3,000,000 Post Apple Advertisement Contest

[Doctor Q]

MacRumors Forums is approaching its three millionth post. To celebrate, we are having an Apple Advertisement Contest. The contest runs from today, Monday, October 16, 2006, through the moment of the 3,000,000th post in the MacRumors forums.

Contestants are to create and submit an invented advertisement for an Apple product or service. Winners will be chosen in two categories:

• Best Apple Print Ad
• Best Apple Video Ad

Print Ads are ones Apple might print or display on a billboard, poster, static web page, etc. You get to invent the graphic design, do any photo work, add text or a clever slogan, and so on.

Video Ads are ones Apple might show on TV or let you play on a web page. They can be live action or animations.

You may create an ad for a real Apple product or for an imaginary Apple product. You can invent your own ad theme or imitate a real Apple campaign, e.g., PC and Mac, Think Different, Switch, 1984, iPod ads, etc. You may use whatever tools you have available (graphics programs, iMovie, etc.). It must be your own work.

Each winner will receive two prizes:

1. Bragging rights
   
   
2. A special symbol that will appear below their user title next to all of their posts

Finalists and winners will be chosen by polls of the members, with contest entrants divided randomly into pools. All active MacRumors members are eligible to compete and to vote in the pools and final poll.

We are providing the server space for all contest entries. We reserve the right to store and display each entry during the contest and in a gallery after the contest.

Entries do not have to be professional-quality masterpieces. Amateurs are invited to try their hand. The contest is for fun, so good luck and enjoy yourselves!

To see the contest entries as they accumulate, display the 3,000,000 Post Contest forum.

[Doctor Q]

Please read through these rules. They will answer most of your questions.

1. Eligibility. Any MacRumors member with any active member status can enter. You can submit as many entries as you like.

2. Originality. Submissions must be new work done by you, not previously seen on the MacRumors boards.

3. Files. Each entry must be a single file.

Print ads should be in a graphic format displayable by web browsers: jpg, png, or gif. Any reasonable filesize or pixel size is acceptable. In particular, the attachment size limit in the forums does not apply.

Video ads can be at most 30 seconds long and 15MB in size. The file may be a movie in QuickTime format, a non-interactive Flash file, or an animated gif file. File formats: mov, mp4, m4v, swf, gif.

4. Submission. Uploading your file submits your contest entry and creates a new thread in the 3,000,000 Post Contest forum. Here are the steps:

• Go to the Contest Upload Page.
• Click Choose File.
• Navigate to your file and double-click it.
• Click Upload - that's it!

The original filename does not matter. The file will be stored on our server and assigned a URL, e.g., http://att.macrumors.com/contest/0BC245.gif. A thread in the 3,000,000 Post Contest forum will be created, with a post by you containing that URL, and that post will be displayed.

5. Your comments. You do not need to post again, but you are welcome to post again (post #2 and later) in the newly created contest thread. Nitpickers note: the usual forum rule against making two consecutive posts within a short time does not apply when a post is auto-generated in this way. In your posts you can

• explain how you came up with the idea
• comment on how you made your ad
• report who starred in your movie
• identify your team members (see number 7 below)
• tell us a title we can use for your entry in the contest gallery, e.g.,

  Title: Dalmatian iPods

  Otherwise, we will assign your entry a title.

No matter what you put in post #2 and later, your entry for official purposes is the file you uploaded at the URL shown in post #1.

6. Other comments. Anyone can post comments in anybody else's contest thread to talk about that entry.

7. Collaborative entries. You may join with one or a few other qualified MacRumors members and create and submit an entry together. Each member must contribute to the work in a nontrivial way. One member should submit the entry and state clearly in post #2 who is on the team. Please include live links to those members' MacRumors profiles, e.g.,

Team: Mr. Anderson, edesignuk

All team members will be considered equal participants for that entry and will receive any prize it wins.

8. Changes. You cannot change an ad after you submit it. If you revise it, submit it as a separate contest entry. If you want to delete a previously submitted entry while the contest entry period is still open, PM a moderator.

9. Suitability. Keep it clean. The usual forum rules about good taste apply. If you even question whether or not an entry is appropriate, do not submit it. PM a moderator and ask about it first.

10. Entry period. The period for contest entries starts Monday, October 16, 2006. It ends the moment of post number 3,000,000, which we estimate to be sometime before the end of the month. The exact moment depends on posting rates, which vary day to day. There will be an announcement here when the entry period is over.

11. Pools. At the close of the entry period, the moderators will assemble all contest entries, review eligibility, divide the entries randomly into pools for each of the two categories, and post polls in which all active members can vote. This process may take a couple of days.

The number of pools and the number of entries per pool will be determined based on the total number of contest entries. Each poll will be open for at least 3 days. Ties, if they occur, will be handled as co-winners.

We may choose not to include entries that are substantially the same as another entry by the same member, with an intention to exhibit their best work.

12. Voting. We encourage voting based on creativeness, craftsmanship, realism (compared to real Apple ads), and/or humor, but because voting is public members may make their own judgements for their own reasons. We ask that there be no voting based on personal popularity, member status, or other factors not related to the contest entry. We discourage you from actively campaigning for your own entries or for or against others, other than reasonable praise or constructive criticism in comments.

13. Finals. After the pool voting period ends, two final polls, one for each contest category, will be posted by the moderators, to determine the overall winner in each category. An individual forum member will be allowed at most one contest entry in the finals. Again, all active members can vote.

14. Winners. Entries with the most votes during the voting period will win the contest. The moderators will verify winners and handle any unforeseen circumstances. Their decisions on all issues and interpretation of the rules are final.

15. Prizes. Finalists get enviable bragging rights. Winners get even more enviable bragging rights, and a small Contest Winner graphic under their user title (above their avatar, if any), which will remain indefinitely.

16. Rules. If you don't follow the contest rules, your entry will not be eligible to be in the voting pools. A mistake in following rules may or may not be noticed or pointed out to you during the entry period. If you have comments or questions about the contest rules, post them in this thread.

17. Legal mumbo jumbo. There is no legal mumbo jumbo. We're doing this just for fun! When in doubt, we'll use common sense and you should too.

[LimeiBook86]

Oh man this sounds like a lot of fun. I can't wait to see some of the entries!

[®îçhå®?]

That link to the upload page is invalid Q.

[wmmk]

i'm pretty sure i read this carefully, but how many entries may each member have?

[WildCowboy]

Originally Posted by wmmk

i'm pretty sure i read this carefully, but how many entries may each member have?

Rule #1:

You can submit as many entries as you like.

[wmmk]

Originally Posted by WildCowboy

Rule #1:

dur-duh-dur!!!!!
maybe i got a really bad concussion from that bike accident!

[WildCowboy]

Originally Posted by wmmk

dur-duh-dur!!!!!
maybe i got a really bad concussion from that bike accident!

Yeah...we'll let it slide this time. No mocking the guy in the cervical collar!

[Doctor Q]

Originally Posted by ®îçhå®?

That link to the upload page is invalid Q.

We need a third opinion, please. Can others see the Contest Upload page? One answer is sufficient, thank you.

[LimeiBook86]

Originally Posted by Doctor Q

We need a third opinion, please. Can others see the Contest Upload page? One answer is sufficient, thank you.

Yup looks great!

[amacgenius]

Question: skoker and I already posted our entries, can we also use that thread for bloopers (we had a ton) but they're not contest entries?

[liketom]

lol you are just asking for me to do another one of my vids


great contest btw

[Doctor Q]

Originally Posted by amacgenius

Question: skoker and I already posted our entries, can we also use that thread for bloopers (we had a ton) but they're not contest entries?

Sure. Anything else in the thread should have something to do with your contest entry, and that certainly qualifies.

[Allotriophagy]

Originally Posted by Doctor Q

MacRumors Forums is approaching its three millionth post.

Clearly, this is including all the "I WANT C2D LAPTOPS" threads.

[DJ OJ]

What do you win? LOL Oh, I see it now. SORRY!

[count chocula]

doc. Q, I'm having a little trouble uploading my second entry.. the first one took about a second, but this one gets stuck on contacting..

edit: nevermind, i waited a few minutes and tried again. success.

[skoker]

Should this have anything to do with/ any mention of MacRumors?

If not, we're redoing ours. (well, we will anyways, but...)

[Doctor Q]

Originally Posted by skoker

Should this have anything to do with/ any mention of MacRumors?

It doesn't have to have any connection with MacRumors, only with Apple products.

[Kingsly]

Video ads can be at most 30 seconds long and 15MB in size. The file may be a movie in QuickTime format, a non-interactive Flash file, or an animated gif file. File formats: mov, mp4, m4v, swf, gif.

Any chance of this becoming 1 minute if I were to use my own server?

Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease?

[Doctor Q]

Originally Posted by Kingsly

Any chance of this becoming 1 minute if I were to use my own server?

Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease?

We're trying to limit not only the total storage space but the time it takes people to receive the movies for viewing.

I suggest scaling the pixel size or shortening it for submitting as a contest entry, so it meets the rules, and then posting a link in your contest thread to a larger version on your own server. That way people can see it in its full size splendor if they choose to, or use the modest-bandwidth version stored on the MacRumors server.

[dmw007]

Originally Posted by Allotriophagy

Clearly, this is including all the "I WANT C2D LAPTOPS" threads.

Yes, all 100,000 of them.

[amacgenius]

Ok, my 1.9mb PNG is STILL uploading (5 mins) according to the contest entry page, which is still going...

Edit: I stopped and I'm trying again and it's still not going, Q any ideas?

[Kingsly]

Originally Posted by Doctor Q

We're trying to limit not only the total storage space but the time it takes people to receive the movies for viewing.

I suggest scaling the pixel size or shortening it for submitting as a contest entry, so it meets the rules, and then posting a link in your contest thread to a larger version on your own server. That way people can see it in its full size splendor if they choose to, or use the modest-bandwidth version stored on the MacRumors server.

w00t!

*preps greenscreen*

[Doctor Q]

Originally Posted by amacgenius

I stopped and I'm trying again and it's still not going, Q any ideas?

I've never met a 1.9mb png before, so perhaps there's something odd about that kind of file, but that doesn't seem likely. After all, file transfer shouldn't care and the server doesn't analyze the file content, just the file type.

Did you try it a 2nd time? That's what I'd do. You can always ask us to delete a duplicate entry if you accidentally succeed more than once.

[Lau]

I have a question. It says it has to be your own work, and so I assumed we had to create the music ourselves too, but I've noticed commercial music on other people's entries. Do we have to make our own music or can we use commercial tracks?

I know a track that would fit mine perfectly, but I don't know if I could use it or not. No worries if not, as I can get a-Garagebanding if need be...