In 2019, Chipotle pulled off one of the most successful video contest ideas TikTok had ever seen. They launched the #GuacDance challenge for National Avocado Day, inviting people to post goofy dance videos celebrating guacamole.
The results were staggering: Over 250,000 video submissions in just six days and 430 million views, all tied back to Chipotle’s brand. It turned a playful idea into a viral movement and gave the company one of its biggest digital sales days ever.
Now, not every business has Chipotle’s scale, but you don’t need it. Video contests work because they spark creativity, put your audience in the spotlight, and create shareable moments that spread your brand further than you could on your own.
In this article, I’ll show you seven video contest ideas you can use to capture that same kind of energy and turn it into brand growth.
7 Video Contest Ideas to Try for Your Business
Here are seven creative video content ideas that will grow your brand’s reach and engagement.
1. “How Do You Use Our Product?” Contest
Best for: Launching new products
The idea: Ask participants to share videos showing their most creative or practical ways of using your product in everyday life.
Why it works: Prospective customers get to see real, unfiltered examples of your product in action, not just polished brand content. Meanwhile, you gain valuable insights into how people actually use your product, often uncovering creative applications you might not have considered. Those insights can then inform future marketing or even product development.
Tip: Make entering the contest as easy and fun as possible. Instead of asking for a polished video, encourage quick clips shot on a phone. Set a clear theme (e.g., “Show us your best hack” or “How you use it every day”), and give people a simple way to share — like posting with a hashtag or tagging your brand.
2. #MyRoutine challenge
Best for: Promoting specific product usage or reinforcing a marketing message
Example: Gymshark 66 Challenge | TikTok
The idea: Invite participants to create short videos showing how your product naturally fits into their daily routine. This could be as simple as “my morning must-haves,” “how I get through the workday,” or “the little rituals that set me up for success.” The focus is on consistency and positioning your product as something people rely on every day
Why it works: Routine-based challenges spotlight how your product fits into the rhythms of daily life, which creates both emotional connection and long-term brand stickiness. Instead of just showing what your product does, you’re selling a lifestyle promise: “this product belongs in the habits that make you feel better, more productive, or more confident.”
As people watch others share their routines, they get inspired to adopt similar habits themselves, and your product becomes part of that aspiration. Over time, customers begin to associate your brand not only with the product but with the positive outcomes it helps them achieve, whether that’s smoother skin, better focus, or healthier mornings.
Tip: Build momentum by tying the challenge to a bigger theme or moment in time. For example, launch it around New Year’s resolutions, “back-to-school” season, or wellness month — times when people are already thinking about routines and habits. Framing the contest around a cultural moment makes participation feel more relevant and timely, while also giving your campaign a natural hook for PR and social buzz.
3. Seasonal or holiday-themed video contest
Best for: Boosting seasonal product sales
Example: Cracker Barrel Old Country Store®
The idea: Tie your contest to a specific season or holiday when people are already in a buying and sharing mindset. For example:
- A Black Friday contest where customers submit short videos explaining how they’d use your product, with winners receiving exclusive early-access discounts.
- A Christmas contest where families share festive clips of your product in their holiday celebrations, with prizes like gift bundles or event tickets.
Why it works: Seasonal contests give you built-in buzz. You’re riding on the excitement that already exists around major shopping events and holidays. This helps your campaign feel instantly relevant and more shareable.
It also positions your product as part of the season’s narrative: something people want to buy, gift, or experience at that time of year. Plus, the short, time-bound nature of these contests creates urgency, which can drive both participation and sales.
Tip: Align your prize with the spirit of the season. For instance, offer travel-related rewards in summer, cozy lifestyle bundles in winter, or family-oriented experiences around the holidays. When the reward matches the seasonal mood, the contest feels more authentic, and customers are more likely to engage and share.
4. Challenge or dare contest
Best for: Going viral on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok
Example: Chipotle
The idea: Launch a fun, quirky challenge that gets people filming themselves interacting with your product in a unique way. This could be a physical challenge, a creativity dare, or even a social trend remix. A few examples:
- A fitness brand might create a “30-second plank with our gear” challenge.
- A food brand could launch a recipe remix challenge—“make the most creative meal using [product] in under 60 seconds.”
- A tech brand might do a “speed test” contest: “Show us how fast you can [do X task] with our app/tool.”
The hook is that participants are “dared” to try something fun, unusual, or competitive, and then share their results with a branded hashtag.
Why it works: Challenges are a natural fit for platforms like TikTok and Instagram, where short, repeatable trends thrive. They lower the barrier to entry (anyone can join in with just a phone and a bit of creativity), and because people often tag friends to “take the dare,” the challenge spreads fast.
Tip: Keep it simple, as the best challenges can be explained in one sentence. Pair the challenge with a catchy hashtag and a reward for the most creative entries, and you’ll have a campaign that feels fun, organic, and primed for virality.
5. Fan story or testimonial contest
Best for: Collecting customer stories on how your product has positively impacted their lives.
Example: Whataburger
The idea: Ask customers to record a short video about why they love your product.
Why it works: These videos are a goldmine of reusable content. They can be repurposed into case studies, blog posts, paid ads, or social snippets. And on a deeper level, asking customers to share their story strengthens their emotional connection with your brand because they feel seen and valued.
Tip: Always get explicit permission to use the content across channels beyond the contest. And don’t limit rewards to cash or products; emotional rewards often resonate more. Think office or factory tours, being spotlighted on your website, or even co-creating future content with your team. These experiences make winners feel like insiders and lifelong advocates.
6. DIY or “Remix Our Product” contest
Best for: Lifestyle, fashion, or food brands
The idea: Challenge participants to put their own spin on your product. Say you’re a food brand. In that case, you can create a video contest where participants cook using your product as part of the recipe.
Why it works: People love to show off creativity, and remixing content feels collaborative. It highlights versatility and generates fresh ideas for how your product can be used.
Tip: Consider creating a video series with the most creative entries and uploading it to your YouTube page as bingeable content.
7. “Create an ad” contest
Best for: Sourcing fresh, campaign-ready creative directly from your community.
The idea: Challenge your audience to make their own short ad for your product. It could be a funny skit, a heartfelt testimonial, or a clever TikTok-style edit. The brief can be as open-ended (show us how you’d pitch [Product] in 30 seconds) or specific (make the funniest office-style ad for [Product]) as you want.
You can even give them assets, like a logo, tagline, or jingle, to remix. This levels the playing field so both everyday customers and creative pros feel empowered to join.
Why it works: This format turns your customers into storytellers, letting them pitch your product in their own words and style. The result is authentic, relatable content that feels less like marketing and more like peer-to-peer endorsement.
It also gives you fresh creative angles you might never have considered, while producing reusable assets for social, ads, or campaigns. And because participants are actively “selling” your product, they naturally deepen their own connection with your brand.
Tip: Don’t stop at exposure. Treat the best entries like real creative work: commission one (or more) as an official ad, pay the creator fairly, and run it in a real campaign. That credibility will attract more serious entries, higher-quality work, and stronger goodwill toward your brand.
What is a video contest?
A video contest is an online competition where participants submit videos based on a specific theme or prompt.
It typically runs for a set period and includes rules — such as using a particular hashtag, sharing on specific platforms, or collecting votes — to qualify and win. Prizes are usually awarded to the best or most popular entries.
Common examples of online video contests include Chipotle's ‘Guac Dance Challenge’ and Doritos’ ‘Crash the Super Bowl’ contest.
To go faster, you can try our free AI video generator. It will generate a video ready to post from a simple written prompt.
What are the benefits of hosting a video contest for your brand?
An online video contest is a great way to:
1. Increase brand awareness
Video contests have a built-in sharing effect that helps your brand reach more people organically.
Many of them require or encourage participants to post their entries publicly (YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.) and tag your brand or use a branded hashtag. Every participant essentially becomes a micro-promoter, introducing your brand to their own network of followers, friends, and family.
2. Generate content from users and customers
About 85% of consumers say they rely on user-generated video before making a purchase. Hosting a video contest is a smart way to curate a pool of user content that can be used in your marketing campaigns (with users’ permission).
Participants create videos around your brand, product, or a theme you set. This generates a large pool of authentic, creative content that highlights your brand in different voices and styles. Since these videos often feel less like ads and more like genuine stories, they resonate better with audiences.
3. Grow brand affinity and recall
On average, people need to encounter a brand around seven times before they remember it.
A video contest helps accelerate that process by putting your brand in front of audiences again and again — through entries, shares, and campaign updates. The more often people see your brand in this context, the more familiar and connected they feel with your product or service.
How to host an online video contest
Running a video contest can generate amazing content and engagement, but only if it’s set up well. Here are the key best practices:
- Decide what you want to achieve before launching: is it brand awareness, more UGC, educating users, or promoting a new product? Your goal will shape the contest format, judging criteria, and prize structure.
- Make the video contest theme simple, fun, and easy to execute. A good contest brief can be explained in one sentence (“Show us your morning routine with [Product]” or “Create a 30-second ad for us”). The lower the barrier, the more entries you’ll get.
- Host where your audience already creates — TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, or directly through a contest page. If your goal is virality, go with TikTok or Instagram. If you want evergreen content, YouTube is a better option.
- Prizes don’t have to be huge, but they should feel relevant and motivating. Mix tangible rewards (cash, products, gift cards) with emotional rewards (feature on your brand’s main account, VIP experiences, commissioned work).
- Lay out eligibility, deadlines, video length, required hashtags, and how winners will be chosen. Clear rules build trust and protect you legally. (Pro tip: include terms that permit you to reuse entries in your marketing.)
Grow your B2B brand with video!
Video contests are a powerful way to spark creativity and engagement, but they’re only one piece of the puzzle. Tutorials, customer stories, or quick social clips can all play a role in building your brand and reaching new audiences.
And the best part is you don’t need a production team to pull it off. With PlayPlay video editor, you can create professional-looking videos in minutes, no editing experience required.
Start your free PlayPlay trial and see how easy it is to create impactful videos your audience actually wants to watch.
