Thumbing through the latest version of the New Yorker I noticed the ad shown at right (scanned B&W version, a little hard to read online). It's an intriguing invitation to enter something called the "Bud.TV Movies Rock BudTUBE" contest (that's a mouthful). It goes on to ask you to "reinterpret" one of the featured movie scenes on Bud.TV. The winner gets a trip to LA and a possible meeting with producer Stacey Sher.

So I go to Bud.TV to learn more and all I can find is a small icon on the home page that leads to this contest landing page.

It doesn't say when this contest will launch, doesn't ask me to submit an email address or to sign up to be notified when the contest goes live and doesn't provide any additional teaser information beyond what was in the New Yorker ad (like how about at least showing a few of the featured movie scenes?).

At first I thought the New Yorker magazine, with its liberal-minded, somewhat elitist audience, seemed like an odd place to be marketing a contest sponsored by a beer brand, but maybe there was something I was missing. But now seeing this underwhelming landing page, my conclusion is that this whole Bud.TV contest is a misfire so far. Wouldn't you expect a marketer of Anheuser-Busch's stature to execute the details better than this? I would.

Bud.TV has been widely criticized, but it remains a bold attempt by Bud to use broadband to change the marketing equation and improve engagement with its customers. However, if it's going to be effective, it's going to have to execute far better than it has with this contest. A lesson to all brand marketers experimenting with broadband - try your best to create a cohesive and memorable user experience.