30 contest ideas in 30 minutes

New York Press Association Conference 2013

DRIVING REVENUE | BUILDING DATABASE | GROWING AUDIENCE

How to Succeed with ContestsPlus 30 Proven Ideas

New York Press Association ConferenceApril 2013


Presenter

Matt Coen

President & Co-Founder

[email protected]

314.880.4902

@mcoen

@secondstreetlab

secondstreetlab.com


Agenda

• Why Contests?• Prospecting• Pitching• Planning• Post-Contest• 30 Contest Ideas


Who We Are


UPICKEM

• 2,000 partners• 100,000 contests• 12 million players


Our Partners

2,900 media companies


secondstreetlab.comsecondstreetlab.com


Why Online Promotions?

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UPICKEM

• 2,000 partners• 100,000 contests• 12 million players


A White Label Platform

• We host the contests• You own all the data• You keep the page views• You keep 100% of revenue• You can run an unlimited

number of contests


Case Study: Gatehouse Media 2012 Contest Calendar

Marketing Revenue Initiative Market Initiative Date Revenue

Cutest Babies January $315,000

Big Game Challenge January-February $115,505

Red Carpet Challenge February $58,674

College Basketball March $267,100

Salute to Nurses April-May $214,000

Mother’s Day April-May $65,000

The Pet Show June $71,547

Football August-October $966,000

Reader’s Choice September-November $964,000

Paint it All Pink October $275,000

Total Revenue $3,311,826



Case study: The Statesboro herald


The Statesboro Herald


Results: Cutest Couple Contest

•4 weeks•7 sponsors•890 new registered users•10,990 votes •25,000 page views •$3,500 in Revenue



Case Study: Cutest Kids

•10 sponsors•491 Submissions•2,424 registered users•134,000 page views•Acquired over 2,000 email addresses•$10,000 in Revenue




Results•9 contests + “Best Of” •$50,000 + $50k in “Best Of”•20,000 email addresses


Managed Turnkey CustomBranded locally, managed nationally

Prizes supplied for most

Sports, Entertainment

Webinars, sales kits

You manage

Template design with room to customize i.e. ‘Cutest Couple’

Webinars, Sales kits

Any contest you dream of

Dozens of contest types

You create and manage the contest

All contest types are Facebook-friendly

Advertiser You create and manage a contest on a client’s behalf, i.e. host on their Facebook page; also referred to as the ‘Agency Model’

Contest Types


Sports

Pro Football Season Pro Football Big Game

Golf Auto Racing Pro Basketball College Basketball Pro Hockey

Movie Awards Music Awards Television Awards

Race to the Finish Voted Off the Island

College Football BowlCollege Football Season

Awards Shows

Reality Television

UPICKEM Managed Contests


UGC Photo

Cutest Couple Mother’s Day

Holiday

HalloweenFather’s Day

Sweeps

UPICKEM Template Contests


UPICKEM Custom Contests

Photo Video MP3 Essay

Sweepstakes Multiple Choice Embedded Media Two Photos

All contest types are Facebook-friendly



Prospecting


Identify the Sponsorship Type

• Exclusive• Category Specific• Multiple Sponsor



PItching


The Pitch

• But what is it about being a sponsor of a contest that you should be pitching to the client?


Maximize Sponsor Exposure

• Contest Page


Maximize Sponsor Exposure


Maximize Sponsor Exposure: Emails


Maximize Sponsor Exposure: Your website


Maximize Sponsor Exposure: Traditional Media


Maximize Sponsor Exposure: Deals + Contests


Case Study: The Wichita Eagle

Fourth Year Results:•Earned $100,000 in revenue in 2012


Keys to Success

• Sold as an integrated print and online promotion

• Multiple Advertisers and Sponsors

• Advertisers participated as VIPs

• Heavy promotion of the contest


Program Details

Print Advertising Details• 22 consecutive weeks• Headshot printed weekly with

latest picks and performance to-date

• Relevant NFL coverage flows over top of environment

• Double truck of sports• Single box: 2 col. X 4”• Double box: 4 col. X 4”


Program Details

• Online Advertising Details

• Drove audience to unique URL

• Advertiser coupons

• Additional promotion for partners


Program Details

• Online Advertising Details• Rotating 900x300 and

211x126 banners link to special offer coupons


Get Staff Buy-in

Roll Out to Staff• Created plan book with in-depth

materials including:– Bullet-point reference sheet– Mini spec layout– Sales sheet– Customized program

agreement



Choosing the Right Contests


Align with Traditional Promotions


Sell Bundled Packages


Choosing the Right Contests

• Understand your goals• Target the right

advertisers• Keep it simple



Contest Follow up


Contest Follow – up

Best Practices•Email to all participants with sponsor offer•Story on winners online/print/on-air•Showcase winners on contest welcome page/winners page•Social media mentions•Showcase winners in following years promos


Contest Follow-up



Contest Planning


Contest Revenue Success


Why Plan?


Planning Best Practices

2013 Forecast


PLAN-IT 365 STEPS TO SUCCESS!PLAN-IT 365 STEPS TO SUCCESS!

PLAN-IT 365 Program Steps


Contests Sweepstakes

January Kids Whole New You

February Cutest Couples Valentine’s Day

March Basketball Spring Break

April Mother’s Day

May Golf Sweeps

June Father’s Day Travel Giveaway

July Travel/Vacation Photos Concert Tickets

August

September Football (Sept-Feb) Football Tickets

October Voter’s Choice Voter’s Choice

November Holiday Shopping

December Scared of Santa Holiday Shopping

Contest Calendar



30 Contest IDeas


FitnessStar-Herald (Scottsbluff, NE)2012 Get Fit Challenge

Sponsored by Regional West Medical Center, Torrington Community Hospital, Box Butte General Hospital & more.

30

• 709 Registered Users• Total Gross revenue $14,300

“We were very happy with the results. This was our 2nd year of the contest and we plan on doing this contest every year until there are no overweight people left.”- Willy Weibert, Sales Manager


Recipes

WNYT-TV (Albany, NY)NYS Apple Growers Recipe Showdown

Sponsored by New York State Apple Growers

29

• 54 Registered Users• 3,374 Votes• Revenue $5,000• 25,520 Page Views

“This contest was custom-designed to suit a client's specific needs. We built an exclusive sponsorship and partnered with them by providing the prize. Both the client and the station were pleased with the results.”- Lori Collado, Digital Media Specialist


Essay

KOMO-TV (Seattle, WA)West Side Story, Share Your Love Story

28

• 383 Registered Users• 1,025 Votes• 23,162 Page Views


Memorable Moments

KATU-TV (Portland, OR)Disneyland Making Memories Contest

Sponsored by Disney

27

• 940 Registered Users• 17, 729 Page Views

"The Disneyland Resort Giveaway was sponsored by Disney and promoted in newscasts, on our website, snipes during TV programing, Facebook and Twitter.”-Jennifer Shrum, Interactive News Producer


Prom

Truro Daily News (Truro, Nova Scotia)Favourite Prom Photo Contest

Sponsored by Inglis Jewellers

26


“We ran banner ads in the paper driving entrants & voters to our website- daily for three weeks. For this particular package the sponsor supplied $1,000.00 in prizes.”- Kevin Bent, Web Editor


Weather/Temperature

Our State (Greensboro, NC)2011 Fall Photo ContestSponsored by Mountain Community Travel Office

25

• 1,924 Submissions• 1,117 Registered Users• Revenue $2,500• 193,883 Page Views

“The sponsorship package included the contest, its presence on our website, a few call outs on our Facebook page, inclusion in our regular monthly newsletter, as well as as a standalone promotional email, and a mention in a print ad for ‘what's online’ with our magazine that month.”- Laurie Weaver, Online Media Manager


Fishing/Hunting

New Bern Sun Journal (New Bern, NC) Gone Fishing

Sponsored by Sportsman’s Toy Store

24

• 4,864 Votes• 30,235 Page Views

“These contests are a great way to drive traffic to your website and expose more non-subscribers to your product... I'm definitely seeing where Facebook is helping spread the word in regards to entries and voting.”- Judy Avery, VP of Marketing


Brackets

Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, TX)DFW.com Battle of Burgers 2011

23

• 2,342 Registered Users• Revenue $6,000• 80,620 Page Views

"There were no official sponsors, but we did generate additional ad sales (about $6,000) from local and participating burger joints in the contest. Some of those ad sales turned into long-term contracts.”- Wendy Stane, Promotions, Events, Social Media


Drawing/Art

OrangeCounty.Com (Irvine, CA)Spring Cover Shot Surf Photo Contest

Sponsored by La Casa Del Camino, Dan Taylor Surfboards

22

• 1,140 Registered Users• 113,815 Votes• Revenue $5,000• 228,153 Page Views

"This was a fun contest for us. Revenue was $5,000 with online exposure, banner ads, etc. They also received banners run of site.”- Kris Heineman, Senior Manager


Wedding

WCVQ-FM (Clarksville, TN)Q Wedding Giveaway 2012

Sponsored by Clarksvillebrides.com and others

21


“We had 16 sponsors and were very happy with participation from both contestants and sponsors. We plan to do it again next year.”- Scott Chase, Operations Manager


MakeoverThe Pitch and Her Kansas City (Kansas City, MO)Make Me Over

Sponsored by KOSAMA, Lady Bird, Alignment is Life, In the Pink, Sazzy’s, Trinity Limo & Ben Palmer Photo

20


“The makeover contest grew our Facebook fans by about 400 likes. We gained clients by selling through to our publication and websites. And we had an overall glowing response from all who participated.”- Dawn Jordan, Advertising Director


Travel/VacationWPHL-TV (Philadelphia, PA)Apple Vacations Endless Summer Photo Contest

Sponsored by Apple Vacations

19



Nature

Washington County Enterprise (Blair, NE)Enterprise 2011 Photo Contest

18


"We did this purely for our readers. We were thrilled at the participation of the community on this one. We do this contest every year as more of a PR move.”- Ali Zicheck, Digital Media Coordinator/ Advertising Associate


Creative

KBFB - FM (Dallas, TX)Rihanna Red Head Hair Contest

17

• 2,295 Registered Users• 8,769 Votes

“This contest generated 1,082 Facebook likes and was a very successful campaign. We'd like to pursue a hair product advertiser to sponsor the contest next time.”- Dan Shelley, General Manager


Big GiveawayNewsday (Suffolk, NY)Sands Wedding Giveaway

Sponsored by The Sands, Geo Events, Flowers by Topaz, Our Prints Charming, DejaVu Studios, Sugar Dinning Den

16


"All contestants were invited to a cocktail function at the Sands Hotel, where the winners were selected and announced -spot prizes and surprises were also presented.”- Diane Aiken- Miller, Interactive Display Sales Coordinator


School Spirit/Biggest Fan

U-T San Diego (San Diego, CA)Bolt Fever – Photo Contest

15


"For this contest we ran promos on our homepage and in our sports sections. The promos ran on the Sports pages on Sundays, which is our biggest print circulation day.”- Tom Mallory, Homepage Editor


Mothers Day/Fathers Day

WKRG-TV (Mobile, AL)Mother’s Day Photo Contest 2012

Sponsored by Calagaz Photo and Video

14

• 4,072 Registered Users• 8,769 Votes


GoodwillWCTV–TV (Fuquay Varina, NC)WCTV’s Teacher of the Month!

Sponsored by Super-Lube, Auto Super-Service Center, Envision Credit Union

13


"We put our heads together and created a sponsorship package for the contest consisting of a Title Sponsorship, with several Secondary Sponsorships available. Super Lube committed to becoming the Title Sponsor for the school season, Sept. – May. Each sponsor committed for the 9 month school term investment.”- Holly Spires, Digital Sales Manager


Cars/Motorcycles

KY3-TV (Springfield, MO)Enter To Win $1000 From Youngblood Auto

Sponsored by Youngblood Auto

12

• 3,620 Votes• Revenue $8,000• 15,626 Page Views

"The contest added 400 new likes to their Facebook page, increased engagement and sharing of the Youngblood Page. Plus, the advertiser was extremely happy and has already booked two more contests.”- Brandon Welch, Internet Marketing Consultant


Tattoos

The Colorado Springs Gazette Check Out My Ink!

11


”The contest generated a lot of comments and engagement from this niche community. We have found that finding the right niche audiences for contests is extremely beneficial for driving page views to our websites. This contest was a perfect example of that.”- Rudy Vasques, Marketing Manager


Holiday

Shelbyville Times – Gazette (Shelbyville, TN)Scared of Santa

Sponsored by Lowery Jewelers

10


"The trade sponsor had their name on the contest header and house promo ads. They also had house ads on website.”- Stevie Longwith, Online Advertising


Beauty

Winnipeg Sun (Winnipeg, Manitoba)Be the Next SUNshine Girl

9

• 547 Registered Users• Revenue $22,000• 233,986 Page Views

"We sold a special print section-this promo generated more than $22,000 for us.”- Kevin Klein, Publisher & CEO


AdvertisersWDBJ - TV (Roanoke, VA)Name the Baby Red Panda

Sponsored by Boxley Materials Company

8

• 840 Registered Users• 533 Votes• Revenue $3,000+• 26,296 Page Views

“Don’t forget deals! We decided to partner this contest with a deal as a way to drive foot traffic to the zoo while there was such an excitement around the panda. The voting ended at midnight and the next morning our deal was for a Family Fun Pack to Mill Mountain Zoo. - Carissa Divant, Account Executive


Halloween

Lubbock Avalanche Journal (Lubbock, TX)Cutest Trick’r Treater Photo Contest

Sponsored by Spirit Halloween Superstores & The Maze

7

• 9,317 Votes• Revenue $2,500+• 19,716 Page Views

“We were very pleased with the amount of page views our site received as a result. We plan to do this again in the future with more sponsors and additional opportunities to win.”- Craig Martin, Digital Media Sales Director


Talent

WPRO-FM (Riverside, RI)Dance With BritneySponsored by Wendy’s and Jive

6

• 164,132 Votes• 137,843 Page Views• 952 Registered Users• Page Views 128,421


Couples

WLMG – FM (New Orleans, LA)Cutest Couples Photo Contest

Sponsored by Cirque Du Soleil, Ralph’s on the Park, Fischer’s Jewelry, Gigi’s Cupcakes

5


"This was the first time we’ve done this contest and we weren’t sure how it would go, but we received more than 200 entries – which was great! Overall though, we got an additional 100,000 page views and that was a great result!”- Annette Basile, Digital Content Manager


PetsWEZB – FM (New Orleans, LA)My Pet Rox the Black & Gold

Sponsored by Toyota of Slidell, Lakeside-Pets.com, Camp Bow Wow

4


“This was the first year we did a contest like this, but felt it worked out really well. It gave us a chance to hit a listener “hot-button” (their pets), gave us a way talk about our NFL team without saying their name and we felt the voting results were great!”- Annette Basile, Digital Content Manager


Local Sports

Arkansas Democrat – Gazette (Little Rock, AR)Best High School Mascot

3



Sweepstakes

KDAF – TV (Dallas, TX)Great Grill Giveaway

2


"This contest was fun because you never knew what was coming next in the photos - it absolutely wasn't going to be one cute kid after another. I think our audience had a lot of fun looking and laughing at how creative/redneck some people get with a backyard BBQ.”- Jennifer Shrum, Interactive News Producer


Kids/Babies

Herald News (Fall River, MA)Cutest Baby Contest

1

• 5,730 Registered Users• 243,770 Votes• Revenue $300,000 company wide

"We generated a 20% increase in monthly page views across our network and our advertisers were very pleased with the traffic." - Rebecca Capparelli, Director of Sales Training and Development


Bonus Ideas

Contest Examples:•Lookalikes•Big Local Outdoor Event•Award Shows•Code Word•Bartender•Graduation•Lifestyle•Patriotic•Girlfriends


30 Custom Contest Ideas

30. Fitness 20. Makeover 10. Holiday

29. Recipes 19. Travel/Vacation 9. Beauty

28. Essay 18. Nature 8. Advertisers

27. Memorable Moments 17. Creative 7. Halloween

26. Prom 16. Big Giveaway 6. Talent

25. Weather/Temperature 15. School Spirit/Biggest Fan 5. Couples

24. Fishing/Hunting 14. Mother’s Day/Father’s Day 4. Pets

23. Brackets 13. Goodwill 3. Local Sports

22. Drawing/Art 12. Cars/Motorcycles 2. Sweepstakes

21.Wedding 11. Best Of 1. Kids/Babies


secondstreetlab.comsecondstreetlab.com


Q & A

Matt Coen

President & Co-Founder

[email protected]

314.880.4902

@mcoen

@secondstreetlab

secondstreetlab.com

30 contest ideas in 30 minutes

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