Kids creating content – Power Ranger

My four year old niece -whoops! now FIVE – observed me buying up Tamagotchis and pets the other day and told me I was “just a big kid!”. Pfft. What does she know?

Bandai America has invited children (with adults permitted to help) to create a PowerRanger movie.

The scene featured on GetPowerized.com takes kids through a classic confrontation of good versus evil, featuring the Spring lineup of Power Rangers Mystic Force action figures and vehicles against the relentlessly attacking Evil Space Aliens. Though it seems that the Power Rangers will prevail, the mysterious ending indicates that there might be more to come. Kids can create the next chapter using video/digital or cameras, computers, etc. – along with the help of a parent, older sibling or friend. At the end of each month during the contest period, other fans can visit the Web site and vote for their favorite entry, with three finalists going on to qualify for the cash scholarship prize. Each vote is also a sweepstakes entry for an additional boy or girl to win Power Rangers DVDs and other prizes.

Of particular note: utilising customers to rank and rate other customers content is brilliant. Everyone has buy-in and irrespective of whoever wins, you have another 50 movies doing the viral marketing thing on the ‘net. Peer2Peer marketing for win-win-win. I reckon they should air the finalists on TV. You’ve got til June 30th boys and girls (for the comp).

I’d love to see that now-boring “Australia’s Funniest Home Video” type program could be replaced with this kind of user generated content. Tropfest for the home viewer? Speaking of which, NineMSN’s AFHV has a competition to create a scene from a movie and send it in. I’m not clear if its aired on TV (I think so) or just on the web. Who should I play? What scene? (please be kind). The Video Creation Resources are here. I just hope NineMSN doesn’t end up with a Chevrolet user-gen-ad fiasco on their hands. Heh. Anyway, back to Bandai.

Since its launch in late 2004, GetPowerized.com has become the premier destination for Power Rangers fans to interact with the toy line and brand. In addition to seeing TV commercials and the products in unique 3-D displays, one of the most exciting features of the site is the Wish List, which enables kids to generate gift lists of their favorite action figures, Megazords and role-play items to share with parents, grandparents and others. Soon, the Family Activity Page will also launch with fun and interactive Rangers-themed activities for the whole family, such as the “Construct & Create Your Own Megazord” in which kids build their own Megazords using items commonly found around the house.

Bandai are an interesting company – mobile content, virtual gaming, visual and music content, lots of stuff.

Technorati Tags Online Communities, Bandai, User Generated, GetPowerized, Power Rangers, NineMSN