Revlon Sponsors New People.com Channel on YouTube

A new effort from YouTube and People.com is the first online marketing effort sponsored by Revlon as well as YouTube’s first co-branded online contest.

The heart of the campaign is an online competition in which prospective “red carpet reporters” are urged to submit two- to four-minute videos of themselves interviewing friends and family “as if they were on the red carpet at a Hollywood award show.”

People.com editors and others will narrow down the submissions to 20 finalists who will then be asked to make another video showcasing them conducting spontaneous interviews in a public place. The best contestant of that bunch — to be revealed on People.com and YouTube August 27, will win two days in Los Angeles, a makeover from Revlon, and money for clothes. They’ll also be allowed to interview Hollywood celebs at the Emmy awards.

Simultaneously, People.com is launching its YouTube Channel, which will include exclusive People.com video, photo shoots and celebrity interviews. YouTube and People.com cooperatively went to market to sell media inventory on both their Web sites. Carat NY was the media agency involved in the deal.

Revlon’s involvement goes beyond running ads; its make-up is going to be used on the winner and it will offer beauty tips on the site. Revlon is also running YouTube’s InVideo Ads targeted to users watching videos about fashion, beauty and other related topics. The video ads will drive interested users to the “Red Carpet Reporter” campaign pages, said Zamost. Revlon also has purchased inventory on People.com.

“It’s not just Revlon display ads being served a million times,” said a YouTube spokesperson. “It’s a lot more creative than that. We’re making sure Revlon is at the forefront of these interactions with people.”