Donna's Promo Talk - Promotional Marketing that Creates Excitement and Gets Results

Why Heinz Ketchup Maybe Shouldn't Do a Consumer Generated Promotional Contest

Yesterday I read an interesting article that caught my attention in the Contra Costa Times that PromoXtra passed on in their daily online promotional newsletter. The article is called "Heinz finds ad Contest has a messy downside" which is about a current promotional contest, Top This TV Challenge from Heinz. The website is done quite well and has a streaming video ad that you can view below that asks "Are You Hungry for Fame?...All you need is a camcorder and a great idea for a Heinz ketchup commercial."

We in the promotional marketing industry have been following this trend of consumer-generated content and the article brings their California readers up to date by saying "Consumer brand companies have been busy introducing campaigns like Heinz's that rely on user-generated content, an approach that combines the populist appeal of reality television with the old-fashioned gimmick of a sweepstakes to select a new advertising jingle. Pepsi, Jeep, Dove and Sprint have all staged promotions of this sort, as has Doritos, which proudly publicized in February that the consumers who made one of its Super Bowl ad did so on a $12 budget."

So, what's different about the Heinz promotional contest? Well it appears that they have received quite a lot of submissions haven't been what Heinz would want to associate with their brand. Heinz has hired an outside promotions firm to view all the videos and so far according to the article they have rejected more than 370 submissions. Many of these didn't fit the judging criteria that's spelled out in the contest rules, but unfortunately have made their way on to YouTube anyhow.

As of this morning there are a total of 386 videos posted on the official Heinz YouTube Site. I took a look at some and found a few that were a bit entertaining, but many that were just plain bad. So I did a search on YouTube for Heinz and found some of the others that were disqualified (or banned as they say). Most of these involve smearing ketchup all over your body, one from a Dutch person mocking Heinz for making the contest only eligible for U.S. citizens and another from Sweden that I had to first consent that I'm an adult in order to watch. You can probably figure that one out.  As David Ciesinski, vice president for Heinz Ketchup said "they wouldn't be appropriate to show mom".

So did Dorito's, Dove and the NFL also have this problem with their promotional contests that ask for consumer generated media? They probably had some of it, but I asked myself what's different about Heinz and I posted a comment to the article in the Contra Costa Times and I thought I'd repeat it here for my readers which says:

So if brands want to go in this direction they need to first consider whether or not their product (or service) is the right fit to open up to the collective "you" (referring back to the NY Times 2006 Person of the Year). I'm sorry, but ketchup does look a lot like blood and personally I think it's not very appealing to look at, wasn't even in the famous "Anticipation" ad. I don't think mustard is very appealing either. But yes, we do eat many hamburgers and hot dogs in this country that incude both of these condiments. I'm sure the people at Heinz and their ad agencies have struggled in the past to generate good looking ketchup ads, and used professional food stylists to do it.

As I've noted in my post on Contests they generally are used to help reinforce the brand or the product/service attributes and its positioning in the marketplace. So, if you can think of any negative attributes that your brand may have, believe me the consumer will also.

My company, DDC Marketing Group, is assisting with administering a consumer-generated promotion for Purina's Cute Cat Video Contest. I'll have to let you know how this turns out. However, if you think back and ask if the brand and/or product in the content is right for this you have to admit, cats are much cuter than ketchup. I wouldn't advise Reddi-Whip to do a consumer-generated contest promotion either. However I was surprised to see a "Reddi-Whip Moments" section on their website but it's text only, no photos.

The Heinz Top This TV Challenge Contests runs until August 6th, so we'll have to come back and see what they end up with. I'm sure they'll have a great winner in the long run. So if you're thinking of jumping on the bandwagon with your brand, you should learn from those that already have.

Wendy's Launches Hispanic-Aimed Instant Win Game Promotion

Last week Wendy's launched their "Freshest way to experience the Copa America", an integrated promotion targeted to the Hispanic blue collar male. Futbol (or soccer as it is also referred as) is the most popularly played and viewed sport in the world and plays a unique and powerful role in the lives of Hispanics. They follow the sport religiously and have a strong sense of pride in victorious matches.

Wendy's is the official restaurant of the 2007 Copa America tournament and to leverage their sponsorship they have developed an instant win game that will run in key Wendy's Hispanic markets from May 21st to June 23rd. Three lucky grand prize winners will receive the opportunity to experience the Copa America Tournament final match in Maracaibo, Venezuela. Customers receive a game piece at participating Wendy's when they purchase a #2 Combo meal to see if they are an instant winner. If not, they can then go online to the Wendy's micro site to enter the 2nd Chance Drawing for any unclaimed prizes. Secondary prizes include home theater packages, official Copa America soccer balls and jerseys as well as Wendy's gift cards.

My company, DDC Marketing Group, worked with The Vidal Partnership, Wendy's diversity marketing ad agency to administer the instant win game and sweepstakes and also to create and host the promotional micro site. The Vidal Partnership developed with Wendy's the promotion and all the support materials that included a POS activation kit with in store communications such as trayliners, window signs, posters, pickup window signs, decals, and danglers. All the signage was produced in both Spanish and English. They also created a promotional radio spot and a TV spot that will run on Univision during the Copa America finals.

The Vidal Partnership was recognized at the beginning of the year by Ad Age as one of the top ten agencies in the country and placed them on their "A-List" of agencies. They are the only multicultural agency on that list. They work with other brands on their hispanic marketing programs including Henikein USA and Coca-Cola. A key finding from the 2006 Hispanic Omnitel Retail Survey showed that about half of the respondents cited that Spanish language signage was "very important". The purchasing power of the Hispanic market continues to grow and it is estimated that by 2010 it will be $1.2 trillion plus. Investments by major brands in Hispanic marketing, advertising, promotion, media and related segments are getting stronger and stronger.

Part of the Wendy's program also includes Copita America, the official youth and amateur grassroots tournament open to boys, girls men and women of all ages and levels. This year Copita America USA is taking place throughout June in eight US markets: Fresno, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Phoenix, Dallas and Houston. Wendy's is planning sampling opportunities at these events by utilizing street teams outfitted in "Wendy's Team" soccer uniforms to distribute Wendy's gift cards.

Unilever this week launched ViveMejor, a major Hispanic marketing platform created for brands ranging from Dove and Suave to Hellmann’s and Ragu.This is the first time  Unilever has brought all of its food and personal-care brands together in a single umbrella program aimed at Hispanic consumers. A bilingual web site that includes recipes, beauty tips, and a “Share your Secrets” section where women "can share with Latinos like you". There are several sweepstakes offered as well. Soup mix Knorr if offering a chance to win dinner for nine, prepared in the winner’s home by a Knorr chef. There’s also a multi-brand cooking contest, Desafio del Sabor, with a top prize of $25,000. Plus a Dove sweepstakes with a grand-prize that includes a visit at home and lunch with stylist Leonardo Rocco, a makeover, and a basket of Dove products.

So, you need to ask if your brand is keeping up with this growing market and if you should be paying more attention to it.

Yoda Top Stamp Pick of U.S. Postal Service Promotion

It was a classic duel: light vs. dark, Rebel Alliance vs. Galactic Empire, good vs. evil. But, in the end, the revered Jedi Master Yoda bested the evil Sith Lord, Darth Vader. The U.S. Postal Service announced late on Friday that Yoda is the top pick of Americans who voted to determine which Star Wars character would be featured on a single stamp to be issued later this summer. The stamp I voted for didn't make it.

“We can only describe the excitement created by the Star Wars stamps as ‘out of this galaxy,’” said Anita Bizzotto, chief marketing officer of the Postal Service. Joining Bizzotto was Steve Sansweet, director of content management and head of fan relations, Lucasfilm Ltd; Howard Roffman, president of Lucas Licensing, and Jeffrey Adam Walker of Jacksonville, NC who is the the  winner of the Jedi Shipping and Mailing Master Sweepstakes. Walker won the trip to Star Wars Celebration IV to see the stamp dedication ceremony.

Happy 30th Anniversary Star Wars

It's been 30 years today since Star Wars first premiered on May 25, 1977 and smashed all box office records. Since I've recently been writing about the big blockbuster movies of the summer I thought how could I leave this one out. After all, this is the one set the stage for what we experience today with the summer mega movies. Back then there wasn't the mass amount of promotional marketing campaigns associated with movies that we have today. Star Wars was really the start of big tie-ins with the Entertainment Industry.

This year the big anniversary event started in Los Angeles yesterday, 5/24, called Star Wars Celebration IV  and continues through Monday, 5/28. You can visit the Official Star Wars Blog to see photos of many of the fans attending (and dressed in character) as well as some of the actors. According to Yahoo's The Buzz Log, Star Wars today ranks in the top 1000 of searches.

Our very own US Postal Service has developed a huge promotion around Star Wars in honor of the 30th Anniversary which is named The Jedi Shipping and Mailing Master . Visitors to the special promotional website were asked to vote for which image they wanted to become the Star Wars commemorative stamp designed by longtime Star Wars poster artist Drew Struzan. Fifteen first-class stamps were included that show familiar characters and vehicles from the six movies in the saga: Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Chewbacca, Princess Leia Organa and R2-D2, C-3PO, Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Emperor Palpatine, stormtroopers, Boba Fett, the Millennium Falcon, an X-wing star fighter, Queen Padre Amid ala, Darth Maul and the Obi-Wan Ken obi and An akin Sky walker stamp that I voted for shown here.

Starting today, Friday May 25th, the 15 stamps went on sale at all Post Office nationwide. The votes were taken up till midnight last night to determine "which stamp will rule the galaxy" and be released later this summer as a single stamp. Unfortunately the announcement won't be made till later tonight in LA, so I guess I'll have to come back to it tomorrow. They also created this souvenir sheet our of all the stamp designs that's shown here on the left that you can purchase for $6.15.

Once your stamp vote was submitted you were then invited to take the Jedi Shipping & Mailing Master Challenge to put your Star Wars knowledge to the test, and also be entered into the sweepstakes to win the Grand Prize VIP trip for four to the ultimate fan experience, the Star War Celebration IV event happening in Los Angeles. 100 runners-up win $100 EBay gift certificates.

The US post Office also issued a set of Star Wars Prepaid Express Mail envelopes that features artwork images of Yoda, Darth Vader, and Obi Wan Kenobi. You can purchase the set of three pre-paid envelopes for $49.89.

This promotion I felt had one of the best interactive promotional websites I've seen. It's too bad it's not fully functional now that the sweepstakes is over. Anyhow, Happy Anniversary Star Wars and may the force be with us.

A Couple of Shrek 3 Promotional TV Ads

Since I've been talking about the top three summer movies recently released and the brands that have associated themselves with them I couldn't help but show you a couple of my favorite TV ads from promotional partners of Shrek 3. This first one from M&M's is just great.

This is a close second favorite from Sierra Mist.

I hope you enjoyed them.

The 2007 Summer Movie Promotions: Part 2

Tomorrow is the opening night for Pirates of the Caribbean At World's End. The excitement has been building in our house this week. My 16 year old daughter has asked if she can go to the 8pm first showing of the movie with a bunch of friends and they all want to spend the night over at one of her girlfriend's house. I did hesitate since it's a school night, but she informed me that Friday they don't have any classes, just a May Day celebration. So, I gave in. It is Johhny Deep after all. My husband doesn't understand.

Pirates has quite a list of promotional partners that include Kellogg's (also on the Shrek list), Volvo, Best Buy, Circuit City, Verizon Wireless, My Coke Rewards and Albertsons. The first promotion I'll mention is Disney's own which is called The Adventures of the 7 Seas Lagoon Sweepstakes which is on Disney's website still, but has ended as of May 11th. Grand prize is an exclusive package to an event with the same name as the sweeps happening at Walt Disney World this week. So the lucky winner must be there now as I write. The promotion is sponsored by Disney Theme Parks events who has partnered with Northwest Airlines.

The most impressive is Volvo's The Hunt promo, a skill-based online competition that takes place in 22 different countries and gives the players the option of viewing the site in 24 different languages. The intro tells us that Volvo has sunken a treasure chest somewhere in the world with $50,000 in gold doubloons and a key to a brand new customized Volvo VC90 that the finder gets to drive home. Entrants have to solve 21 puzzles and the first one from each country to correctly solve all puzzles gets to become one of the 22 finalists to compete in the online final puzzle. Entrants need to obtain a Pirate Chart that includes a Pirate Code from a Volvo dealership in order to solve any puzzles beyond #5. Then the final puzzle will take place simultaneously in all 22 countries on June 2nd. So, we'll have to come back to this one and see how successful the U.S. finalist is. Centra Marketing & Communications is assisting Volvo with The Hunt.

Verizon Wireless has created its own Pirates website that includes games, (both online and mobile), ring tone and mobile wallpaper downloads, video clips and The Party on the Pearl Limbo Contest. Now I've played Limbo before at the PMA Annual Conference in Chicago back in March. It's an auction in which the person with the lowest, unique bid wins. So you play by placing a bid online or by texting through your mobile phone and the more bids you place the more tips you get. For example, it immediately tells you if your bid has been already submitted by another and at what number you need to bid to be over the current lowest bid. It's quite contagious once you start. At PMA I was texting in my bids with my phone all during the conference. Unfortunately I didn't win. You can find out more about Limbo and how to play the game here.

The final winner gets a VIP trip to a Party on the Black Pearl. Verizon is also giving away spot prizes from other partners during the promotion such as Pirate Jokes and Pirate Horoscopes text alerts, trips to the Bahamas, limited edition Pirates mobile phones, Gibson Guitars and a $2,500 Shipwreck Necklace from Odyssey Marine Exploration. These are the same folks that just found that shipwreck from the colonial period called the Black Swan believed to be the biggest ever collection of rare coins.   

So let's see if Pirates breaks the record this weekend. I know we'll be watching in this household. I hope the movie lives up to everyone's expectations. Let us know what you think.

The 2007 Big Summer Movie Promotions: Part 1

Now's the time the summer movies are starting to hit the theaters and this year we have three big blockbusters coming back all for their 3rd sequel: Spider-Man 3, Sherk 3, and Pirates of the Caribbean at World's End. With each movie there are of course plenty of brands that have hopped on board with tie-in promotions, here's a few of them.

Since Spider-Man 3 lead the pack this year and opened first I'll start here. Universal Orlando teamed up with Sony Pictures and MovieTickets.com to sponsor the "Swing into a Summer of Adventure" Sweepstakes. MovieTickets.com, the largest online movie ticketing provider reported that on Friday, May 4, Spider-Man 3 broke ticket sales records, selling more tickets in a single day than any other film.

“Sequels consistently perform well, and as evidenced by our significant advance online sales volume, moviegoers anticipated sold-out shows. It was just last July that Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest broke MovieTickets.com sales records, and now with these historic Spider-Man 3 numbers, we know that going online to buy an advance ticket has become a pop culture necessity,” said Joel Cohen EVP and general manager of MovieTickets.com.

Sony Pictures has a teamed up with many brands for Spider-Man 3 that include Burger King, General Mills, 7-eleven, Kraft and Pringles. Burger King's "Which Spidey Suits You" Instant Win Game is giving away a prize with every game piece from free food all the way up to a chance to win A Million Dollars. The grand prize winner has the option of receiving an $50,000 American Express Pre-paid gift card for 20 years or a check in the same amounts. First Place prize is a 2007 Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT DuoSelect worth $120,000!

On a smaller scale this month a few others partnered together to promote “Your Boyfriend is Spider-Man, Now What?” Sweepstakes. Participants can enter at the promotional micro site, or by using a mobile phone and texting in the official keyword, SPIDEY to shortcode 34343. Grand Prize is a $500 gift certificate to Givefun.com, an online gift certificate and registry company, and secondary prizes are "My Boyfriend is Spider-Man t-shirts and Spider-Man pillows. While online they can also take a quiz on Tickle to find out if "you should date a super-hero".

Target has developed the SPIDER-MAN 3 Spin Your Own Webisode Contest. Participants in the competition are invited to submit their webisodes for a chance to win a spot on the DVD bonus disc available exclusively at Target. Others visiting the micro-site can then view the submitted webisodes and rate them on a daily basis. They more they watch and rate the more chances they have to win the weekly drawing for a $100 Target Gift Card. Then each day beginning yesterday, 5/20 through this Friday, 5/25, they can vote for their favorite webisode from a list of the 10 semi-finals picked by the judges. Again, the more they vote the more their chances to win the grand prize which is a trip to the L.A. Film Festival. So, check them out and cast your vote now.

DreamWorks Shrek 3 just broke the US opening weekend record for an animated film after bringing in $122 million at the box office this past weekend. They have their loyal brand partners that have been on board since the original. Some include McDonalds, Kellogg's, Collgate, M&M's, Yoplait, Sargento, and Hewlett-Packard.

McDonald's has 4 limited-edition Shrek 3 collectible glasses and 10 "talking" toys for their Kids Happy Meals plus online they feature screensavers, games and things for kids to create. McDonald's created the Shrek's Treketh to Adventure Interactive website where kids can explore fun activities designed to inspire and encourage them.

Hewlett-Packard has "Ogre the Top" craft projects on their online store where customers can create photo items such as greeting cards, photo frames, and iron-ons all inspired by the Shrek 3. Since of course Shrek and friends aren’t the only ones trekking to spectacular places, participants are invited to enter the Shrek Photo Contest by submitting an adventure or travel themed photo each week, for five weeks, that matches that week's theme. This current week's theme happens to be "Far, Far Away". Participants can also vote for their favorite each week and then during the last week of the promotion from the top 15 finalists that will be featured.  HP has partnered with online photo service, Snapfish who is hosting the photos. The Grand Prize will include a trip for winner and three guests to an upcoming DreamWorks Animation U.S. Movie Premiere as well as HP products and a $100 Snapfish Gift Card.

My personal movie favorite, Disney's The Pirates of the Caribbean Series, will be the last of these big three to premiere -- in theaters starting this Thursday night. There are quite a number of exciting promotions around this property. So, I think I'll come back to this towards the end of the week to review since this post is getting quite long.

Creating promotions around entertainment properties is an expensive investment, but if you have a hit on your hands the rewards can be huge. Movietickets.com is currently taking a poll asking people to vote for which one of these three movies will sell the most at the box office in their opening weekend. So far Spider Man has it at 45% of the votes, Pirates next at 40% and Shrek the last at 14%. We'll see if Pirates can beat out Spidey this weekend. So go vote and is anyone reading this post has been involved in any of these three properties please share with us some of your insight and let us know how your program is  going.

Interactive Promotions and Blogs: Announcing the Cute Cat Video Contest

So we've been talking about interactive promotions and how they are a powerful tool for motivating behavior. They are a way for both brands and individuals to connect online with an unidentifiable person and convert them into registered prospects in order to start a dialog for a permission-based, data-driven relationship.

Blogging is a form of social media which enables us to network and meet people online. According to my associate Tom Collins over at WME (Windsor Media Enterprises) who helped me launch my blog and continues to work with me on it "Blogging enables us to do all those [networking] things. We can meet people all over the world and raise awareness of ourselves and our businesses," "Blogging is a way to display our expertise and do that 24/7/365 worldwide."

So we raised the question, why don't we combine interactive promotions with blogs? It seems to make perfect sense and is a natural fit. Well I am very excited to announce that today we launched the Cute Cat Video Contest which is featured in the Scratchings-and-Sniffings pet blog. Yvonne Divta at WME writes and maintains the blog which is sponsored by Purina Pet Care. Tom is handling the technical aspects and I am the promotion guru and administer of the contest. This blog will hopefully be the "Featured Blog" on TypePad later today.

We're going to run this promotion for the next three months and see what results we get. Each week starting in June we will chose a winner who's video will be featured on the blog. That person will receive a copy of the book Hooked on a Feline: Basic Cat Care from a different PURR-spective by Taunee, the Cat (translated and illustrated by Barbara Mugnolo Williams). We're hoping that we'll collect some good new prospects to add to Purina's database and help them connect to the pet care audience in a new and more personal way.

As you'll see if you go to the Video Upload Page, we're using fliqz to host the videos for the promotion. Tom and Yvonne have posted two videos of their cat, Pandora, as "Bad  Example 1 & 2" of a "cute" cat to show where the weekly winning video will be. As Taunee our cat from the book says "Cute Cat? That's Redundant".

So, check it out and I'll be updating you on our progress and sharing the results. The ability of blogs to build and sustain solid relationships is very strong and by adding interactive promotions we feel it adds excitement and engages the readers even more while giving the blogger an opportunity to learn who they are.

"For those bloggers who have something to sell – whether a delightful book on arts and crafts or on a topic of sincere interest, or knitted booties, or dog treats, or whathaveyou – this option can become both a way to make some extra cash, and a way to keep readers coming back for more." say Yvonne Divita who also writes the blog Lip-sticking - Smart Marketing to Women Online, which we hope to be the target of our next promotion.

We think this is a PURR-fect opportunity (I just couldn't resist that)for both blogs sponsored by big brands as well as the small individual bloggers. So, tell us what you think and let us know if you have any questions or would like to start your own blog promotion.   

Martha Stewart is looking for a few "Dreamers and Doers"

The buzz going around in my town right now, Rochester, NY, was yesterday's visit by the Domestic Diva herself, Martha Stewart. Martha came to town to speak at a fund raiser for the Ad Council of Rochester, an impressive organization that connects non-profits to us professionals who donate our time and talents to help with their marketing efforts. This annual luncheon is the organization's biggest fund raiser and has brought in some notable speakers in the past, but yesterday it was a totally sold out event that hit capacity of 760 people at the Downtown Hyatt Regency.

Martha's plane had some trouble with the landing gear on the flight over in the morning which caused her to be a little late, so the agenda was modified a bit to do all the awards and recognitions first. When she got there she kidded about the issue and amazed me as she started speaking to the crowd as if she was having a one-on-one conversation with you in your living room over tea.

She first talked about what she did for Mother's Day and then told us about her connections with Rochester, one of them being her love for lilacs. It just so happens to be The Lilac Festival this  week here in Rochester and Martha announced that she was heading over to Highland Park after the event to film a segment on lilacs for her show which will air this Thursday. She had previously visited Highland Park back in 1995 and bought back 20 or so lilac bushes then which have been growing at her Turkey Hill Farm estate in Connecticut. After that visit the park officials named a specific lavender blue lilac growing in the park after her and she had the chance to visit it on her tour yesterday. This photo was on the front page of the local newspaper this morning, The Democrat & Chronicle.

Martha Stewart is quite a business and she jokingly said that it's hard enough to build a business, let alone rebuild one and her business was strong enough to prosper even when she was "otherwise occupied". Her brand name is expanding which she got a chance to share with us. On the retail side she's partnering with Macy's with a very wide assortment of product offerings for the home. She's got a new line of craft products called Martha Stewart Crafts that will be going into Michael's stores. Plus she announced her new line of Martha Stewart houses by national builder KB Home. And of course she spoke about photography and her line of photo greeting cards that is an exclusive to The Kodak Image Gallery.

I took some time last night to look at her brands and company at marthastewart.com. I figured she had to have at least one promotion currently going on through one of her brands and I was right. Martha Steward Living is sponsoring the Dreamers Into Doers Awards where you can enter an essay contest for a chance to win. Martha is looking for the next Martha and wants to know "What's Your Dream?". The presenting sponsor of the promotion is Talbot's.

The judging criteria is based on originallity of the Idea, the success the business has generated or the benefit to the local community that has been made by the endeavor, the person's commitment and passion and also public appeal. Eleven finalists will be chosen from all entries submitted through Talbots stores, as mail-ins, or online here.

All finalists will win a trip to New York to attend Martha Stewart Living’s Dreamers Into Doers Awards Gala on October 23, 2007and will be outfitted by Talbot's with a $250 shopping Spree. 10 finalists will receive $1,000 each and the grand prize winner will receive $10,000. You have up until June 29th to enter. Then we'll have to wait till October to find out who the winners are.

Back to Rochester...I forgot to mention that Mayor Bob Duffy and Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks were both at the luncheon yesterday. They proclaimed in front of us all that May 14th will now officially be Martha Stewart Day in Rochester. The sun was out all day for Martha and the lilacs are just awesome right now. We hear she brought more of them to take home with her. We have to thank our local CBS Station, WROC, for bringing Martha here and you can see their newscast and interview of her day with us here.

So, I'll have to make a note to blog about Martha again on May 14, 2008. 

Times Mom Stood Up for Me Contest

Happy Mother's Day to all and in honor of this day I wanted to briefly highlight a Mother's Day promotion that caught my attention this year.

Gather.com had been running an writing contest called "Times Mom Stood Up for Me". Borders, CBS News The Early Show, and Mitch Albom, author of For One More Day, are the sponsors of this promotion which has been receiving quite a bit of publicity.

Between April 12 and April 25 the contest invited people to honor your mother or her memory by writing a short essay describing a time she stood up for you. The essays were posted on Gather.com and the Gather community was then asked to read and rate the entries and select the 10 finalists. Mitch Albom, then was to select the Grand Prize Winner from these ten who would win a trip to New York City with their mom (or whoever they were honoring this Mother's Day) to join Mitch on the CBS The Early Show as well as a Caribbean Cruise courtesy of Royal Caribbean.

It was funny because the first time I heard about this promotion I was actually with my  Mom visiting  my parents in Myrtle Beach. I said to her, in front of my dad, "Oh yeah, I should write about all the times that you covered up for me coming in late." But I didnt.  I was the first child and my Dad was strict about my curfew time!

Well there were just under 1,000 entries into the contest. Then last Thursday, May 10th, Mitch Albom announced the winner who appeared with him on The Early Show which you can watch here. Sandy Kelp's essay, The World is a Beautiful Place with Mom by my Side was selected. Sandy first heard about the contest on the Borders website and she said "When I heard about what the content was, I just had to enter." She wrote about her mother sticking up for her on her first day of school at a new school. Sandy's mom passed away when she was 12.

When asked why he chose this essay Mitch Albom said "It was a small story about a small moment...similar to my book which has little vignettes of moments...and especially when you're a child and you're so vulnerable...here comes her mom who turned a lemon into lemonade."

You can read Sandra's entire essay here and also read the rest of the finalists here. Enjoy and Happy Mother's Day.