Few social-media marketing ideas are as hackneyed as inviting people to upload their own commercials. But it seems like a good fit for Hewlett-Packard with the new "You on You" campaign. The computer maker is inviting the public to make homemade versions of the "Personal Again" HP ads that feature celebrities (their faces hidden) talking about their digital lives. The effort, aimed at promoting the HP Artist Edition Notebook, is about halfway through its life span, and some of the submitted work has been pretty impressive. Above is one of my favorites. (How can you not like a gymnast who moonlights as a zombie slayer?) The reason I like this campaign more than most of its kind is because the original ad concept seems custom-made for a crowdsourcing project like this (versus, say, asking people to make up their own "Priceless" scenarios for MasterCard). Even without the slick digital production, many of the HP submissions still convey the charming, hyper-personalized feel of the originals. If you think your torso and editing skills are up to the challenge (and you wouldn't mind winning up to $40,000 in cash), you've got until Sunday to enter.

—Posted by David Griner

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