By Nate Jones
Staff Writer
In today’s online world of email spam, pop-up ads and identity theft most people would likely consider the chance to receive $25,000 for 10 hours work just another scam. Scarborough native Michael Beaudoin, who YouTube junkies might recognize as “that guy” appearing in the winning video clip for Budget Rent-A-Car’s “Flip for a Budget” contest. The two-minute musical clip earned Beaudoin $25,000 – and it’s not the first time he has performed for money. In 2006 Beaudoin won a Snickers advertising contest that also awarded $25,000.
“I really wasn’t expecting to win again,” he said. “The Snickers contest I knew I had a chance, but with this one there was a lot of good competition.”
Beaudoin flew to Los Angelos to perform his Snickers skit – in which he pretends the snack bar transforms him into a superhero – for a panel of judges before receiving the check. He said recent television shows about superheroes gave him the inspiration for the quirky video.
“It appeals to all people,” he said.
Beaudoin said he entered the “Flip for a Budget” contest in April when he decided he “was going to make some extra money.” Beaudoin toiled for several hours a day for writing and practicing the musical jingle before he recorded the final video with a small digital camera designed to take still photos. The final product is a two-minute long performance detailing how Beaudoin would go on vacation on a budget, including renting a vehicle from the contest sponsors. While he admitted the quality of the video is far from professional, the jingle was a key component in rising to the top.
“I always try to do something out of the box,” he said. “I looked at all the other videos and decided to use a song because no one else was doing that.”
It didn’t take long for other contest participants to catch on. At least four entries following Beaudoin’s included a musical jingle, and one contestant openly admitted to being inspired by his “Oh, How I Love It” jingle, he said.
 “I got my video in early, got my song right in the front of [judges’] minds,” Beaudoin said. “They told me they were singing it around the office.”
In 2006, Beaudoin graduated with a degree in audio engineering from the University of Massachusetts where he and friends developed a knack for “comedic act” performances.
“We weren’t really a musical band,” he said. “It was more like ‘Let’s go put on a show and tell jokes.’”
Beaudoin enrolled in several audio mastering and production internships at recording studios in Cambridge, Somerville and Lowell, Mass. and in Scarborough during his studies.
“I wanted to expand my experience,” he said.
Beaudoin freelanced as an audio engineer after graduation, and eventually became a recruiter for a mechanical engineering company in Boston, a bittersweet arrangement, he said.
“It was tough for me to go from a recording studio to a cubicle,” he said. “But I wanted to have a comfortable life. These contests kind of give me a creative outlet.”
His day job may not be “super creative,” but Beaudoin said he continues to play the keyboard, drums, guitar and what he described as “the happiest instrument in the world” – the ukulele.
“I’m not amazing in any instrument,” he said. “I guess I would consider myself a guitarist.”
Beaudoin said he plans to save his prize money for purchasing a new home, and has already used a camera the “Flip For a Budget” contest judges gave him to record his next contest submission – a 30 second video for a Tic-Tac commercial in which Beaudoin races a cat to a box of mints on the kitchen counter – that involved the whole Beaudoin family.
“My parents helped control the cat,” he said.
Beaudoin said he would be surprised if his submissions made it to television or radio, as often the publicity generated by the contests themselves provides the companies “enough bang for their buck.”
“These companies spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on advertising,” he said. “For them to give away $25,000 and get something they can promote on YouTube and let it catch on virally is no big deal.”
Beaudoin said unlike the Snickers and Budget Rent-A-Car entries, the Tic-Tac skit simply “came to him” one morning. He said sometimes the key to coming up with original entries is to “let the ideas come to you,” rather than trying to intentionally create a unique submission.
“Think of it as a puzzle,” he said. “That’s the way I look at a lot of things in life.”
When it comes to entering online contests, Beaudoin said he encourages fellow musicians, filmmakers and artists to ‘just go for it.”
“People watch a lot of TV and play a lot of video games,” he said. “Why not take that 10 hours and put it toward something that can make you money or give you exposure?”
Beaudoin said the odds of winning online contests are better than most people might think. He has entered five contests and already won two of them – he didn’t win an Oreo jingle competition but received a Quizno’s gift card for a video he submitted to their contest.
“It’s not like I’m playing the lottery,” he said. “If the odds are one in 50, that’s a no-brainer.”
It could be a long time before Beaudoin’s contest winnings are enough to allow him to “jingle-write” full-time, but he said he intends to continue to participate in future online contests.
“Jingle writing is definitely not nine to five,” he said. “Right now I need a steady income and I have to pursue [jingle writing] realistically. I still have a few connections in the [recording] industry I can work with down the road.”