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Okay, so I read yesterday about the competition to design Coca-Cola’s virtual dispensing machine<\/a> over on Mashable (Link)<\/a>. Initially it sounded like something in which I’d participate, especially since I have what I think is a pretty good concept. Unfortunately, having just surfed through the competition site and read over the details, I’ve decided to keep my ideas to myself instead of volunteering them to a mega-corporation in exchange for … hold onto your drinks … a possible<\/em> plane ride to someone’s office.<\/p>\n Read this and explain to me why I should reconsider:<\/p>\n By participating in this Contest each person making a submission irrevocably and in perpetuity assigns to Coca-Cola all worldwide right, title and interest in and to the submission and to all intellectual property created thereby and arising out of the submission<\/strong>, including without limitation the object created for Second Life from the winning entry. Ownership of the submission and that intellectual property vests totally in Coca-Cola. In respect of copyrights, the assignment shall be effective for the entire duration of the copyrights and shall include, but not be limited to, all rights to derivative works, digital and material. Each person making a submission waives, to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, all rights of attribution and integrity for specific works created in respect of all marketing, advertising and commercial uses thereof. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n From where I sit, that bit adds a whole new level to being “pwn’d” and reminds me of other competitions (recall my thoughts about those – reLink<\/a>).<\/p>\n And this next part certainly sounds… well… like old school business as usual:<\/p>\n Prizes will not be redeemed in cash; no recourse to the law is permitted. The winner is responsible for all taxes, charges and levies that may be due on the prize.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Gee. You’d think Coca-Cola could afford to cover the whole ball of wax, wouldn’t you? It’s not like a plane ticket is too much to pay for a good idea, is it?<\/p>\n And btw, are Crayon<\/a>, A Simple Theory (whoever that is), and Millions of Us<\/a>… and their respective agencies… being paid for their services with a couple of airline tickets? Are Coca-Cola employees working for cab rides? If so, I guess times must be tough in the sugar-water industry. If not, then why does it seem to me that they’re sticking it to the people whose ideas they want to appropriate through this competition? Has nobody at these agencies grokked what’s going on? Or is this Big Corp’s idea of how to engage<\/em> consumers in meaningful Web 2.0 fashion? I certainly hope not.<\/p>\n Considering I’m currently getting paid decent money to generate designs and CAD for some comparatively boring, real-world constrained point-of-purchase units, the lack of a compelling prize (no offense to whoever cleans the MOU offices) means I’ll be passing this… opportunity… by. After all, I still have to eat and I’m no fan of airline food.<\/p>\n Actually, that’s not true. Even if I weren’t being paid to design real kiosks, I’d still not volunteer my ideas in exchange for what they’re offering.<\/p>\n That said, don’t let my position on this stop you. If you think Coca-Cola desperately needs and deserves both your time and your ideas in exchange for maybe<\/em> winning a trip to San Francisco (and a tax bill), knock yourself out. I mean, they only have a market cap of $10,210,000,000.00<\/a>. I guess they need some charity.<\/p>\n (P.S. Let’s see if my trackbacks get censored: <\/p>\n – MOU blog entry<\/a> {Edit: 25 April – MOU added trackback. Good for them.}<\/p>\n – Greg Verdino’s back scratch entry<\/a><\/p>\n – more?)<\/p>\n {Update:<\/strong> The marketing world is apparently all impressed with this effort (e.g. read Greg Verdino’s blog gush – Link<\/a>). Others with perhaps a more objective perspective are as unimpressed as I am (e.g. read Stefan Kolle’s post on the Business and Games blog – Link<\/a>).<\/p>\n Verdino said it: they’re *leveraging* the community. What a terrible word when used in this way.<\/p>\n In my opinion it’s not just enough to be cross-platform, viral, and all those other relatively easy things. They also have to be above reproach and fair in their dealings with the people whose creations they intend to use for their own profitable purposes. I don’t believe they’re doing that.<\/p>\n I’d suggest the general marketing community take off their “How to make money using a community of uncompensated people to leverage<\/em> their brands” hats. It’s self-serving and hardly what Web 2.0 business is about, imo. And I suspect it will, at some point, backfire.}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Okay, so I read yesterday about the competition to design Coca-Cola’s virtual dispensing machine over on Mashable (Link). Initially it sounded like something in which I’d participate, especially since I have what I think is a pretty good concept. Unfortunately, … Continue reading