The results for the duck tape commercial contest are in, and I’m am sad to say that they are pretty disappointing. Our commercial did not make the top five, or even the top ten, coming in at 29th. I think the sound quality in our film held us back more than anything else, and made our project seem less professional than some of the others, but I also think that our understanding of what would sell duck tape was different than theirs. Of all of the entries I liked and thought would do well, only one made the top five. I’m sad that we didn’t place better, because I strongly felt that our entry was among the top ten. It reminds me of something Peter Orullian, author of The Unremembered, told me this summer when I got a chance to talk to him about writing. He said “we tend to write the books we want to read.” I think we made the commercial we wanted to see, and judges weren’t looking for the same things.
On a happier note, going in to the judging we were by far the most viewed commercial and I wanted to thank all of you for that. Whatever the judges say, this commercial is a success in my eyes. We went out there, we told the story we wanted to tell, and we did it well. Sound quality held us back, but the visuals are there and the story is there. And each and every one of you who watched it gave it your vote of confidence, and that means a lot to us. In a political metaphor, we won the popular vote, but not the electoral college. It’s sad that we won’t be President, but we’ll hold on to the fact that more real people liked us than the other guy.
Thank you all for your support. Here’s the link one more time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zntzFL7nWs