PBS engaged memelabs to challenge filmmakers across the United States to be creative, showcase their talent and explain in 30 seconds what surprised them the most about discovering PBS online?

Check out the PBS website for inspiration and the information below to get started!

What Do I Win?

The Grand Prize winner will win a trip to Austin, TX to see insider-only previews of upcoming PBS programs and hear behind-the-scenes plans from PBS executives.

They’ll also receive a limited edition PBS-Designed flip camera and a PBS Gift Package.

The trip to Austin includes:

– 1 day attendance at the PBS annual meeting;

– coffee with a PBS programming executive;

– a tour of PBS station KLRU and the Austin City Limits set;

– round-trip airfare (within the United States);

– transportation to and from the airport to a hotel;

– two (2) nights in a hotel; and

– meals and pocket money to cover incidentals.

(Estimated prize value $3,000.00)

Top 10 Tips for Making Your Video

1. Your video must show something surprising about PBS on the web.

2. Be innovative, clever, engaging or cheeky.

3. Your video must be 30 seconds in length, including a 5-second PBS video logo resolve. Click the link to view the video resolve, or right click to save the file to your computer: (Right click to download the PBS video logo)

4. Your video must be under 32MB in size.

5. Video must be received by 11:59:59 p.m. EST April 18th. Register, login and click UPLOAD MEDIA from the menu bar to submit your video.

6. You can submit up to three entries.

7. You must live in the United States to be eligible.

8. You must be at least 18 to participate.

9. Check out the HOME short video for ideas and guidance before you get started.

10. Have Fun!

Whether you attended SXSW this year and LOVED IT, or are ridiculously jealous of those who did go – now’s your chance to giddy up.

From the internet meme vault, “Leprechaun in Mobile, Alabama” is sure to be just the right kick-off to your St. Patties festivities.  A staff favourite,  @d1337 (as well as others in the @memelabs office) perform the impersonation very well.  In fact, “Where da gold at?” was our unofficial slogan during the Vancouver, Olympics.

Viral Video stats (from YouTube):
- 13,224,500 views
- 19,644 ratings
- Adding comments has been disabled for this video
- First referral from – youshouldhaveseenthis.com
- Uploaded by: botmib
- Date: March 17, 2006
- Description: Leprechaun in Crichton.

A monument to the viral nature of this video is the “I want the gold” remix, which can be seen here.

What a sweep! Recently at the Georgie Awards, ParkLane was recognized for their work, taking home five awards. A further congratulations to Braun Allison for spearheading The BLOCK‘s marketing initiative, which won 2009 Marketing Campaign of the Year, a campaign that memelabs was a part of as host of The BLOCK’s photo contest.

We’re pleased to see Braun Allison recognized for their fantastic creative and innovative marketing campaigns. Memelabs was happy to work with them for The BLOCK campaign, supplying the photo contesting platform, which helped draw attention to the development, elicited a fantastic response from The BLOCK’s community, and contributed to an award winning marketing campaign that included print ads and a Tagga SMS campaign.

Total awards taken home by ParkLane:

2009 Marketing Campaign of the Year – The BLOCK
2009 Best Logo – The BLOCK
2009 Best Advertising Campaign – The BLOCK
2009 Best Single Family Detached Home under 2,000 sq. ft – spec – Bedford Landing
2009 Best Single Family Detached Home 2,000 – 2,999 sq. ft. – spec – Southport

About the awards:
The Georgie Awards®, owned by the Canadian Home Builders’ Association of British Columbia (CHBA BC), is Canada’s premier housing awards program that highlights and celebrates excellence in home building.  A Georgie Award is recognized as an industry stamp of quality. Award entries are at a record high, and the calibre of projects is a testament to the talents and efforts of CHBA BC members.

With this year’s Viralocity campaign, Doritos is looking to build on the success of last year’s Doritos Guru campaign, as it goes after every marketing team’s wet dream: going viral. To accomplish this, Doritos has wisely chosen to continue using a video contest as the driving force behind their campaign. Not only that, but it’s also included tips & tricks, helping participants to achieve their dreams of going viral and winning earning $10,000.

Our favourite? What can we say, we’re a sucker for clever stop motions, and stop-motions with Godzilla, karate, & pirates? Sold. (Also, check out this awesome stop-motion of our lobby receiving a few artistic touches)

Intrigued? Check out some of our other stop-motion favourites:

DEADLINE featuring every office’s ‘can’t live without’ stationary: post-its. These folks were also clever enough to create a ‘Making Of‘ video

T-shirt Wars – 222 tshirts!!

Fascinated? Contact us and lets talk about how to make video contests work for your company, cause or brand.

Bashful Bladder:  Movember Foundation

Sponsor Me Spring: Halloween 09

Lively Pearls: The Gap

Run like a Canuck: Chip’s Not Dead Yet memorial mile

Best Decision I ever made: Cellular South

No other media company does more to provide an independent voice in today’s media marketplace, and now, PBS is hosting a video contest to give YOU a voice. With the “YOUR PBS Video Contest,” PBS wants to know what has been the most surprising thing you’ve found at PBS.org? Was it the breadth of web content on PBS.org or a conversation you struck up through PBS’s Twitter or Facebook areas? Have you been floored by what you can do and discover with PBS on iTunes or elsewhere on the Web?  Be clever, engaging and don’t shy away from being innovative or cheeky!

What are participants shooting for? The Grand Prize winner will receive a trip to Austin, TX to see insider-only previews of upcoming PBS programs and hear behind-the-scenes plans from PBS executives, among other exciting treats, and possibly have his or her video air on PBS! Five contest runners-up will receive a limited edition PBS-designed Flip camera and PBS Gift Package, while one participant will receive the People’s Choice award: a PBS prize pack valued at an estimated $750. Contest open to US residents only.

Check out the PBS video contest and watch the introductory video to see how PBS wants you to learn more, share more, and be more.

It began in 2007 when Curtis Jackson, the Queens-born rapper known to most as 50 Cent, took a major turn in his career by signing a deal with Vitamin Water. As record sales dropped, critics claimed that Jackson was veering away from mainstream rap.

In an attempt to amp up his public persona, the deal with Vitamin Water made the rapper more appealing to the masses.  Fiddy was seen in a new light, well new hair actually, (possibly NSFW, depending on your workplace’s policy on mild cursing and characters named “Pimpin’ Curly”), as the funny guy behind of the hilarious YouTube commercials.

Now Steve Nash has jumped on board the comedy train.  The stringy haired athlete to adds some ridiculous flavour to the newly released Vitamin Water commercial, “The most ridiculous man in the world,” which spoofs Dos Equis’s Most interesting man in the world commercials.

Fiddy and Steve for Vitamin Water – which public personality will this campaign absorb next?

Well, it’s halfway through the month and it’s time you showed off your progress in person! Join us at Dip Your Upper Lip and tell us about your man-scaping plans. Our wonderful friends at The Diamond (6 Powell Street at the corner of Powell & Carrall in Gastown) will conjure up cocktails and canapes from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm on Thursday, November 19th.  Plenty of inspiration and official Mo’ swag will be circling. And Momositas, the men need your support. Come enjoy an extra frothy cocktail and dress that upper lip!

Not sure how to style your mo’? Event partner Dermalogica will be on hand to provide “shave-mapping” consultations, mini-treatments, and other goodies.

Memelabs has been enlisted by the Movember Foundation to help raise awareness for the cause by hosting the global Movember video contest, which you can read more about in the Vancouver Sun. It’s time to reinstate an under-appreciated facial accessory to its rightful position of glory. Accordingly, we’ll be floating around the room, cameras in hand, documenting your mo’ progress and mo’ stories.

RSVP HERE: Vancouver Tweet Up

We look forward to seeing you on the 19th. Don’t forget to share your Mo’ videos at http://memelabs.com/movember!

Sounds beautifully utilitarian. Why then have videos of pole dancing mishaps become so popular on YouTube? Because many netizens don’t appreciate its new found respectability. And seeing so many people fail confirms their suspicions that not everyone should be a pole dancer.

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Quick synopsis: some guy, his mom, his sister, and (what looks to be) his sister’s fling are giving us tips on how to organize our very own Windows 7 party. And it is awkward. Why, for instance, are these people laughing so much?!

Well, thankfully someone remixed it with bleeps inserted whenever someone says “Windows”. This version, we believe, is much more amusing — and more risque.

[youtube gyas7BrbUFY]