Marketing.Media.Money

Want to be on TV? The brand looking for real people to be paid $100,000 to star in its ad campaign

Lucy Handley, special to CNBC
WATCH LIVE

January may be the most popular time to look for a new job, but rather than trying to find another office role, what if that meant starring in an advertising campaign?

Heinz is looking for a "regular guy" to "Go all the way for $100k," and star in a commercial for its Devour range of frozen meals to be aired during the Super Bowl next month.

It is running auditions in New York, Houston and Los Angeles, looking for "actors, non-actors and oddballs" to apply. Applicants must be male, aged 25 to 42, have a sense of humor, know the Devour brand and "be prepared to eat some incredible buffalo chicken mac-n-cheese," according to an advertisement on the Eventbrite website.

Applicants will have to be available for filming this Saturday through next Wednesday and the winner will receive $100,000 and sign a two-year contract.

The Kraft Heinz Company launched Devour in the U.S. in July 2016 to take a bite out of the $7.2 billion frozen food market, aiming to reach young men and classifying meals as creamy, crispy, cheesy, spicy, sweet or smoky.

Heinz isn't the only business aiming to have a 'real' person represent their brand. Cruise company Royal Caribbean is looking for an Instagram pro for an "Extraordinary Intern-ship," where a winning entrant will go on three free cruises and be paid £3,000 ($3,652) for taking and uploading pictures to the social networking site.

Get paid to Instagram for Royal Caribbean
VIDEO1:3201:32
Get paid to Instagram for Royal Caribbean

Instagrammers can enter by posting up to four pictures on the site, using the hashtag #ExtraordinaryExplorer and tagging @RoyalCaribbeanUK. They must have at least 300 followers on Instagram and have "extensive knowledge of all 23 filters," according to terms and conditions on Royal Caribbean International's UK Facebook page. The winner will be documenting cruises departing from Beijing, New York and Barcelona this June and July.

Using non-actors to represent a brand is not a new strategy: In 2016 music streaming service Pandora decided against using professionals for a campaign where people talked about how different songs made them feel, while UK energy company Npower showed real people showing off their super powers, or unusual talents in October 2016.

Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook.