At the beginning of August 2007, bidorbuy kicked off with a Crazy for Cash competition that ran for eight weeks. The campaign offered the bidorbuy community an opportunity to submit their craziest, funniest, wackiest or smartest bidorbuy jingle, hit song or commercial. The judges were looking for that one entry that would capture the essence of what bidorbuy is all about in a unique way.

Over 300 entries were submitted and only 131 entries met the minimum submission criteria and were entered into the competition. But in the end the ultimate prize went to the winning entry of the bidorbuy video clip entitled “Crazy Mouse”.

bidorbuy interviews Matthew Marais, winner of the R50 000 grand prize.

bidorbuy: Congratulations on winning. I’m sure you are delighted at the outcome of the competition?

Matthew: Yes, thank you. We thoroughly enjoyed taking part and producing our video clip for bidorbuy.

bidorbuy: So where did you hear about the competition?

Matthew: On 5FM.

bidorbuy: At what point did you decide to enter?

Matthew: When we saw what other contestants had entered and felt they didn’t really hit the mark.

bidorbuy: How did you decide on the type of entry you were going to submit?

Matthew: We brainstormed the idea, treating it like a brief from Bid or Buy to create an advert. We had a few concepts but Crazy Mouse seemed to be the most appropriate.

bidorbuy: How did you create your video clip?

Matthew: We used stop frame animation.

bidorbuy: How long did it take you to complete your clip?

Matthew: We shot all the mouse photos in one evening (6 hrs). The Bid or Buy website screenshots took another 3 hrs and then the final editing and sound were added (4hrs). The entire process was done over approximately a week.

bidorbuy: So what do you do for a living?

Matthew: I run a graphics design agency, Inline Studio, and lecture Multi Media design. This was however a Project 44 production. Project 44 is collaboration between me, Jamie Taylor, Jason Palmer and my partner in Inline Studio, Simon Angling.

bidorbuy: I see, what is Project 44?

Matthew: Project 44 is a creative think tank that has been working on ideas for expanding the creative industries in the Eastern Cape with a particular focus on film.

bidorbuy: I have to ask you this question of course. But have you ever used bidorbuy before?

Matthew: Inline Studio has used bidorbuy to market our products in the past.

bidorbuy: What are your overall thoughts about this particular type of competition that bidorbuy launched?

Matthew: I thought it was a great competition; the voting process seemed a little complicated, although it was a simple step to complete in order to vote.

bidorbuy: Have you any plans for your winnings?

Matthew: Project 44 plans to use the winnings to purchase a HD Digital Video Camera and some associated equipment. At present Project 44 has to hire equipment and this cash injection is going to allow us to work on future projects with greater ease. We are also in the planning process for a fund raising project for a local charity – the equipment will make this event much more cost effect. We will also donating a portion of the prize money to the charity directly.

bidorbuy: Thank you for entering. We’re sure that the community will enjoy watching the new bidorbuy “peoples campaign” commercial as much as we have.