Nestlé in France is giving away the chance to win a trip to OUTER SPACE! Yeah, that's right... space... in a spaceship. It's the real deal.
First, here's this amazing promo spot, which in and of itself warrants a blog post. It has such style, great characters, great emotion, the animators even used "Renderman", Pixar's amazing software that makes everything look so sweet. :
"The Quest for the Ultimate Break Begins..."
So, if you go to the website: www.kitkat.fr you can navigate your way to the contest and see that for roughly the next year, through various means to enter (online, SMS etc.), contestants have the chance to win a trip to space (assuming they meet the age, and health requirements) in or around 2010.
Here's an excerpt from the Rules & Regs (translated poorly with Google translator):
ARTICLE 5
The Game has winners moments gains following:
5-a-1 Travel in space
Description:
- Gain "Travel in Space" includes 5 days, 4 nights in Oklahoma City, including transportation, transfers, accommodation, meals and training program for two persons and travel in space for 1 person.
- The commercial value of travel in space is a unit amount of approximately € 147000 at 02/08/07.
Conditions:
- The winner must be an adult on the day of flight, and written authorization for the winners minors is mandatory before awarding the prize.
- If the winner is a minor at the time of the gain will be important, but the end of 2010, the gain may be allotted.
- If the winner is a minor at the time of the gain will be minor and the end of 2010, it will not enjoy the gain.
- The allocation is transferable, if necessary, the winner must provide Nestle (at the address given in Article 9) the names and contact information of the person who will enjoy the gain in its place 6 months before the date of vol.
- The gain is subject to conditions of physical health of the winner and someone who is with (playoff medical tests in France and the USA), mandatory training prior to space flight, red tape and feasibility of flight.
If one of these conditions is not met, the organising company reserves the right to postpone or space flight, or to award the winner a consolation prize.
5-b-12 flights in fighter plane
Description:
Gain "flying fighter aircraft" includes transportation, transfers, 1 night in a hotel and made full meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) for 2 people and flying fighter aircraft for 1 person.
The commercial value of flying fighter plane is a unit amount of approximately € 3521 at 24/10/07.
Conditions:
- Medical certificate will not be allowed to sport air (robbed of persons with disabilities is prohibited)
- 15 years and a minimum requirement of parental consent for minors
- Maximum weight: 90 kg and maximum size: 190 cm
- Consumption of alcohol discouraged during the 24 hours before the flight
- Weather conditions favourable
- The allocation is transferable, if necessary, the winner must provide Nestle (at the address given in Article 9) the names and contact information of the person who will enjoy the gain in his place.
If one of these conditions is not met, the winner will receive a consolation prize.
Is it just me, or is this the craziest, most amazing thing you've heard of? Can you imagine sitting around with the creative team (incidentally - JWT Paris) in a brainstorming session, and someone blurts out, "why don't we give away a trip to outer space?"... but then, nobody laughs, and someone else smiles and says... "yeah, that's a great idea", and the next thing you know the whole room is smiling and nodding in agreement.
If they can pull it off, it's gotta be the closest any brand has ever come to a real world "Golden Ticket". Nestlé has definitely raised the bar (no pun intended) with this one!
Update:
A little searching has revealed that Nestlé is not the first to offer this amazing prize. New Scientist/Audi and Gillette are a couple of the more "legit" ones. Also, Volvo in partnership with Virgin Galactic are set to launch theirs during this year's Super Bowl. I still like this one a lot, as it somehow feels much more attainable to the everyday consumer (ie. all I need to do is buy a Kit Kat for a chance to win versus having to buy and Audi for example...)
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