YouTube's Multi Faceted Promotion Plan

I just got done browsing one of my favorite social networking blogs, Mashable (http://www.mashable.com), which informed me of YouTube's new feature, YouTube Underground (http://mashable.com/2006/09/23/this-week-in-social-networking-youtube-facebook-and-the-myspace-economy/). Through this new page, YouTube (http://www.youtube.com), a popular social networking video website, is going to host a battle of the bands contest sponsored by Cingular. Wanting to learn more about the contests, I clicked on a link which led me to another Mashable post (http://mashable.com/2006/09/20/youtube-underground-launches/) about YouTube Underground (http://www.youtube.com/underground) from a few days ago.

This blog post stated that YouTube has not only partnered up with Cingular to put on this contest, but also with ABC. Unsigned bands have a two week period in order to submit video performances which will be voted on by YouTube users. There will be four grand prize winners who will win a slew of prizes consisting of:

• The band's video shown on Cingular phones
• The band featured on the television show Chop Shop
• Equipment from Gibson
• A trip to NYC which includes a VIP tour bus, a photoshoot, and an appearance on Good Morning America
• The band's video featured on the YouTube homepage

In my opinion, not only will this new YouTube contest promote an unsigned band to gain worldwide recognition, it also has the potential to promote many other companies. Two companies that could very well benefit from this contest are the sponsors, Cingular and ABC. The contest will promote these two companies in the music scene from their name involvement as well as the prizes they are contributing such as the Cingular phones and TV show Good Morning America. Others who are able to gain a little publicity from the contest are prize contributors Gibson and the TV show Chop Shop. By joining forces, all companies are able to help promote eachother which seems like a smart move to me.

What do you think? Are joint ventures such as this one beneficial in order to promote old products in new ways? Leave your opinion in a comment!