Dr Pepper Calls for Videos From One-of-a-Kind Fans

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Dr Pepper, a brand that prides itself on its so-called unique blend of 23 flavors, is looking for equally unique fans in a new video campaign.

The soft drink says it has been celebrating "truly one of a kind personalities" in its advertising this year. And now it wants videos of other unique individuals.

The initiative, "Be the Next /1," offers fans the chance to star in future TV and digital advertising.

Be the Next /1 plays off Dr Pepper's current campaign, "/1," or "one of one," which it says features real people with inspiring stories. Each spot in the campaign has highlighted a one-of-a-kind personality. Videos featured on the website include a mother of five who is also a roller derby enthusiast, a model turned Olympic boxing hopeful and the blogger known as the Man Repeller.

Like these individuals, the next /1 is "a unique individual with a one of a kind story," the website says.

In order to participate, fans must submit 60-second videos on the Dr Pepper website explaining what makes them unique and why they should be selected. The soft drink asks for fans to share their passions, talents and stories. Submissions will be accepted through June 19.

After the submission period, Dr Pepper will select ten contestants and fans will vote for who they think is "most one of a kind" from July 10 to 24. Semi-finalists will then have the opportunity to gather votes on DrPepper.com as well as through a personalized hashtag on Twitter. The five contestants with the most votes will become finalists. On August 5, Dr Pepper will choose the "next /1" to star in a commercial.

Videos can be uploaded or recorded directly on the site. Participants must first create an account or sign in with Facebook, Twitter, AOL, Google, Yahoo or OpenID.

Dr Pepper has also posted a YouTube video promoting the campaign. 

Dr Pepper is part of the Dr Pepper Snapple Group. It says it is the oldest major soft drink in the United States.

The brand has 15 million likes on Facebook and 119,000 followers on Twitter.

A Dr Pepper rep was not available for comment.

Meanwhile, Dr Pepper Ten, a low-calorie Dr Pepper product, has launched an interactive feature called the Like Report, which calls itself a manliness study and ranking machine based on Facebook likes.

With it, users can "test [their] knowledge of manliness by picking the manlier of two items," such as bonfires and pizza or demolition derbies and mudding. In addition, they can study up in a Like Gallery that displays the relative manliness of items included in the aforementioned Like Study. Users can also "rank their manliness" with a Man Meter that examines their Facebook likes.