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

Avatar Promotion Get Kids Back-to-School in Style

Since I'm on the topic of interactive back-to-school promotions this week I thought I'd share this interesting use of a brand new technology to help promote seasonal sales. Taubman Malls has become the first user of Oddcast's Auto Photo Technology which turns any digital photo into a talking avatar.

They've created a Find Your Go microsite that's targeted specifically to students to help them "Find Your Go, Get Schooled in Style". On the homepage they have an "Intro to Avataring" (This is the first time I've seen the word as a verb, so we may be on to a new addition to the Web 2.0 language). Anyhow, they have to upload a photo...avatar it...style it...then record a message. Once their Avatar is complete they can then email it to parents and friends and also publish it to their MySpace page. It's really pretty cool.

So, I went to the Avatar Yourself page and created one myself using one of their default Avatars. I customized it a bit first changing the hair color, background and clothing. Then you can record your own voice message, type a message for the computer to speak or pick one of the prerecorded messages. I picked the message that humorlessly tells parents this isn't really me, but why I need this back-to-school stuff to succeed in school. I then emailed it to myself and here's the link if you want to check me out.

They also have a bunch of download designs available such as MySpace Skins, badges and wallpapers. Here's two of their designs that I like.

                               

Now the key objective is for the kids to create their wish list and get their parents to view it. Speaking of parents, they also have a section For Parents to "get the back-to-school 411 for you and your kids". It gives parental guidance on what's the trendiest back-to-school items and offers them the chance to voice their opinions by voting on featured products. It also tells them what's on sale and in which mall of their choice and also gives them an intro into "Avataring". So, all in all this is a pretty cool promotion and website.

"Students, particularly teens, like to be heard and this talking avatar and trend poll are two ways for them to voice their thoughts," says David Goldberg, Taubman Vice President, Marketing and Sponsorship.

To launch the avatar program, many of Taubman's shopping centers will host in-mall events that feature Pixman -- people equipped with LED screens suspended over their heads via a backpack-like device. The head-turning Pixman will walk among shoppers educating them about the avatar program, directing traffic to center court. There, teams will hand out findyourgo lip balm and show visitors how to create their own avatars onsite from the center's avatar kiosk or from home.

"Taubman is ahead of the curve. This deployment is a perfect example of digital and nontraditional coming together for an innovative and inspiring campaign that empowers and entertains shoppers," says Adi Sideman, CEO of Oddcast. "The students are going to think it's cool and the parents will be wowed.  It's the perfect viral marketing mix."

The shopping centers running the promotion are: Fairlane Town Center, Dearborn, Mich.; Fair Oaks Mall, Fairfax, Va.; Northlake Mall, Charlotte, N.C.; Regency Square, Richmond, Va.; Stamford Town Center, Stamford, Conn.; Sunvalley, Concord, Calif.; Twelve Oaks Mall, Novi, Mich.; The Mall at Wellington Green, Wellington, Fla.; Westfarms, Farmington, Conn.; and The Shops at Willow Bend, Plano, Texas.

The avatars will be available through October, so be sure to check it out.

 

Back-to-School Online Promotions

The Summer season is winding down which is part of the reason why you haven't heard much from me lately. I took some vacation time last week with my husband and two daughters and we traveled down south again to Myrtle Beach to visit some family. We spent most of the time at my parent's home which is still one of the few households in this country without a computer and Internet access. So, I had to just rely on my Motorola Q to stay somewhat connected.

Most of the kids down south started school yesterday with my nephew being one of them who is now a freshman in high school. Schools up north still don't start till next week after Labor Day, so they have a few more days off. We spent the first couple of days in the sun at the beach down there and needed a bit of a reprieve, so shopping was the most logical alternative.  My two teenage daughters are always up for shopping, especially with mom who they feel is still obligated to pay for their "back-to-school necessities".

So, in honor of back-to-school shopping, here's a quick overview of a few of this year's promotions:

Staples Rock Your Locker Sweepstakes offers the chance to win some 1,500 daily prizes that include a limousine ride for a week to school, $500 in cash, a gaming system and a trip to Los Angeles with friends plus movie tickets, a month’s worth of gas and a pizza party.To enter visitors register at RockYourLocker.com. The promotion runs though Sept. 12 and targets young adults ages 13 to 20. The site also acts as an online community where people can stuff virtual lockers, answer a poll, complete a personality quiz and play online games for a chance to earn points to win more prizes.

Office Depot's Great Tunes to Start School Concert Sweepstakes is trying to get kids to sing happy tunes this school year by featuring recording artist Gavin DeGraw. One school will win a private concert by DeGraw. Schools get entered automatically into the contest when the school’s ID number is provided by parents, students or teachers when they shop at Office Depot stores, via phone at 1-800-GO-DEPOT or at OfficeDepot.com through Aug. 31. The promo is tied to Office Depot’s 5% Back to School Program that turns customer purchases into credits schools can use for classroom supplies.

Wet Seal's Steal the Spotlight Sweepstakes partnered with the popular band Maroon 5. Visitors to  Wetseal.com could enter for a chance to win a trip to Los Angeles that included a Hollywood hotel for two nights, a $500 shopping spree at Wet Seal, and a chance to attend the Maroon 5 concert and spend time with the band. Additional prizes included signed copies of the new Maroon 5 release, "It Won't Be Soon Before Long."  Links to the promotion were provided from Maroon 5's My Space page and their official site.

CompUSA On Campus Promotion offered new back-to-school “campus packs” available online each week. To play the Instant-Win game people cut out a game piece in ads from Sunday newspapers or by downloading and printing one at CompUSA.com. They then took the game piece to a local store to see if they were a winner. One winner received $10,000. Ten others won a HP Notebook and CompUSA gift cards. Non-winning game pieces offered a coupon for $5 off a future purchase of $50 or more. A second chance online sweepstakes also offered one $10,000 grand-prize and everyone who entered received a promotional code for free shipping on all items bought online through Sept. 1.The game ended on Aug. 11 and the promo ran through Aug. 25.

Quiznos Back to School Gift Card Promotion is offering their Q members a chance to win "Back to School Packs" along with other daily prizes. The grand prize Pack includes $1000 Target Gift Cards, $500 in Quizonos Gift Cards, Apple iPod Shuffles and Pepsi Messenger Bags. Each time a member refers a friend, they get another entry into the sweepstakes. Friends can become members to enter at the Quizonos website.

PayPal Flash Card Flip Instant-Win Game offers a chance to win $10,000 and other great prizes such as an Apple MacBook Pro or a Sony PlayStation 3. Visitors go to the website to play to see if they are an instant winner of whatever prize is revealed. They can play once a day and non-winners are automatically entered into the sweepstakes for a chance at the random drawing at the end of the promotion. PayPal also has a "Show and Tell" section that is broken down by grade level with videos of kids describing their favorite back-to-school items.

Blogs and Online Games Build Brands

There was a recent study done by Javelin Strategy and Research on the banking industry that helps to confirm how important blogs have become to marketers. According to the study they claim that over 3500 consumers, one in five, read blogs and only about 1% of financial institutions worldwide offer blogs. As a result, this report warns banks that they are largely losing control over discussion about their brands in the blogosphere.

Blogs are a low-cost marketing tactic that can provide benefits that few other initiatives can. So if this study shows that banks really need not delay in incorporating this media in order to build their brand and engage their customers, I'm sure it can be said for many other industries as well. Marketers can obtain great feedback from things that people write in their blogs as well as in the comments section. Traditional market research is changing. Businesses today need research based on consumer behaviors that are gathered and reported quickly and social networks are quickly becoming the best source for this.

Blogs represent the voice of the customer and all businesses need to start paying attention to them, not just the financial institutions. James Van Dyke, president for Javelin, explained: "Blogs are quickly becoming vital to many consumers that seek advice or opinions on a variety of topics with a more informal tone. Financial Institutions need to realize that brand management, customer-centricity, and even customer loyalty can be strengthened through a blog at relatively little cost, but only if the new rules are understood by established bankers."

The report's main findings included that:

• 34% of tech-wise consumers (those who possess or use multiple technology products) read blogs.
• 20% of all online US consumers read blogs.
• Social media is becoming ever more pervasive, impacting the financial lives of consumers, and blogging is an extension of this phenomenon.
• Financial institutions can use blogs to proactively address consumer concerns.
• A blog represents a non-intrusive way to reach consumers and develop the brand while also providing more effective customer service.

Another interesting report just compiled by Parks Associates on the Casual Gaming Market claims that 34% of adults Internet users play online games weekly which makes it now the #1 web-based entertainment activity. Online video was #2 with 29% watching short video clips weekly, while social networking came in at #3 with 19%. The Parks study also found that frequent use of casual games grew 79% year-over-year, compared to social networking's 46%. But the growth rate for frequent use of streaming video soared 123%, a stat that could represent a future swing in that direction as broadband video becomes more accessible.

With this information I see a great opportunity for marketers who understand and combine online games with streaming video together with blogs. They can develop casual, easy to play games at fairly low costs to include on their company website or a separate microsite. By adding a video clip it can enhance the brand experience and by incorporating a chance to win it can provide incentives for players to come back and play multiple times. Offering a blog as an additional element of the mix enables their visitors to communicate with one another and opens up the dialog for them to share and post scores, offer tips and advice, get clues or tie into events.

The Divinci Code Quest promotion that I wrote a post on is a great example of an interactive promotion that combined these elements, and happened to win the Best Interactive Marketing Award this year. For more examples of interactive promotions that have done a great job with these elements, please look through the Interactive Promotions Category in this blog. Also I encourage everyone, not just marketers, to visit more blogs, read them, leave comments and perhaps start one. And if you would like some advice in developing and executing an interactive promotion and/or blog, by all means please feel free to contact me.

Dove's Real Beauty Campagin Launches New Love Your Hair Ad Contest

To round off the week talking about promotional contests requiring consumer-generated content, I just had to do another post on Dove and their Real Beauty Campaign once again. They have a new online promotion, The Dove Love Your Hair Ad Contest, in which they're looking for another "real" woman. This time it's to show off their hair care products.

I started off my blog with my first two posts about Dove and their Real Beauty Campaign which has turned out to be highly successful and just keeps growing. The first post I did was on Dove's Energy Glow Contest and the next one was on their Cream Oil Body Wash Contest. Both promotions got an enormous amount of press and initially the Real Beauty Campaign itself got off to a great start when Oprah Winfrey launched the first Pro-Age work on her show reemphasizing that beauty has no age limits. 

I personally fell in love with the brand all over again and was then treated to hearing Maureen Shirreff speak about the campaign when I attended PMA's Annual Conference back in March. Maureen is the North American Creative Director at Ogilvy & Mather for the Dove brand. Her talk first focused on the origins of the brand which was using real women from the start. She shared with us other ads for skin care products that don't show  "real women", in fact one that no way could have been a "real woman's ass"...without a good amount of retouching that is.

Maureen continued to tell us that the campaign has helped Dove become what she called a "Lighthouse Brand" when at the time over 5 million women had visited the website. Over a billion impressions were generated in the U.S. alone and the Dove brands grew by 6% in the first  month of the launch. Here's an interview I found with Maureen from 2006 from the blog, Creative Skirts.

Now back to Dove's new contest that just started this week, August 14th. Dove is asking for women to submit a photo of themselves through their Love Your Hair website along with completing the Dove Hair Care Survey online form. The entries will be judged by a panel of judges on "how your hair expresses your unique beauty" and how it represents the Dove brand as well as the quality of the photo.

Three grand prize winners will be selected on or about 10/22/07 and will receive a "Real Woman" professional photo shoot with an all-expense paid trip to New York City. Also they'll have the chance to appear in a Dove promotional execution such as a print advertorial and/or on Dove's websites. For every entry Dove will also donate a $1.00 that goes to Uniquely Me!, the Girl Scout/Dove Self-Esteem program. Visitors to the website can also request a free hair care sample while they last.

So, we'll be watching and reporting back on who the next Dove "Real Woman" will be.

Heinz Ketchup Video Ad Contest is Now a Winner

Here's a quick add-on to the conversation I started this week with my previous post regarding consumer-generated promotional contests. I just read an update on the Heinz Ketchup Top This! TV Challenge which I originally wrote a post on back at the end of May.  It appears contrary to what I wrote at the time when the online promotion first launched that it is actually now doing quite well for the brand.

Online Media Daily ran an article yesterday that according to Smith Brothers Advertising, the agency that partnered with Heinz on the promotion, the contest currently has had 8,000 videos submitted (although there are only about half of that posted on YouTube). They also state that since the campaign launched, consumers have viewed the spots 2.3 million times and spent more than 80,000 hours watching them.

Michael Bollinger, director of client services at Smith Brothers, listed four factors for the campaign's success: "A big idea, a courageous client who was willing to turn their brand over to consumers, a passionate consumer base that truly loves the brand, and best-of-class partners [Google and YouTube] who facilitated consumer awareness and participation."

However, the quality of the consumer-generated spots still varies widely. According to David Heidenreich, director of interactive strategy at Smith Brothers, "The quantity of the submissions shows the power and benefit of giving consumers an interactive forum."

In my original post I questioned whether ketchup is the ideal product to open up to the public for a consumer generated content contest promotion. There apparently have been many videos uploaded on YouTube that would not be what you'd call "building the brand". However, I can personally tell that the contest is quite popular since I have been getting many consumer searches for the contest that end up coming to that post on my blog.

With a chance to win $57,000, which ties into the Heinz 57 varieties, you gotta assume you'll get all kinds, and many of them. By putting the right incentive in front of your target audience, you can motive them. So, starting August 27th everyone will have a chance to vote online on the top 15 semi-finalists that are being chosen by a panel of judges. Only one video will be the grand prize winner who will not only get the $57K, but also have their ad run on a major telecast sometime in September. We'll be watching.

Top 10 Consumer Generated Content Promotional Contests Part 2

Back at the end of June I did my first post titled Top 10 Consumer Generated Content Promotional Contests which appeared to be a hit and still gets many page views. When I wrote the first post I thought the trend for these types of interactive promotions had possibly hit it's peak, but over the past month I've read about many, many more that have launched. So I thought I'd write my second post.

Here's my list of the next Top 10 Consumer Generated Content Promotional Contests with a quick summary of each. We've got quite a variety here... photo, video, writing, music, design and recipe contests. Again, I've gotten most of my sources from PROMO's website so you can clink on the link that will open the article from PROMO for a more detailed description of each. 

1. Friendly's "iScream Give us a Shout" Contest - A fun summertime promotion where consumers submit photos and/or videos to show their passion for the brand and why they love Friendly's. Submissions are taken only till tomorrow, Aug. 12th for the last weekly round of winners at iScreamFriendlys.com. You can vote for your favorite "scream" as well as see the past winners. Submissions were also accepted via a mobile phone by texting in "iScream". Since I'm a golden retriever lover I couldn't resist showing this submission which was one of the most recent as of today.

2. My hometown brand, Kodak, has gotten into the mix with their "Ink Ryan's Ride" Contest and Sweepstakes. This promotion showcases their Nascar sponsorship and promotes their new line of ink jet printers. Ryan Newman, driver of the Kodak car, challenges fans to create the ultimate paint scheme to be inked on his #12 Kodak Dodge. The five finalists have already been chosen which can be viewed and voted on at ThinkLikeRyan.com. The winner will have his design along with his name inked on Ryan's car for the Nascar Nextel Cup series race at California Speedway on Sunday, September 2nd plus a prize trip package to attend the race.

3. A "green" promotion has entered the mix of consumer-generated content. Al Gore has partnered up with Current TV and the Alliance for Climate Protection to launch the :60 Seconds to Save the Earth Contest. Consumers in the U.S., UK and Republic of Ireland are encouraged to "Inspire Change" and submit 15-, 30-, or 60-second TV public service announcements that may be used as part of a new three-year ad campaign to raise awareness about global warming. These "Ecospots" can be uploaded until Sept. 12 at Current TV where they can be viewed as well as voted on. 20 finalists will be selected from a panel of judges that include Cameron Diaz, George Clooney, Orlando Bloom as well as some leading creatives from ad agencies. Grand prize winner will also receive a Toyota Highlander Hybird.

4. Taco Bell teamed up with Gizmos and MTV for their Create Your Gizmos TV Me Contest. They are looking for three consumers to animate themselves and star in an upcoming TV spot. Consumers could upload their photo to TacoBell.com up until July 22nd to audition for the parts. They then customized their photos using the Gizmos online technology or chose from one of the animated characters in the gallery. Next they recorded their voice for a 15-second, lip-synched audition explaining why they should be a Taco Bell star. Consumers can still animate themselves on the site and watch those that already auditioned. The winner should be announced soon who will have the staring role in the Taco Bell TV commercial appearing for the first time on the MTV Video Music Awards on September 9th as well as receive a "Real Actor's Salary" ($3,725) and a year's supply of Taco Bell food ($250).   

5. Another QSR, Chick-Fil-A, has made our top 10 with their Show Us The Cow Photo Contest. They are looking for the best photo that depicts their "Eat Mor Chickin" cow. Parents of children ages 10 and under are asked to submit pictures of their kids posing with the cow character. These photos can be uploaded at ShowUsTheCow.com up until Sept. 30 where they can be viewed as well as voted on. Parents can also download a cut-out cow or purchase a plush cow to include in their photos. 40 semi-finalists will receive a "Be Our Guest" card good for one free kids meal plus a t-shirt, plush cow and clock. The top 10 finalists receive a year of free Chick-Fil-A food, a Chick-Fil-A Nuggets tray delivered to their school of choice, along with the t-shirt, plush cow and clock. The grand prize winner gets all the above as well as a $1,000 U.S. Savings Bond and digital camera.

6. Here's a B2B promotion targeted specifically to meeting planners sponsored by Palace Resorts called "Make Your Own Movie" Contest. Meeting Planners know what it's like to call the shots for a meeting. Now they get to try it as a movie director. They have to go to TheMeetingPlannerMovie.com and create their own movie about the day in the life of a meeting planner. Prerecorded clips can be accessed on the site that also gives them details about Palace Resorts. 82 movies are currently on the site to be viewed. Act 2 will begin on August. 15th. The grand prize winner will receive a stay at any Palace Resort and the most viewed movie will also receive two Palace Resort plush bathrobes.

7. I had to include at least one recipe contest with this top 10 list which goes to the "Anytime is Steak-Umm Time" Contest. Consumers have up till October 15th to "mail in" their recipes (I thought this kinda odd since they have it promoted on their website). Anyhow, the grand prize winner will receive a Sony Under-Cabinet 3-Disc CD Clock Radio and a 10" limited-edition Steak-umm frying pan. Two runners-up will each also receive the Steak-umm frying pan.

8. Henkel Corp., marketer of moving supplies, has launched an innovative contest promotion to solicit stories that describe "The World's Worst Moving Experiences". Consumers can submit their stories online at MakingYourMove.com for a chance at the $5,000 grand prize. The website describes the contest as follows... "Did the movers take your belongings to the wrong house? Or, did all your fine china break while in transit? We've all had at least one bad moving experience, and now you can cash in on your story..." Contestants will be judged on the originality of their story, their creativity in telling the story and the nature of what made it one of the "world's worst moves."

9. Boru Vodka, exported from Ireland earlier this year, has an online contest that seeks to find the "most authentic and passionate bar band". Additional elements include a consumer "Defend the Fan" sweepstakes, and on-premise "Defend the Bar Band" Nights. Up to fifteen bands will be selected and their original recordings will be featured on boru.com (which isn't scheduled to launch till Aug. 20). The top band will win the opportunity to receive a digital release deal with Roadrunner Records as well as $10,000 worth of new equipment from Musician's Friend. Consumer voting will narrow the field to four finalists and then a combination of consumer and industry panel voting will determine the winning bar band. The judging panel is made up of industry experts from Roadrunner Records, Blender.com, Musician's Friend and Boru Vodka. Music fans who vote for their favorite bar band can also enter the sweepstakes for a chance to receive daily music downloads and $5,000 or a Boru branded jukebox.

10. To round off the list we have another QSR, Wendy's, who is promoting their new hamburger, the Baconator, with the launch of a music-themed burger contest. Consumers go to ThisIsMyBurger.com  where they can first download the Baconator mixer sounds and import them into their favorite mixing program to create a 1-3 minute song. They submit their song for a chance to win a trip to L.A., Atlanta or New York for a personalized studio session with a professional producer along with $5,000 in cash. Two winners will be selected, one from each category (Rock/Alternative/Country or Urban/Hip Hop) and both winning mixes will become part of ThisIsMyBurger soundtrack. Only 3,500 entries will be accepted up until Aug. 15th.

I hope you enjoyed this summary of some of this summer's promotional contests. Please add to the list if you have others that I may have missed. If you'd like to promote one that's coming up please email me the info and I'll consider it for my next list or even as a post of it's own.

Summer Reading and Gather.com's First Chapters Writing Contest

Sorry for the few days of absence, but I was out of town enjoying some summer fun. I headed down to the Jersey Shore to spend a few days with my sister who has a condominium on Long Beach Island, right in Beach Haven. I usually try to make my annual trip down to the beach to spend some time with her. This may be the last summer we get to do this since she's planning on putting it up for sale soon. The value of the property down there has just gone so high since she originally bought it so she should make a nice profit, however, there is quite a lot of property for sale right now.

Here's a photo I took at Barnegat Light House which is at the North end of the Island. We took a ride up there since it was cloudy on Monday morning.

Most of the time I have no trouble just picking up a book or magazine and sitting at the beach all day listening to the waves and watching the people. The Jersey shore is beautiful, but unfortunately there are many other people that you have to share the beach with. Because of some storms that hit the coast this past year, the beach was much smaller. Plus high tide was hitting mid afternoon which meant even less room. We managed to find a different spot on the beach that was a little wider than our usual and spent Sunday there. Monday and Tuesday we were back to our "normal" spot which is by the motels where we have access to their restaurants, bars and restrooms!

There's a little bookstore right in the center of Beach Haven called The Island Book Store that's one of our favorite places to stop in. It's nice to still find one of the few independent books stores left with a good selection of books, even though it's small. I always like to look around the beach and see what books people are reading. This year I saw A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini as well as his previous book, The Kite Runner. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen also was quite popular. Personally I just got a a chance to get more caught up on my summer issues of Vanity Fair.

Speaking of books, on August 1st Gather.com kicked off a new First Chapters Romance Writing Contest searching for romance novel writers. They will award one winner of this new contest a guaranteed publishing contract with Pocket Books and a $5,000 cash advance . Gather.com earlier this year had their first so called "American Idol for Books" competition with Simon and Schuster which drew over 2,600 original manuscripts. They actually announced offering not just one book contract as the contest had promoted, but two. Terry Shaw's novel, The Way Life Should Be, was selected as the grand prize winner and he was rewarded with $5,000 from Gather and $5,000 advance from Simon and Schuster. Geoffrey Edwards was also given an advance and a book contract for his novel Fire Bell in the Night. 

Since that contest Gather.com’s membership has nearly doubled, with a 30% surge during the month of March alone. Based on this success, they are upgrading their website and adding new features such as video for this next "First Chapters" contest.

I wrote a post about Gather.com's Mother's Day promotion that they did back in May. Gather.com is basically a social networking community for adults in which they can contribute thoughts on art, books, movies, politics, cooking, travel or just plain inspiration. Their retail book partner is Borders which reports that sales of books talked about on Gather immediately rise. They have book communities such as one just dedicated to just Harry Potter.

Gather has provided step-by-step instructions to enter the First Chapters Romance Contest which they will accept up until August 22nd. During the competition authors will post their first two chapters and then starting on August 27th the Gather community along with the Gather editorial board can read and vote on these entires. Five finalists will be selected through two rounds of voting and then one winner will be chosen by a panel of judges.

Tom Gerace, Gather.com founder and Chief Executive Officer said about the first contest “The reaction to the First Chapters contest has been outstanding. We feel privileged to be able to provide the platform and the opportunity for so many talented writers to showcase their amazing work.” So, this is the chance for all you aspiring romance novelists to walk away from your marketing careers (or what ever) and have a chance to be a published author. Or at least let's just try and get some reading (and maybe writing) in before this summer's history.

The Bourne Ultimatium Promotional Marketing includes Google and a Mobile Game

Well it's August already and we're usually done with all the big summer movie blockbusters. But there's one more just released yesterday, The Bourne Ultimatum and the reviews have been great so far that I've read. In a summer of "threequels" this one the say is the best of them all.

Now I've been a Jason Bourne fan ever since I read the original Robert Ludlum novel, The Bourne Identity, some years back. However, when Matt Damon brought the character to life, well it just couldn't be better. I read somewhere that Matt Damon has turned Jason Bourne into the U.S. version of James Bond and I thought....h'mm, that's an interesting comparison.

Universal Studios has partnered with Google on this film to launch an online interactive promotional game called "The Ultimate Search for Bourne with Google" which uses Google tools such as search, maps, images and YouTube. The game, inspired by all three "Bourne" films, launched back on July 16 in seven countries which included a sweepstakes as well. It's objective really was to create buzz around the film before it was released as well as more awareness of Google's services. The game was played at www.searchforborne just up until the film's release and included exclusive clips from the film as well. Players assumed the identity of a former CIA operative as they tried to track agent Jason Bourne across three continents and solve clues that brought them closer to uncovering Bourne's identity.

Google's Blog included information about the promotion and said "one year after Google formed the partnership with Sony Pictures to promote The DiVinci Code Movie, Google has a new campaign, this time for the Bourne Ultimatum". Dylan Casey, Product Manager at Google said here "This is a great opportunity for us to bring the power of Google search products to help players across the globe search for Bourne online." There have been several blogs that have posted clues along the way regarding this game including this one from Behind the Buzz which told players about a clue posted on the front page of www.priceless.com, Mastercard's website.

The film's official website is pretty cool and has a great image of Matt Damon on the opening page shown here. It also includes much footage from the film and overviews of each character.

The website invites you to "Become Bourne in the official mobile game inspired by the film. Vivendi Games Mobil is the official game publisher. According to the official game trailer, you’ll be able to “go beyond the book and movie” in our journey across the world — from Moscow and London to Tangiers and New York City. Of course, Bourne is not a tourist, and while traveling you’ll have to fight with 6 types of enemies and 3 different bosses. There are 16 “increasingly challenging” levels, where Bourne will have to use all his skills as well as surrounding objects to reach to the next level.

So, they say you have to see the movie to "find out who Jason Bourne is". I'm sure they'll leave it open though to a possible '4th" Bourne movie. I'll just have to go see this one and find out. This may be the last of my post for this summer's entertainment marketing promotions. We'll see if any others come along worth highlighting. For now enjoy the rest of the summer.

Chicago Cubs "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" Contest

Chicago is one of my favorite cities to visit. As my last post told you, I was just there attending the BlogHer 07 Conference which was at the Navy Pier. I stayed on an extra day so I could do some sightseeing and of course a little bit of shopping on Michigan Avenue, the Magnificent Mile! It was one of the few times that I've been to Chicago during the summer and I was just so impressed with how much they use their lake front. There's so much going on in the summer and this past weekend their downtown was just full of both tourists like me as well as many locals.

One thing I didn't do on this trip, but did on a past visit, was go to Wrigley Field to see a Cubs Game. You just can't say you've really been to Chicago without a visit to this historic stadium. The day I was there they were hoping that Sammy Sosa would hit his 300th home run. He didn't that day, but ended up the day after. Sammy recently hit his 600th home run back in June. He's playing with the Texas Rangers this year but Sammy will always be remembered for his greatest years with the Chicago Cubs.

While I was in Chicago I saw quite a bit of press regarding a promotional contest put on by the Cubs. It's called The Ultimate 7th Inning Stretch Competition. It offers the chance for one Cubs fan to win the opportunity to lead the crowd in the singing of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" from the press box at Wrigley Field during the 7th Inning Stretch on Saturday, September 22 when the Cubs play the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Anyone could enter...you didn't have to be from Chicago. They even accepted entries from kids 8 years and older. Those under 13 just had to have their parents' written permission in order to comply with COPA regulations. Qualified entrants where contacted after the July 22nd deadline and notified when to appear for an audition that took place last week, July 26th and July 27th. The local news stations picked up this story and showcased some of the auditions of people of all ages singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" which is what I got to see while in town.

From these auditions the Cubs will select the top 50 semi-finalists which are scheduled to be announced today, August 2nd, to continue with the contest. These semi-finalists will be posted on the Cubs website for the public to view and vote on. Then 10 finalists of the contest will be chosen and invited to Wrigley Field on August 27th to sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" in front of a panel of judges. They will also be videotaped and these videos will be posted on the Cubs website for another round of public voting. All finalists will be invited to the pre-game ceremony on September 22nd where the winner of the contest will be announced and invited to sing during the 7th inning stretch of that game.

According to the Official Rules of the contest, "The winner will be the individual...in the opinion of the Cubs, who displays the best combination of creativity, talent, singing ability, loyalty to the Cubs, passion for the team and for "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" leadership skill and who embodies the spirit of being a Cubs Fan." Whew...that's a mouthful! This is the Cubs own version of a promotional contest that invites consumer-generated content.

Here's the song and the lyrics that I found on YouTube lead by Harry Caray, the famous sportscaster from Chicago.

The Cubs actually have a promotional sweepstakes going on as well right now. It's called the Cubs Caught Stealing Sweepstakes which is sponsored by LoJack. Fans are invited to enter online for a chance to win a Cubs Spring Getaway in Mesa, AZ for two. All you have to do is guess how many runners the Cubs will throw out this season. Since we're on the subject of baseball, the big MLB promotion this summer is the MasterCard Dreams Sweepstakes which I did this post on a few weeks ago.

I actually plan on being back in Chicago that weekend in September. The annual PROMO Live Event, which is sponsored by PROMO, is scheduled for earlier that week, September 17-19 at the Navy Pier. I plan on doing some blogging from this event. So I just may stay through the weekend and take my husband (since it will be our wedding anniversary) out to the ball game! What a fun promotion.