Carino's Launches Employee Ad Contest After Austin Server Has a Usable Idea

Thanks to an Austin-area server, Carino's is turning to its employees for new marketing concepts. Lindsey Bielser, who has worked for Carino's for six years, pitched an idea for a holiday commercial to the Italian chain's director of marketing when he stopped in for lunch one day. And since the idea was actually good, they made it into an ad which ran across Texas in Spanish and in English during the month of December.

Now Carino's is thinking maybe other servers have decent ideas, too, and is holding a contest for hourly employees that runs through February 13. Executives will pick the top five submitted concepts which will then be voted on by the public on YouTube in March. The winning ad will be posted on their website and may get aired on television, presumably depending on how good it is. Check out Bielser's ad below, in which a little kid watches what appears to be snow falling, but the camera pans out to revel it is actually cheese being grated onto pasta.

Video: Carino's "Let It Snow" Ad

· Restaurant Chain Turns to Employees for Creativity [NYT]
· Carino's "Let It Snow" Commercial [YouTube]