Fuel the Change Video Contest

Votigo, the leading online social media technology provider announced in early March that they will be hosting the Fuel the Change Video Contest.  This contest's goal is to educate people on alternative American energy sources.  PR Web, a very reliable and up to date resource published this article, Votigo Powers White-Label "Fuel the Change Video Contest" for Ethanol Promotion and Information Council, on March 11, 2008.  This article describes the contest and how Votigo is the a great place to host this contest given their reach and capabilities.  The video contest asks consumers to create 30 second videos in commercial format that highlights the advantages of using ethanol as an alternative energy source.  Votigo is a great host for a contest like this because of the social networking tools, people can virally share their commercials with friends and acquaintances.  This aspect allows the commercials and the contest to spread to many different people, but more importantly for people to learn more about the advantages of ethanol, which is becoming so important in our world.

EPIC, Ethanol Promotion and Information Council, is also very involved in this contest.  They have certain goals for this promotion as well as a standard of values that must be met.  So this contest is well thought out and involves multiple groups of people working for a similar cause.  Votigo and EPIC have formatted a working partnership which results in an interactive and innovative spin on just another video contest.  The commercials produced by consumers can be integrated into their existing websites and include links to areas that include information specific to the Fuel the Change contest.  Votigo connects businesses and organizations with consumers too so there is a mass outreach to people involved at every level.  

The organizations feel very confident about this year's Fuel the Change contest and believe the teaming up with Votigo could bring in some of the best results.  There is also a large grand prize of $10,000 to the winner of this contest who also gets the chance to have their commercial aired on ABC.  Applicants are accepted until April 21, 2008 and the winners are selected on May 7.  I think this contest will be very successful because alternative energy and energy conservation are such a big issue in the world right now and people are becoming more and more conscious of their actions.   I also think that the best way to get the message out and get more attention for your contest is to team up with a successful brand or website because they already have a large fan base who is loyal as well.  It seems like EPIC and Digital Dialogue, marketing agency, did a very good job of planning the contest out and made decisions that could make this contest really successful.  I'm interested in seeing how well the contest does and if Votigo will become the server they use every year.

Furniture lovers cheer another Sox contest

"Red Sox nation" is a huge fan base that follows the successes and hardships of the Boston Red Sox.  This enormous group of people is a perfect market to tap into for contests and promotions.  Jordan's furniture has done just this.  Last year they teamed up with an insurance company that agreed to pay for certain items of furniture if the Red Sox won the World Series.  Since they did win, Jordan's ended up giving away around $20 to $30 million worth of furniture.  

This promotion was extremely successful for Jordan's furniture and many people are anxious for the new baseball season to start as well as the new contest.  Starting tomorrow and running through late April, Jordan's is bringing back their contest and will reimburse people for their furniture.  The article, Furniture lovers cheer another Sox contest, doesn't go into all the details of the contest, like if every purchase counts or if there is more to entering.  This year's promotion is a little different however, Jordan's will only reimburse the purchases if the Red Sox not only win the World Series but also sweep the competition.  This limits the promotion a little bit, but I still think people will choose Jordan's furniture with the hope that they could get reimbursed.  

This is a creative idea for Jordan's furniture to team up with the successes of the Red Sox because there is a huge following around the country.  I am not completely sure about all the details of the promotion, like if all Jordan locations are participating, but the Massachusetts locations will definitely bring in a lot of business given the locality of the Boston based team.  The one downfall with this promotion that I think about is that how many people that bought furniture last year will need more furniture this year.  In order for this promotion to be successful people either need to buy more furniture or the people that did not participate last year need to this year.  I am interested to see how successful this promotion is given the rarity of furniture buying.

Shipley Do-Nuts E-Trivia Contest

This promotion is pretty selective given that only people from McLennan County, Texas can win but the promotion involves some elements that I have not seen in many other contests so I thought it was worth sharing. Shipley Do-Nuts advetised this contest on their website to announce the details and starting date which was March 3 and runs through June 1, 2008. I would say that main goal of this contest is to increase sales and recognition of Shipley Do-Nuts because their contest targets children age 5-12. This age group is not frequently the contestants for product contests and promotions, however for something like donuts they are definitely consumers.

This promotion is also a little different because the whole premise is that every week three new questions will be posted on the website, and the contestants need to search through the website to find the answers. Each contestant prints out an entry form for each week, fills out the answers, and drops off the form to a Shipley Do-Nut location in McLennan County. Each week every location in McLennan County pulls 3 winners from the acceptable applicants who can win food and gift prizes. For little kids this is a pretty exciting contest because they have 13 chances to win something. Every winner from the 13 weeks then gets added to the Grand prize drawing which is a cruise for a family of 4. The questions are also not very hard, for this week there is the question "what is the most popular donut we sell?" which is not common knowledge but would definitely be somewhere on the site. To enter to you only have to be a resident of McLennan county and have a parent or guardian over 18 who can claim the prize.

This contest offers kids an opportunity to be like their parents or older siblings and enter a contest. It is also relatively educational, the children need to read Shipley's history section and other aspects of the website in order to answer the questions correctly. I think this contest gives kids the opportunity to educate themselves and while they probably need help to print and get over to hand in the form, for many kids they can do it all by themselves. This also largely promotes Shipley's, in order to hand in the form the kids are going to be begging to go to Shipleys which could then translate into the future they will be begging to go get some donuts.

I think this is a clever contest and parents would support their children taking part in it. There is no reason that I could think of that parents would reject their children's entry so that shows good planning by Shipleys.

Man wins $1 Million in Santa Anita promotion

The world of promotions is not all about the ones coming up but also about who wins them.  A man by the name of John Placzankis was the big winner at a yearly Santa Anita horse racing track St. Patrick's day promotion.  The promotion gave 5 randomly selected applicants the chance to win $1 million by throwing a single horseshoe, a ringer would win that lucky person the prize money.  John Placzankis was the second of the 5 to throw his horseshoe, with no practice tosses, and achieved the coveted ringer while everyone else apparently didn't even come close.  I know what you're thinking he probably plays everyday at his home in Rancho Cucamonga, CA, but you would be wrong because according to John he hasn't thrown a horseshoe "in like 30 years" and he just relaxed and "tried to not to cross the line while throwing it like a softball."  

 

This ringer also scored Placzankis the number 4 slot on ESPN's top 10 plays of the day, and a write up entitled Man wins $1 million in Santa Anita promotion on the ESPN website by Jay Privman.  To get a write up on ESPN for tossing one horseshoe is pretty amazing, well besides the fact that that one horseshoe also won him one million dollars.  The money, Placzankis says, will go towards "paying some bills, and taking care of nieces, nephews, and his mom back home in New Rochelle NY," his hometown, he only moved out to California 8 years ago.

 

This promotion offered a lucky person a taxed $1 million dollars.  This promotion should alter the way contests and promotions are organized and the value of the prize.  However giving away such a large amount of money or a high priced item is not very common for promotions or contests.  Also this promotion has been going on for a couple of years now so it does not seem like it is affecting other contests.  However it might put pressure on some companies in the same area of business that feel they might have to keep up and offer good prizes to their consumers, which is a positive because we the consumers benefit!  Another thing about this promotion is that it brings in good business to the racetrack as well as giving someone an amazing life changing prize which is positive in both aspects.  John Placzankis is a lucky man, and it seems like he will use his prize money to help many people, he even announced "the drinks are on me" to the crowd after his prize winning toss. 

Vending Takes New Role in Marketing Promotions

While doing this blog I've found out a lot about the promotions going on now, and this one is one of the best ones I've read about. This article, Vending Takes New Role in Marketing Promotions, written just last night outlines a really cool new type of dispensing coupons to consumers. There is now technology that allows vending machines to spit out coupons after a customer makes a purchase! I don't frequent vending machines that often, but I think this is an amazing way to market products to consumers and I would definitely go back to the vending machine that gave me a coupon.

This is not the only thing vending machines are being updated with, there are even vending machines that have touch screens with different options of paying method. The article goes into detail about how this type of marketing really targets people "in school, at the work place, at means of transportation, and at places of entertainment." This technology was developed by Walker Digital and could really change the way companies promote their products.

These vending machines dispense the normal chips and candy bars, however, you can receive a coupon that is redeemable for a free item at a restaurant or $5 off a $25 purchase. This is a really great deal because vending machine products are usually only in the $1 range and you can receive $5 off a $25 purchase which is not hard to spend. Also I always think highly of brands and stores that give good coupons and I would definitely be more likely to revisit a store if I got a worthwhile coupon so any store that takes part in these vending machine coupons would get a better score in my book. The only thing is that I always feel like these cool coupon deals and GSTV type contraptions are never in my area, but I'll say it again, I hope to receive a coupon after my next vending machine purchase.

Gas Station TV Pumps Up Popularity with New Contest

Gas Station Television, GSTV, is an innovative new technology that brings the news to you at the gas pump. There are LCD screens planted in gas pumps around the country, that broadcast around 4.5 minute segments from CBS, ESPN, and Accuweather.com. This television station has locations in California, New York, Georgia, Texas, Florida, Illinois and other states around the country, with the hope of increasing locations. The CEO of GSTV, David Leider, is conducting a contest for new broadcasters for the network, as well as spreading their concept around the country.

The article, Gas Station TV Pumps Up Personality with New Contest, was found in Ad Age on March 11, 2008. This contest is very new, starting on April 1 and running through May 4, and the network itself is revolutionizing the television genre. This contest is open to people over the age of 18 who can create 30 second clips of themselves broadcasting which is then directly uploaded to gstv.com. Leider says they are looking for "fabulous, fresh, outgoing, hot, adaptable, fun, smart, informative and trustworthy" people, one of the applicants will be named the winner and become a temporary broadcaster for the network. The elimination process will take place after May 4th and a team of company members, a talent scout, and TV commerical producers will narrow down the applicants to 3, then the public will vote on the remaining 3 and declare a winner.

The winner of this contest receives $2500 as well as an all expense paid trip to Detroit to film a couple of clips for the network. While this is not a full time job opportunity, this is an experience that can be added to a resume if you are interested in becoming a broadcaster. Also if the winner of this contest does really well and is what GSTV is looking for they could be kept on for a longer period of time. This is a really great contest for people looking into broadcasting as a career, and for GSTV to spread their name. GSTV is also looking to expand their content so bringing on a new broadcaster could allow them to tap into a new topic of conversation.

Another great thing about this contest is that GSTV is advertising in all the right places. They plan to use Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube to advertise this contest as well as the existing screens they have. This advertising campaign is intended to reach around 30 million people, which is a large number for just a contest. This contest revolutionizes the market because not only is the TV station itself innovative and unusual, they are utilizing the newest advertising tools to reach the younger 18-25 year old audience. Their strategy to spread their name and contest shows the direction that advertising is going and it will be interesting to see how their contest goes and the number of people that apply. It will also be interesting to see the future of GSTV and if I will end up seeing it at the gas stations I visit.

Worthwhile Coupon Strategy

I came across this article, Worthwhile Coupon Strategy, and I was very happy I did.  This article basically tells consumers that if they hold off on using their coupons then they can save more money.  This article was written on January 25, 2008 so it is very recent, as well as being timeless because this is a deal that can be applied anytime of the year and for years to come.  There was a link given at the bottom of the little write up on this neat website Everyday Loopholes  where there are little write ups that include hints and ways to cheat the system, for example, by adding a specific set of letters and numbers you can get better resolution on YouTube videos.  This is a great website because it is people helping other people get more out of their everyday experiences, and Everyday Loopholes lets people submit tips they've found, that is where this coupon strategy came from.  Also Everyday Loopholes writes small blurbs about the deals so it is really easy to read about something quickly then apply it to your life if you want.  

The Worthwhile Coupon Strategy was found on The Simple Dollar, financial talk for the rest of us, a blog by a man named Trent Hamm who started posting 2 years ago and started because he wanted to help people who are in financial trouble.  His blog seems very successful and has a lot of really great posts written in language that almost anyone can understand.  The particular topic of coupons came up and he had a friend who worked at a local Iowa grocery store, and his friend revealed to him that many items that are featured in the Sunday coupon pages go on sale a month after the coupon sheets come out.  Trent saved his coupons for 4 weeks and then went to the grocery store and found that 40% of the products featured in the coupon section were on sale.  He got amazing deals on these items, commenting on getting vanilla ice cream for $.19 and salad dressing for less than a dollar as well.  

Trent and Everyday Loopholes are doing a really great thing because everyone wants to save money especially on something as necessary as groceries, so by Trent blogging about his experience, making the information public, and Everyday Loopholes picking it up makes the helpful information available to even more people.  Also Everyday Loopholes included a link to Trent's blog, The Simple Dollar, so people who visit one website now have easy access to the other helpful information resource.  This is "link love" at it's finest and helps a lot of people who want to get the most out of their dollar as well as their daily life, Everyday Loopholes posts about all types of things helping people in all types of categories.  I am excited to check out these two sites and learn some ways to save a couple dollars and also get more out of Youtube and other aspects of my life.  

Netelligent Kicks Off Interactive Dance Contest

Netelligent is a corporation committed to "integrating different streams of communication into a single user interface" for example  integrating your email and voice-mail so you can respond anytime, anywhere.  This corporation wanted to increase their publicity, reach more people, and Cisco launched a new Digital Media System so they decided to hold an online contest.  PRWEB found out about this contest and did a write up on what will take place entitled Netelligent Kicks Off Interactive Dance Contest.  This article was written on March 2, 2008 and the promotion starts today and runs through April 18th.  

This contest will allow people to upload videos of themselves dancing in order to win a prize.  The grand prize $2500 and the 3 runners up will receive $500, the contest is judged by other visitors of the website.  The website allows people to upload videos of them dancing, view other people, and vote on the other performances.  The article goes into detail about how in the past interactive promotions only gave people one way to participate, this contest allows people to choose how they participate and do not have to submit a video of themselves dancing to be included.  Also this is a good way to promote customer interaction because people are going to vote for each other to decide who wins, the executives are not the ones choosing, so this is a positive atmosphere to maybe get some blog conversation going. 

Colin Millstone, director of marketing for Netelligent is quoted in saying "This promotion takes our marketing efforts to a whole new world," and the more I read and blog about contests and promotions the more I am realizing how right that statement is.  Companies and corporations can't just advertise anymore to gain a large following and to be remembered by consumers.  Contests and promotions are the key to sticking in people's minds and getting positive word of mouth.  Fun contests and promotions also have to be original in order to grab attention, and a dance contest while not very original, is definitely amusing and shows people's personalities so they never get old.  Utilizing the Internet is a big aspect of promotions and contests recently.  So many people use the Internet daily for sources of information and knowledge, advertising promotions on the Internet is a tool that reaches many people, even if they accidently stumbled across your promotion like I did, they can still check it out thus learning about your corporation and any unique approaches to business you might be participating in such as a dance contest. 

  

I had never heard of Netelligent corporation, but I feel that a fun promotion such as a dancing contest will definitely draw attention to them and get people interested in what it is.  Also the article from PRWEB does a very good job of briefly outlining Cisco's new Digital Media System, what Netelligent is, and also having links to these different websites.  This way I did not have to look far to find out who the sponsors of this contest were and what they were about.