Leveraging Apple fandom — for Friendly’s

So I happened upon this glowing account of yet another consumer-generated ad stunt, this one for Friendly’s.

For the iScream campaign, consumers were encouraged to “show their love for Friendly’s ice cream or life itself” by posting original photos and videos to the www.iscreamfriendlys.com microsite.

Right, right, the usual thing. Of course it’s rare that there’s enough raw brand fandom around to make these things work, so as usual this consumer revolution is incentivized: The best photos and videos would get prizes. And those were? Apple “sprees” of $10,000, $5,000, and $2,500, plus a bunch of secondary prizes like iPods and Macs. (And a few Canon products.)

I guess $10,000 worth of Friendly’s ice cream wasn’t going to cut it.