St. Louis Park Man Hopes to Smell Like $1 Million

It's not everyday you get to play a talking laundry detergent bottle, but it's something Scott Zilka was more than willing to do for a shot at $1 million.

The St. Louis Park resident, alongside close friends Andy Anderson, Adam Fielitz and Jim DeSimone, is among 25 finalists in Gain's Smell Like a Million Bucks video contest. Voting—all processed through Facebook—runs through Aug. 1, with the top-ranked video taking home the $1 million prize.

Working under the name Anderson-Desmond Productions—Anderson after Anderson, Desmond after telemarketers' horrid pronunciations of DeSimone's last name—the foursome put together a 59-second video based on a fictional 1950s game show.

A contestant has to guess which of two men is an actual millionaire and winds up guessing incorrectly because one man "smells like a million bucks." Thanks to his Gain laundry detergent, of course.

Zilka, who plays the game show host—as well as the talking detergent bottle that appears at the end—said the group put everything together in "literally two to three days."

The idea came to the men at about 1 a.m. while they "were sitting around in Adam's garage eating potato chips," DeSimone said. Within 10 minutes they had fleshed out the concept and, after scrounging up a green suit and a nearby church with the perfect blue curtains, ran with the idea.

The entry was actually filmed in two separate stints, with the four friends never actually together. And as they never ran through the script, the original version was nearly 45 seconds too long. Thanks to the magic of editing—over the course of a couple of hours to meet an impending deadline—they seamlessly interact with one another and the clip comes in just shy of one minute.

DeSimone said it's a "complete mystery" how their video managed to sneak into the top 25, as he said the last time he checked it had only been ranked in the top 60.

"They had some sort of ratings system based on originality and creativity on the part of a company panel," he said. "Then a few people got disqualified and suddenly we found ourselves in the top 25."

The group isn't really thinking much about winning but DeSimone said it "would be hysterical if (they) somehow pulled it off."

"It's funny that we got in period," he said. "Then it was pretty funny we made the top 25. If we manage to win this thing, it will be hysterical."

Zilka said there is "really no way of knowing" whether they'll win, but he said the four friends are enjoying themselves and the process.

As far as what he'd do with his share of $1 million, Zilka said he'd probably just focus on taking care of necessities at home.

"It's not change your life money," he said. "It's help your life money."

The men have set up a website to help guide people through the process of voting for the video. People need to be signed into Facebook and have liked Gain to vote, but then may vote up to once a day through Monday.