It’s a showdown, folks, between Triscuit the Cat and Rusty the Dog (pets of babysitterofnalts). In this video, sponsored by Reader’s Digest, the cute animals duel on the cutest Halloween costume.
I can’t stop watching this video, because my wife’s squeeky voice cracks me up. My low-pitch Rusty voice is based on J.K. Simmons (remember him in Lady Killers as Garth Pancake, who was smitten for Mountain GIrl). Parenthetically, in my first job as a weekly newspaper reporter, I almost got to interview the Cohen Brothers, and this remains on my “bucket list.”
They’re not Kirk and Spock, Maryland, but they’re still cute. Be sure to vote for the cutest at Reader’s Digest.com — here’s the special Nalts Halloween landing page. Don’t listen to Hollywood’s “Don’t Vote” propoganda. Vote now. The future of Rusty and Triscuit’s Halloween is in your hands.
The challenge for sponsored videos — aka “advertainment” — is to promote the sponsor without sacrificing the entertainment value. In this case, I wanted to encourage people to visit ReadersDigest.com, so they built a voting application on the site. Typically fewer than 1 percent of people will visit the website of the sponsor. In this case, I believe we’ll see a lot more traffic from viewers that want to participate. Readers Digest is also holding a contest for cute Halloween contest that anyone can enter (for a $100 prize).
