Monster.com/NFL Director of Fandemonium

[jbcindc]

I don’t know how many of you saw the Monster.com commercial during the Super Bowl for the “Director of Fandemonium” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glsnLt4OkIM) but after the Super Bowl I signed up for it. You had to enter your name, e-mail address and your favorite team. Being a San Diego fan, I selected the Chargers.

According to the information on Monster.com, the first place winners receive season tickets to their selected team and other NFL-related gifts. The grand prize winner receives this (cut/pasted from the Monster.com materials):

One (1) Grand Prize will be awarded, to include a cash prize in the amount of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000), to be distributed in four installments, as well as unique NFL experiences listed below, all of which to constitute the fictional employment position of the 2009-2010 “Director of the Department of Fandemonium.”


DRAFT: Announce a pick at the 2009 NFL Draft
PRO BOWL: Select a play at the 2010 Pro Bowl
SUPER BOWL: Join the coin toss ceremony at Super Bowl XLIV
INTERNATIONAL SERIES: Participate in on-field player introductions at the 2009 International Series game
THANKSGIVING: Be an on-field broadcast liaison for NFL Network's 2009 Thanksgiving game
PLAYOFFS: Assist in monitoring player uniforms on-field before a 2009 Wild Card game
KICKOFF: Act as a backstage talent wrangler at the 2009 NFL Kickoff
Such experiences will include, for the Director and one (1) guest:
Tickets to the applicable NFL game
Hotel accommodations at a location nearby the experience venue, at Monster’s discretion
Air travel from the airport closest to the winner’s residence, at Monster’s discretion
Hospitality access to the applicable event at which the experiences take place
Last week I was traveling in Vietnam and received an e-mail informing me that I was one of the finalists and that I needed to sign and have notarized an attached affidavit to continue with the contest. I thought it was a clever way to weed out the only semi-interested people and since there was no way I could get a notarized copy to them in time, I ignored the e-mail. I got the same e-mail the next day and ignored it. The third day I get an e-mail directly from the fulfillment specialist asking me to please respond and call him directly if necessary. Since there’s a 12-hour time difference from Vietnam to New York where he had his office, I waited until 10 pm Vietnam time to call him at 10 am his time.

I explained my situation and he allowed me to fax a signed copy with the understanding that I’d send a notarized copy once I returned home. Out of curiosity I asked him how many hundreds or thousands of people I’d be competing against. He told me that they had randomly selected a representative for each NFL team and that I was the fan they picked for San Diego. I’d be competing against 31 other contestants for the grand prize. How are you supposed to fall asleep after a call like that?! I was up until 3 am with the wheels turning until I finally took a sleeping pill – I was real effective the next day.

Now Monster.com is flying all 32 contestants to New York the 26-28 of March to compete for the grand prize. I’ve won season tickets to the San Diego home games which is great except for the fact that, oh, I live in Maryland! I’ll make it to a few games and have cousins in San Diego, so they won't go to waste.

I’ve posted this not just to share my good fortune, but because Monster.com is planning to add positions or perhaps do this again next season. I thought if you missed it the first time around, you may want to give it a closer look the next time it comes up. Here’s the link to the sign-up for more information page:

http://nfl.monster.com/InterimLanding.aspx

If there’s any interest in how things proceed in the contest, I’ll be happy to share more of the details and process as it comes. It would be great if any of this info was helpful to another Forum member.

Thanks for reading,

Jason

[princip]

That's AWESOME news Jason. Thanks for sharing your story with us.

[jbcindc]

The Monster.com/NFL Director of Fandemonium contest was held Thursday through Saturday last week. Fans representing each team were flown to New York City, picked up at the airport and taken to the Marriott East Side one block from NFL Headquarters. The fans were divided into two groups; the AFC teams wearing white Monster.com jerseys and the NFC wearing black. As the fan representing the San Diego Chargers, I was decked out in white.

We were organized into teams of eight with the AFC and NFC West in one group, AFC/NFC East in another and so on. We were immediately filmed in our jerseys so that the marketing experts observing us could begin seeing how well we presented ourselves on camera.

On Friday morning we began a series of contests. The first was a trivia challenge between two teams with Michael Strahan as the host. It was a Family Feud setup and Strahan asked random questions. The Forum members who actively follow the NFL would have done well. Trivia questions included:


Who holds the single season record for sacks? – Strahan with 22.5
Which NFL team has won back-to-back Super Bowls twice? – Steelers
Which team has won the most games on Thanksgiving? – Detroit
Which conference has scored the most points in a pro bowl? – AFC (55 points)
How many sacks has Michael Strahan had in his career? – 141.5 (although Strahan had no idea how many he had, or so he said)
The winning team moved on to the championship round and the losing team moved on to the next challenge, which was a locker room interview with Rob Riggle. Riggle appears on The Daily Show and was a cast member on Saturday Night Live. For those that watch The Office, he was Captain Jack in the “Booze Cruise” episode. Rob threw various questions at each contestant in his interview presumably so the marketing observers could gauge how quickly people could think under pressure.

The final challenge for Friday was a motivational speech. You appeared before Strahan and Riggle and they gave you a scenario for which you had to offer a motivational speech for 30 seconds and use in your speech a phrase that they gave you. The phrase I had to incorporate was Howdie Doodie. My scenario was that the Chargers had made the Super Bowl, were in the tunnel leading to field and I had 30 seconds for some final motivational words. I think most contestants tried to anticipate different scenarios and have some words prepared ahead of time. The woman that followed me is a Harvard and Columbia grad who had to motivate her team as a cheerleader. I’m kinda glad I didn’t get that one.

We had dinner together and were prepped for the greatest challenge which was being interviewed the following day by NFL Network personalities, a former NFL player, a Monster.com representative and perhaps others. I was interviewed by Rich Eisen, Tracy XXX, Jamie Dukes and Jeff Robinson of Monster.com. This part can be intimidating and it’s meant to be. You walk into a conference room and are immediately drowned in bright lights and television cameras. Rich invited me to sit and welcomed me. This part of the contest is meant to determine your poise in front of well known television personalities, how much you know about the NFL, how quickly you think on your feet, and how well you can articulate your answers. Some of the questions I was asked include:


How do you inspire people to improve their lives?
What issues do you expect to dominate the NFL headlines in the 2009 season?
How many rounds are there in the NFL Draft?
What name is given to the person selected with the final pick in the draft?
What makes you the ideal candidate to serve as the first Director of Fandemonium?
The interviews were conducted at the NFL Headquarters which has amazing game-used and other memorabilia prominently displayed on each floor. Sadly we weren’t allowed to wander through the office to look at all of it. For Redskins fans, they had on display a complete 1937 uniform that was worn in the NFL Title Game.

Most remarkably, all of the contestants got along very well. We were from all walks of life but there was no one that you would feel upset if they won. You can see photos of all of the finalists at http://nfl.monster.com/NFLFandemoniumContest.aspx.

We won’t know the winner for a few weeks, but the first job for the newly named Director is to announce a pick (hopefully for their favorite team) in the upcoming NFL Draft. They plan to air the contest at the above listed web page in a series of six webisodes.

I learned that approximately 320,000 registered for this initial contest which may be continued in subsequent years. A couple of teams are rumored to have only had around 40 people register. There’s a spot (see the first post) where you can register for updates. Monster treated us like royalty and if you’re a fan of the NFL you risk nothing in registering for updates.

Again, thanks for reading and I hope other Forum members have an opportunity to participate in this contest in future years. If so, hopefully this write up is helpful.

Jason

[jv225]

Hey Jason that is really a cool story. Thanks for posting it and let us know what happens. BTW how did you manage to incorporate Howdie Doodie into that scenario? :D

[jbcindc]

First of all, I need to remember to proof read...

Tracy is Tracy Perlman who is the NFL Vice President of Entertainment Marketing and Promotions. Jeff is Jeff Greenler, Vice President of Global Marketing.

The motivational speech is kind of a challenge when you consider that they give you your topic and yell "go!" I heard a few people just yelling and screaming without any real discernible message. I used Howdie Doodie near the end when I said, "We're playing Dallas. Well Howdie Doodie! They're a group of individuals, we're a team... etc."

I think what was most fun about the challenges is that they were tailored in fashion that shows any flaws you might have. You have no idea how well you're doing or how you compare to the other contestants.

The craziest contestant, and this may not come as a surprise, was the guy representing the Oakland Raiders. He's a really genuine guy with no pretention, but unbelievalby loud and he NEVER stops talking. I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't need a microphone for him. I hope that the program's successful and that they do it again next year and that other Forum members get a chance to participate.

Jason

[jbcindc]

For anyone interested the first "webisode" of the Monster.com/NFL DOF contest has been posted in two locations:

http://nfl.monster.com (http://nfl.monster.com/)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KL_cInYuGrU

It's short; about three and a half minutes. Monster's going to air six webisodes total before announcing their winner. Also, if you go to the NFL homepage you'll see that they have a contest for one person to announce a draft pick at this year's NFL Draft.

Jason Clawson