Public Voting, Lottery-Style Prizes and Viral Videos Preserve Buzz
Rainer Takahashi — March 31, 2009 — Marketing
References: doritosguru & islandreefjob
Name the newest Doritos flavor and win $25,000 + 1% of the flavor’s sales. Spend six month on a tropical island and get paid over $100,000 to blog about the experience. These are just some of the large promotional contests that companies and organizations are running to compete for the consumer’s limited attention span.
What originally makes this tactic stand out is the unprecedented large prize format. Furthermore, in many of these contests, contestants are required to do some sort of project (home videos in most cases) where, if chosen, the public votes on the winner online. This adds a new dynamic to experiential marketing.
Recent examples, as referred to above, include Doritos ‘Name the New Flavor’ and become the Doritos Guru contests, where contestants had to submit a new flavor name in a creative home video format. The idea was similar within Tourism Australia’s $100,000 island job contest.
Along with the experiential and interactive/voting aspect of these tactics, offering a large lottery grade cash prize creates a lot of media buzz, which of course is free publicity that's worth an inestimable sum.
Ultimately, if it were broken down into a return on investment standpoint, this new tactic produces unimaginable returns thanks to the power of the Internet and people's collective desire to try to and watch others win large prizes.
What originally makes this tactic stand out is the unprecedented large prize format. Furthermore, in many of these contests, contestants are required to do some sort of project (home videos in most cases) where, if chosen, the public votes on the winner online. This adds a new dynamic to experiential marketing.
Recent examples, as referred to above, include Doritos ‘Name the New Flavor’ and become the Doritos Guru contests, where contestants had to submit a new flavor name in a creative home video format. The idea was similar within Tourism Australia’s $100,000 island job contest.
Along with the experiential and interactive/voting aspect of these tactics, offering a large lottery grade cash prize creates a lot of media buzz, which of course is free publicity that's worth an inestimable sum.
Ultimately, if it were broken down into a return on investment standpoint, this new tactic produces unimaginable returns thanks to the power of the Internet and people's collective desire to try to and watch others win large prizes.
Trend Themes
1. Large Prize Promotional Contests - Large prize promotional contests with an interactive/voting aspect create a new dynamic to experiential marketing and unimaginable returns.
2. Lottery-style Cash Prizes - Offering lottery grade cash prizes in large promotional contests creates free publicity and generates a lot of media buzz.
3. Viral Video Submission Contests - Contests that require contestants to make creative home videos for submission with an interactive/public voting aspect are becoming popular for promotional contests.
Industry Implications
1. Food and Beverage - Large prize promotional contests with an interactive/voting aspect can be utilized to promote new products and generate media buzz in the food and beverage industry.
2. Tourism - Lottery-style cash prizes can be used to generate free publicity and promote tourism in a particular region or country.
3. Digital Marketing - Viral video submission contests with an interactive/voting aspect can be utilized to create engaging content and increase social media following and engagement in the digital marketing industry.
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