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BOUNTIFUL — A Bountiful family is a top contestant in an online commercial contest to create a new jingle for Honeycomb cereal, and they're hoping those musical talents will help them bring home some cash along with their new-found Internet fame.
The Holleys try to go easy on the sugar cereals, so when the kids get Honeycomb, it's a treat. One morning while eating breakfast, they noticed the contest on the back of the box. They saw a chance to go for the money while paying homage to the Honeycomb.
For the Holley family, the cute approach seems to be working. Honeycomb's nationwide search for a new jingle garnered a wide variety of videos: some upbeat, others more hard rock and some with fancy special effects.
The five Holley sisters, baby included, went for a more straightforward approach.
Nine-year-old Anna Belle came up with the tune.
"I love singing," she said. "I was just talking to my dad, and he was like, ‘What do you think? What kind of tune should we have?' and I just started randomly singing."
That spontaneous song turned into a 30-second jingle, with musician and schoolteacher Lamar Holley crafting the melody into a tune.
"I am a songwriter myself, and I figured out some chords for it," he said. "They have cute little voices, and they're learning to harmonize, now. They're great at working together … some of the time."
The one stipulation was that they had to use the original lyrics from this commercial shown in the early 80's.
If the family picks up the most votes on facebook, they'll win a $5,000 cash prize.
"They're trying to get their friends to vote; they're going up to strangers on the street, ‘You should vote for us," Linsey Holley said.
Regardless of the results, the Holleys say they've already won something more important than money.
"Even if we hadn't placed at all, it would have been worth it, just to have this family experience together," Lamar Holley said.
Voting ends Oct. 19. There's no guarantee of getting in a televised commercial, but in addition to the money, they could win a one-year supply of Honeycomb cereal.
