Whether it would be used to sell donuts, popcorn chicken or another product – fried food or otherwise – senior Geoff Pilkington and the other two members of Rouse Productions knew they had a good idea for a commercial.

Judges at Kentucky Fried Chicken and 2,424 Internet voters agreed.

Pilkington and his friends, Nathan Brown of Washington University and Joe Ackerman of the University of Illinois were the $10,000 first place winners in KFC’s nationwide popcorn chicken commercial contest. Their commercial, "Big Fish," aired last Thursday during NBC’s ‘Scrubs" and on Fox during the Major League Baseball playoffs.

The 30-second spot, in which a novice fisher, played by Pilkington, uses popcorn chicken as bait to snag a whale out of a small pond, was initially developed with Krispy Kreme donuts in mind.

Pilkington explained that through a contact of his father’s, he and his friends had pitched commercial ideas to Krispy Kreme. After being turned down, Pilkington said they decided they might have better luck if they had a product to offer, instead of just an idea.

So, they shot three commercials last summer: Two for Krispy Kreme and one for Fitz’s root beer.

However, unlike Pilkington’s character in the winning commercial, the three still weren’t getting any bites.

Then, on Sept. 2, Brown saw the press release announcing the KFC contest. "He said, ‘This is what we did all summer,’" Pilkington said. "‘Why don’t we take our best idea and re-shoot it using popcorn chicken instead of Krispy Kremes?’"

Pilkington said the commercial’s theme matched KFC’s marketing message. "They were looking for ‘Popcorn chicken, bigger and better,’" he said. "And the whale is a bigger and better fish."

While the commercial’s theme was a good fit, the props used were a little less than perfect, Pilkington said. The chicken used in the commercial was not actually KFC’s.

Tight on time, the three started production in their hometown of Ladue, Mo., at 8 a.m. "We realized we needed a box of chicken," Pilkington said. The local KFC came through with a box, but did not have any chicken ready. So, the three producers went to grocery store to find a look-a-like.

"It looked like popcorn chicken," Pilkington said of the store-bought Tyson’s chicken. "We put it in the microwave and tore the chicken apart."

The hastily thrown together imitation was enough to fool KFC judges. After KFC contacted Brown regarding copyright issues, "Big Fish" was named one of three finalists out of 1,500 entries.

The winner was selected based on Internet voting from Sept. 24 to 25.

"I told everyone I knew," Pilkington said. He also got an announcement posted on E-net titled "Elon Student Needs Your Vote." Pilkington said this proved particularly effective. "I didn’t think so many students checked E-net," he said

On Oct. 1, right before he was to take a criminal behavior test, Pilkington got the news they had won. He said his grade suffered a bit because of his excitement. "It’s been hard to focus," Pilkington said of the last week.