Breaking Down Ashton's "Killers" Contest - and Why I Should Be the Winner!

First, I'd like to say that I've been paying attention to Mr. Kutcher and his internet adventures for a while now -- mainly because he seems to be being quite crafty with his moves! I'm very curious if what he does will ultimately break a barrier or two that others have failed to pierce with regard to "taming the internet."

We know that some things with popular internet followings end up going "poof" when it comes to actually finding the PAYING audience -- notably, "Snakes on a Plane" and NBC's "Quarterlife." So I really hope that all the efforts Ashton is putting toward promoting his new film "Killers" actually pays off -- and proves that his wile is worthwhile.

And so I've followed his rather unique contest connected to the film, "Ashton's Killer Game." (Sometimes also known as "Killers Game.") An admirable and cute effort it is -- although did it succeed? It's really hard to tell if it's truly a marketer's master plan, or if it's just something Ashton cooked up on his own. There are no apparent "official rules" -- it's almost as if Ashton turned on a camera and said what occurred to him to match his objective. With a grand prize of offering to promote something for the winner to his audience of roughly 8 million souls on his Twitter and Facebook (actually, I'd assume there to be heavy overlap between the two sites) -- it's an unquantifiable value there; most likely not taxable -- sorta like saying "Here, I'll do you a favor if you jump through these strange little hoops I've concocted."

Bearing that much informality in mind, then it's perhaps forgivable if the contest veered away from a hard and strict format. Ashton dotted the internet with his little promos and tweeted "clues" to finding them -- but not so much like a scavenger hunt as it was, "Hey, go look over here, watch the same trailer you've seen before -- and then I'll shoot you." So in one instance he says, "Thou shalt not Vimeo," and his link leads you right to -- Vimeo. (So then, it seems, we actually SHALT Vimeo!) And I and a decent handful of his followers followed him here and there, and got shot.

On May 12, someone named "peanutbutder" posted a video on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayrwCcGiQ-U -- oddly titled "OMG! Ashton Kutcher's on ChatRoulette!" -- and this seems to be one of the first such "clue" videos. Ashton toys with his gun a bit, then points it at the viewer. "Don't move," he says. Then he states, "If this gun does not go off -- you have an opportunity to win!" And then he shoots the viewer (or rather, thankfully, a nice piece of plexiglas), adding "You lose."

Now it gets kinda interesting: In the description of that video, the poster further links us to: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150162806570184&comments where there is another video (also posted May 12) with further instructions! Ashton offers the following, verbatim:

"There's a key to this game. The 'Killers' Game. So across the beautiful internets, the world wide web, you will find trailers for the movie 'Killers,' they're everywhere. And behind one of those trailers somewhere on the web you'll find me... looking much like this, acting much like this... however in that particular video I will be holding my handy-dandy gun, not loaded... and you will survive. Now, if you're that lucky person to find that trailer first, or second or third or fourth or fifth or sixth or... tenth... YOU will, in fact, have an opportunity to win the game. I will send you directly back to this page, and I will have a specific code for you to input in the comment section behind the video that I will post on that particular day. And if you are the first person to enter the proper code in the comment section of that video, you will win the opportunity to send a message to all of my social media following, all 8 million people..."

Note that here, his instructions are quite clear: to enter the code in the COMMENT SECTION BEHIND THE VIDEO. He reiterates this -- "in the comment section of that video."

Interesting here that he mentions first, second, third, etc. -- however he does say this is "to find the video," which is not necessarily the first person to actually input the code! So while it almost seems to imply there could be more than one winner from that... he still specifies the first person to enter the code.

But wait, there's more! A little later, he says: "So, if you search the web, if you find the trailer that has me in the end, looking much like this, saying that you win... I'll give you the code, you come back here, input the code..."

Now by this, "back here" would logically refer to the page the viewer is looking at at that moment -- the page containing that particular video from May 12.

So, after paying good attention to his offerings from that point forward, I've watched that same trailer, have seen him ask Katherine Heigl to meet him for a drink, have seen them both married (seeming rather sudden after that cute meeting) and her suddenly discovering he's a spy, then discharging a gun by accident which still meets its mark by clobbering the woman threatening him... all of that, over and over again, followed by Ashton shooting me... over and over again.

Okay. So yesterday, June 13 at 10:12 a.m., he posts a simple message on Facebook, saying "#killerclue if you want to reach 8 million people, play tomorrow. play to win!" and then LATER THAT SAME DAY, he offers up on Twitter: "Every Killer has a code name Zulu149er #Killerclue http://bit.ly/9yEJhp" which link leads to... the winning video! You're supposed to watch said video for the clue -- however he puts it right there in the tweet, too.

Unfortunately -- I chose that moment to walk away from the computer and go to the bathroom. When I came back, the tweet was several minutes old! Hands shaking, I quickly clicked the link, watched the video start to load, and quickly forwarded to the latter section past the trailer -- okay, this time, he busts in before the end, so I back it up a bit -- and see him offer up the code and instruct us to go back to his main Facebook page and post Zulu149er "in the comment section on my last post." I barely noticed that he had his finger pointed, gun-like, ominously at the camera -- but thankfully he didn't fire! (Where was the handy-dandy gun he promised to have with him that was not loaded? Well, spies have some nifty gadgets -- so I guess his special "gun that looks like a hand" was what was not loaded.)

So I rushed over there -- and posted it. However by then, it seems several folks already had accomplished this. Notably the first person there to post it was one Ms. Tabitha Yutzy. Remembering the "second, third, fourth" element from the other video -- I still posted mine, although feeling crestfallen as I did so.

I moped around for a while; fixed a sandwich and a cup of ramen noodles and popped open a cherry Pepsi. I watched a bit of TV. Then, as my mind roiled and pondered the details of this contest -- and thought, "Hey, he said something different before!" And I went back to pore over the previous details. Sure enough, I found -- what I already mentioned above.

So I went to the actual "winning video" and looked at its pure presence, where you can see the comments (as opposed to the video poster's page that was linked to, where you can't), and saw that NO ONE had posted the "proper code in the comment section of that video." So I did! (This being through my user name on YouTube, "LachrymoseIntolerant.")

Then I remembered -- he'd ALSO said to "come back to THIS PAGE and post the secret code" -- namely where his Facebook instruction video was -- so I went THERE and posted it too!

So technically, according to clearly stated rules within his contest, I was the first to fulfill what was required in those two places. On top of being at least AMONG the first folks to post the code to his latest entry's comment section on his main page.

SO, Mister Kutcher -- Ashton if I may -- I WANT MY PRIZE!

And I think you should give one to Ms. Tabitha Yutzy as well.

Small bills, please! The local 99 cent store, where I buy my ramen noodles, won't take larger denominations.

And it would be further kindly if you'd follow me @Raaawb as well, so I can subject you to my own random thoughts along the way. And meanwhile, I do hope everybody out there goes to see your movie! So far, I've had the pleasure of seeing the first 13 minutes (or so) of it....

Thank you,

-- Rob Baker
http://www.twitter.com/Raaawb