Look: You're Rocking
Look: You're Rocking

I know we've written like 100 articles about JC Penney this week, but you're just going to have to suffer through one more because of RockYourLook.com, the deus ex machina in the sordid tragedy/psychosexual drama of Speed Dressing: The Story of a Short Film and Those Who Would Try to Destroy It (Lifetime, Sunday, 9 P.M. EST). Enough about that. I am pretty much in love with Rock Your Look. The site allows you to produce short karaoke vids with '80s karaoke hits and quasi-professional production. Then it hosts the vids and allows you to vote on whether they "rock." What's at stake? Only an all-expense paid trip to the FOX Teen Choice Awards is all.

I'm not sure how many more 14-year-olds I care to watch butcher Air Supply's I'm All Out of Love, but if this morning is any indication, I'll probably be watching it all afternoon. Judging by the number of videos that have already been created, this promotion is a hit. The site makes it really easy to quickly create your own karaoke success (or hot mess, as the case may be), while also satisfying the lurkers . Making a fool of yourself in public and voyeurism: two great American loves.

Here are some of my personal faves:


Create your own video | Vote For This Video

 


Create your own video | Vote For This Video

 


Create your own video | Vote For This Video

 


Create your own video | Vote For This Video

Sobering up for a second, from a post-advertising age point of view, I think promotion could help accomplish much of what I (and many now-silenced commenters on YouTube) was imploring JC Penney to do earlier this week: If you want to be hip, don't say you're hip with advertising—actually be hip. To achieve their marketing goals in the post-advertising age, brands must turn themselves into media companies and actually create content (or help its audience create content). With Rock Your Look, JC Penney has legitimately cooled itself up. Is it still just a place where moms shop for their kids? Or is it also that cool site where you can tell the world that you ran, you ran so far away?

I am wondering, though, how a company that refused to allow a video that may or may not have advocated teen sex to exist in the public domain could also allow its audience to create and upload content to a branded (beautifully, by the way, by Saatchi & Saatchi) site. Read the official rules, Jeremy. I am a little bothered by the fact that one's "vote" for whether a video rocks really counts for nothing in the final tally of who wins the trip to California. Only the "judges" decide, and the judges are appointed by JCP. No biggie. It's still a super-fun site. Kudos.

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March 12. 2010 3:58 PM

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