I haven't located a press release yet, so I'm guessing Chick-fil-a will put one out on Monday announcing the winner of its Biggest Fan video contest. Unless they totally miss the PR boat on this one. The grand prize winner and nine finalists are posted at Chick-fil-a.com/biggestfan, so you can go there and check out the minute long videos. There aren't much in the way of details at this point, aside from the ten videos, and a brief description of each. No names, hometowns, etc. CFanatics!, a video entry featuring twins Rachel and Melanie (no last names), is the big winner. So the bubbly sisters will receive coupons good for one Chick-fil-A combo meal per week for 40 months, a trip to Atlanta to tour Chick-fil-A's corporate headquarters, Chick-fil-A T-shirts, Cow Calendars and 36 inch Chick-fil-A Plush Cows. Congrats!
Chick-fil-a says the entries were judged on a number of factors, including the number of internet votes received (voting ended January 29th), overall quality, appearance, creativity, originality, skill, and content. The nine finalists get food for a year, a T-shirt, calendar and plush cow. And everyone who submitted a video gets a free meal and plush cow.
I watched the ten top videos, and I have to be honest ... I was underwhelmed. Several were below average, even giving slack for user generated content. One of the videos I checked out more than a month ago, a top vote getter at the time, didn't make the final cut, and it was far better than most of the finalists. Perhaps the internet voting was gamed better by some (Ron Paul fans involved?). The grand prize winners' video has audio issues, but they offer a solid 'biggest fan' case by showing how Chick-fil-A has been a huge part of their lives for two decades, since they were four years old. One finalist used a helipcopter, so a tip of the hat to that guy for going all out. I'll post again when I get more info.
Oh, and lest I forget, I'm planning on covering the grand opening of a Chick-fil-A in my hometown (Warrenton, VA) sometime in March. I have a crazy and hopefully brillian idea ... to 'live vlog' the event. I want to stream live video interviews of cow gear wearing people camping out a day in advance. Stay tuned ...
The Grand Prize Winners truly do qualify for the Biggest Fans---as the bio attached to their entry provides just SOME of the reasons why. However,---one of the twin's names is Melody-Joy not "Melanie"..along with her sister Rachel Snelen.
They are world ranked tennis pros and seek the location of Chick-fil-A restaurants first when competing in pro tournaments in a new area.
Their favorite is the "cute and charming" location in Celebration, Florida--and the most interesting and exotic that they've been to is in Irvine, California.
They were selected as the favorite fans of a Texas location when they were only 8 with their pictures displayed at that location. Rachel also won a CFA Cow naming contest when she was 13 at another location near her former home in Texas---she named it "Nugget." When they were growing up, their parent's were Music Evangelists that traveled all over the country singing 10 months a year---stopping a Chik-Fil-A's all along the way.
They now work as missionaries on the tennis circuit where they provide inspirational materials and help to those who go to the major tournaments. They also coach tennis, teach and mentor students from all over the world at their home in Palm Coast, Florida --and take them to Chick-Fil-A when they pick anyone up at the airport in Daytona Beach, Orlando or Jacksonville.
Their picture was on the front page of the Daytona Beach newspaper the day after Chick-Fil-A corporate offices sent them a congratulatory e-mail.
The locations in both Ormond Beach and Celebration, Florida are planning big celebrations on their behalf. Right now, the girls are competing in a professional tournament in Nigeria, Africa where they are having a hard time "surviving" without Chick-fil-A.
They plan on returning back to the U.S in time to be one of the first 100 at the grand opening of a new Chick-Fil-A in Jacksonville early March. They had already joined a festive crowd as the first 100 at Winter Garden in January.
Melody told a reporter that they didn't pray to win, but that "God's Will would be done"--she laughs when she says that "I guess it WAS GOd's will"
They are truly SUPER enthusiastic about going on the tour of the corporate headquaters---and absolutely LOVE being chosen as the "fanatical" CFANATICS biggest Chick-Fil-A fans
Posted by: Joy Blessing | February 17, 2008 at 11:44 PM
Ah ... name correction, sorry, and thank you! Chick-fil-A has provided ZERO info on anyone, so I'm left guessing. Your detailed info on the winners makes it more obvious why they were chosen. Too bad someone can't get them their favorite chicken while they're travelling!
It's weird that Chick-fil-A has not put out a press release on this contest (their last press release was Jan. 30). The winners' videos were posted nearly two weeks ago. Nothing on the website except the top ten, with no background information about the entrants. Your information helps me understand why some of the entries were chosen over others. I could be wrong, but I don't remember seeing detailed bios attached to the videos when they were posted for viewing and voting. To consumers checking out the videos, all we have to go by are the videos, how entertaining they are, the story presented in 60 seconds, and the impression it leaves.
I think Chick-fil-A made a mistake in presenting this as the 'Greatest Fan VIDEO Contest'. That puts the emphasis on the video, as opposed to an actual true life story (the grand prize winners have an amazing one). Chick should just call it the Biggest Fan Contest, with video as a major component of it, or at least include detailed bio/story info with each video, so we consumers have the same thing to judge as the judges.
Chick-fil-A dropped the ball on this. But that will hardly keep me from eating the best chicken on the planet (had some Saturday). And I still plan on 'live video casting' the grand opening of a Chick-fil-A next month.
Posted by: Jeff | February 18, 2008 at 07:18 AM