to Be in DC.” Both parodies spoofed well-known American folk songs while relentlessly making fun of all candidates.
After the online whirlwind created by those parodies, people are sure to be tuning in for “BIG BOX MART,” an animated movie where an unsuspecting consumer learns a valuable economic lesson about the relationship between cheap retail prices and factory outsourcing. By the end of the song, the down-on-his-luck protagonists finds a job as a janitor at the local BIG BOX MART.
“It’s virtually impossible for small businesses to produce goods in America inexpensively enough to sell to big box retailers,” said JibJab co-founder Gregg Spiridellis. “It’s an issue that affects everybody and that’s why we decided to tackle it.”
The cast of the movie was provided entirely by JibJab fans, who uploaded their faces for use in the feature at the website. Fans submitted over 6,700 images and over 1,000 faces were chosen to appear in the spoof.
The movie stars JibJab fan, Michael Fagan, a Long Island suburbanite who submitted webcam images of himself.
The other 5,000 or so faces submitted to JibJab will not go unrecognized just because they didn’t make the cut of BIG BOX MART, however. JibJab has another experiment in the works called “FACE OFF,” using thousands of user-submitted images of people making silly faces. Prizes will be given to the best silly faces.
“There is an incredible opportunity to create a new kind of media company that engages its audience in the fun of the creative process,” said Gregg. “That’s the kind of company we’re trying to build.”
