• by Daisy Whitney , Op-Ed Contributor, June 14, 2012

Southern Comfort has never been a brand to shy away from online video. It has been a regular sponsor of original video programming from Web pioneers like MyDamnChannel for several years. Now, the spirits maker is generating some attention for its latest campaign “Lingo Cops” that has been written up in the The New York Times and that I first learned about via ReelSEO. 

The online video campaign is noteworthy for a few reasons. It’s not a bad creative execution -- the brand has crafted a '70s-style pair of cops out busting bar lingo. In this case they’re trying to draw attention -- as the brand is -- to "SoCoLa" as a new name for a mixed drink. The ads also include a call to action to hop on over to the brand’s Facebook page where you can suggest your own name for the Coke & Southern Comfort mixture, with suggestions so far including "soCoke" and "CoSo." The brand said it wanted to see if the new drink name would stick.

But the campaign is also worth watching because it was crowdsourced via the online video production platform PopTent, which has crowdsourced videos for Dannon. This sort of crowd sourcing dramatically lowers costs for production for the commercials that are running both online and on TV.

I’m not convinced these spots are the pinnacle of crowdsourcing or of online video creative, but their origin is curious enough for brands and creative agencies to sit up and take note of the strategy. There is cost savings here, the potential for social tie-ins, and consumer involvement.