User-Generated Advertising Comes to the iPhone

20th Century Fox Asks Users to Reskin 'Tap Tap Revenge'

Posted by Rita Chang on 09.04.09 @ 12:00 PM

Take images of Megan Fox and use them to customize the look of the most popular iPhone game. Hmm ... sounds like it might appeal to 15- to 34-year-old guys.

To plug the darkly comedic horror flick "Jennifer's Body," the campaign asks people to come up with the best visual theme for "Tap Tap Revenge" using images from the movie. For the game's background, users can choose from a gallery of movie stills, most of which feature the film's provocative star, Megan Fox, plus a palette of colors and shapes to help fill in the rest of the game's visual canvas. The more artistically inclined can download a file containing additional movie assets. Popular vote will decide the winner, and the finalists will be crowned a day before the contest ends on Sept. 10. Besides bragging rights, prizes include computer hardware such as a large tablet and a portable hard drive.

Tapulous refreshes "Tap Tap" every week with new visual themes that match a hit song, and the company says users anticipate the weekly unveiling of the new music and theme. Next week, just days ahead of the movie's nationwide release, "Jennifer's Body" will be the game's theme, paired with the song "New Perspective" by Panic at the Disco.

But you don't need an iPhone or iPod Touch to enter the contest. You can go to Tapulous' website to submit an entry, and the company said no special design or artistic skills are required. Tapulous has lofty goals for the campaign: Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Andrew Lang said he expects the "Tap Tap" release featuring the "Jennifer's Body" theme to get at least 5 million game plays, on top of tens of thousands of contest entries.

4 Comments

  By Deven | San Antonio, TX September 5, 2009 12:11:36 am:

I knew this day would come, but I didn't expect to see it on the iPhone or iPod Touch. No complaints here.

Deven Nongbri
http://twitter.com/dnongbri

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  By rjw2116 | New York, NY September 5, 2009 10:54:37 am:

I don't think this is revolutionary but its definitely a good idea. I might just download those files myself and enter. Would you vote for me? check out my blog www.ad-vantage-us.blogspot.com

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  By iphonesatworkdotcom | Charlestown, RI September 6, 2009 07:02:40 am:

While maybe not "revolutionary," being the first to create something in an ad category is usually good for generating some buzz. Beyond that, all businesses developing apps should give serious thought to how they might be able to build interactivity and user-participation into their app -- e.g. for a travel app, color in a paint-by-taps picture of an exotic destination, win an airline ticket, etc.

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  By Wuestenigel | cgn, US September 10, 2009 03:23:56 am:

I think this is a "normal" procedure. Just take a look to facebook's sidebar. I love it till my personal data is still protected a little bit. Regards http://www.twitter-trends.de/volksphone

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