One of the leading websites offering trip booking services and accommodations specifically for Sin City, Vegas.com. is looking to spice things up in their advertising and marketing department. The popular website recently announced a filmmaking contest, in which the winner would get to direct a national commercial spot for Vegas.com. Seeking a more homespun approach of marketing the casino gaming and nightlife of Las Vegas rather than the catch phrase, "What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas" Vegas.com president, Howard Lefkowitz, is encouraging filmmakers to tie the emotional and psychological connections of Vegas in their commercials.

In order to up the quality and amount of submissions, Lefkowitz has partnered with the esteemed CineVegas Film Festival, for which they are a presenting sponsor. CineVegas has been host to several notable films and emerging filmmakers over the years, including last year's controversial psychological thriller, Inside Out, written and directed by David Ogden.

Apparently, many of the submissions are top contenders to win the national campaign. Lefkowitz has been openly candid about some of them, referring to one in which a man snaps out of a catatonic state after booking a trip to a casino featured on Vegas.com. He also cited one in which a man walks around town with a long, shiny pole and a glass of liquor, trying to entice a pretty woman to dance for him on the sidewalk. The tag at the end is that the man will have better odds playing in Vegas casinos.

With the submission deadline already passed, Lefkowitz said the contest received a total of over one-hundred entries from around the country. The two above-mentioned entries have been narrowed down with three other finalists. A panel of judges will decide on the final winner, who in addition to nabbing the commercial spot for Vegas.com's national ad campaign, will win a check for $5,000. Lefkowitz said the winner will be a key player in giving creative and technical insight into the national ad campaign, and could very well end up being based on the winning film itself.