Competition: We’re giving away three double passes to Vivid Sydney

by Marketing ON 16 May 2013

We have three double passes to give away to Vivid Ideas in Sydney. Tickets to this are selling fast, with some of the shows we have tickets for already sold out!

To win just tell us in 25 words or less:

If you had an unlimited marketing budget, what would you do?

Send your answers here with the subject line, ‘Vivid Ideas Comp’. We have a double pass to give away for each of the events featured below, so get in, be creative and best of luck!

Note: The event is held in Sydney, the competition is for event tickets only – flights and accommodation not included. Winners will be notified by Marketing magazine on Thursday May 23 and tickets will be available at the event.

About the events:

Co-Create the Experience (Johnny Cupcakes) SOLD OUT

Johnny Cupcakes (Boston), a street wear entrepreneur named by Business Week as America’s #1 Young Entrepreneur, launched a brand from the boot of his car – a brand that now has so many passionate devotees that over 1000 people have Johnny Cupcake logo tattoos.

In an exclusive Australian keynote, Johnny will share the philosophy behind his retail environment, tightly-managed online experience, and the way he uses participation and surprise to thrill his fans and expand his brand. Johnny will then join a panel of Sydney experience engineers who will share their strategies for working with audiences, fans, online and real-world communities to co-create experiences.

Build a Movement (Ruby Pseudo)

Do social networks and technology empower us to shape our world – or are they distractions, disconnecting us from a shared, local experience? Ruby Pseudo (London) has built a network of 1500 young people across the world who contribute to a global youth planning and research consultant, working with clients like Nike, Nokia and The Guardian.

In an exclusive Australian keynote, Ruby will share her perspective on the ideas, channels and movements that unite this truly global generation. Ruby will then join musician and activist Jello Biafra (San Francisco) and artist Karen Therese (Sydney) to discuss how today’s tools and trends compare to the past, and to explore how we use creativity and technology for expression, and to transform our communities.

Where have all the Rebels Gone?

Is Australia the ‘too lucky’ country? Are we seeing a generation growing up that dodged the real effects of the GFC, have never known war or hardship, and have been raised on positive reinforcement?

The results of a massive new research study into thousands of 18 to 29 year old Australians will be presented as part of Vivid Ideas. Have our youth lost the art of rebellion, dissent, passion and creativity? Or have we found the formula for socially connected, stress-free living?

About Vivid Sydney:

Sydney will once again be transformed into a spectacular canvas of light, music and ideas when Vivid Sydney takes over the city after dark from 24 May – 10 June 2013. Colouring the city with creativity and inspiration, Vivid Sydney highlights include the hugely popular immersive light installations and projections, performances from local and international musicians at Vivid LIVE at Sydney Opera House, and the Vivid Ideas Exchange featuring public talks and debates from leading global creative thinkers.

Updated with winners: Win double pass to agIdeas Advantage business breakfast

by Marketing ON 24 April 2013

WINNERS UPDATE: After hours of deliberation we have decided on the three fantastic winners for our Advantage business breakfast competition. Each will receive a double pass. Congratulations to:

Kaitlin ‘Firefox’ Murphy
Chris ‘VW’ Cormack
Daniel ‘Nikelodeon’ Pollozzi

And thank you to the many great entries we received. Just a reminder to the winners to check your email for further information about your prize.

***

The good folks at International Design Week have given us three double passes to the agIdeas 2013 Advantage business breakfast to give away to three lucky Marketing readers, worth $180 per double pass.

The Advantage business breakfast is part of agIdeas 2013 International Design Week, and is taking place at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on Thursday 2 May, from 7am to 10am. (Note: This prize is for tickets to the breakfast event in Melbourne, and does not include travel or accommodation.)

The business breakfast is a must for anyone involved in areas such as product development, marketing, retail strategy, branding, advertising and corporate communications.

Guest presenters Dan Formosa, founding partner of SMart Design (USA) and John Barratt, CEO of Teague (USA) will expand on the theme of innovation, looking at what it means in today’s challenging marketplace and how it can be applied to redefine problems and discover new business opportunities.

HOW TO WIN

To win a double pass to the breakfast, show off your creative thinking by telling us, in 50 words or less, which logo or brand mark best represents you as a person. That is, if you were a logo, which logo would you be? The three best answers will each win a double pass!

Entries close Tuesday 23 April. Winners will be contacted by email.

NOTE: Marketing magazine is the sole arbiter of what constitutes the ‘best’ answers. The judge’s decision is final, and no correspondence will be entered into. Only one entry will be accepted per person. The deadline for receiving entries for the competition is final, no entries received after the given date will be considered. The prize(s) must be taken as stated and cannot be deferred.

Pinterest analytics firm launches contest app and Facebook integration

by Marketing ON 19 October 2012

Pinterest analytics firms Pinfluencer has launched a competition platform for the social scrapbooking site that provides the architecture to manage promotions and integrate with Facebook.

The platform is similar to the competition apps that social marketing software companies such as Wildfire create to help brands manage promotions on Facebook.

‘Pinterest Promotions’ launched yesterday, according to Adweek, allowing brands to set up contests and sweepstakes on Facebook or the brands’ own sites that link back to their Pinterest pages. The idea is to convert Facebook fans into Pinterest followers and stimulate sharing, or ‘re-pinning’ of the brand’s Pinterest content.

Fashion retailer Gilt has come onboard as a launch partner for the platform with a ‘Pin to Win: Gilt Wedding Style!” contest. The competition asks users to create a pinboard and repin one of five bridal gowns from Gilt’s wedding pinboard, as well as add images of other parts of their dream wedding.

Ten other companies tested the platform in beta over the past month, Adweek reports, and EBay and Sephora are set to launch their own Pinfluencer-powered campaigns next week.

CEO of Pinfluencer, Sharad Varma, said the platform will enable brands to cross-pollinate their Facebook and Pinterest fan bases, but added that its more than just an acquisition play. “Through our contest analytics dashboard, brands can easily get high-level ROI metrics,” Varma said.

Pinfluencer measures Pinterest page performance metrics like number of pins, repins, clicks and page views. It also has the ability to track revenue from purchases that stemmed from engagement on a page or from one of the Pinterest Promotion contests.

Brands can use that data to see what content performs best on Pinterest, but down the line they could use it to inform off-Pinterest advertising, Varma told Adweek.

“At some point, [brands] can also use contest pinboards and promote them on online display ad networks as a way to drive traffic to the boards,” Varma said.

Adidas gives away shirt off Murray’s back in grab for Twitter followers

by Marketing ON 10 July 2012

Adidas in the UK ran a competition overnight for the shirt off British Wimbledon finalist Andy Murray’s back in a grab for Twitter followers.

Adidas, Murray’s apparel sponsor, sent out a tweet asking people to follow their account and retweet the call for entries in order to go into the draw. A winner was drawn at 1pm UK time.

The account’s follower base has gone up to 81,985 as of this morning, local time. The competition approach has been found to be less effective on Twitter, with discounts and offers less of a motivator than they are on Facebook, according to a study.

However, this ‘money-can’t-buy’ prize appeared to gain a lot of traction for the brand with thousands of re-tweets generated. Murray fell at the final hurdle in his bid to become the first British man to win Wimbledon in 74 years, losing to Roger Federer in the final on Sunday night.

What’s loyalty got to do with it?

by Marketing ON 8 December 2010

Disloyalty: are you game to encourage it?

I read recently of a unique marketing approach by Gwilym Davies, who is the current World Barista Champion. Basically he gives you a card and encourages you to try out his competition. Buy eight coffees from eight identified quality coffee places in East London and when you present the completed card you’ll get a free coffee.

Not only has he tapped into the experiential coffee culture where it is increasingly being marketed like wine, but he is confidently saying his coffee is one of the leading brands. He is also subtly saying “try out my competitors and then finish with the best”!

Got me thinking…how many businesses here in Australia would be willing to put themselves to such a test? Instead of enticing customers to “buy 2 and get the 3rd at 50% off” they encouraged their customers to try out the competition and be rewarded for it!

Gwilym is obviously passionate about his craft and his business. He is willing to put his reputation on the line and also engage in a meaningful conversation with well informed customers – no doubt they give him lots of useful feedback when they come to redeem their cup.

And, of course, this is a savvy PR stunt as well. Like all effective marketing it is working on more than one level.

A crazy idea? Possibly. But can it act as a challenge to your offering?

If you immediately recoil, why is that? Is it because you are worried that your customers will not come back? Is your point of difference, in fact, illusory?
We are all passionate about our businesses and our brands – or we should be! But quite often we are blinded to the fact that the widget we offer is no different to the one down the road.

During some downtime (hopefully!) over Christmas I implore you to really consider:

• Am I any different to my competition?

• Why would someone buy from me and not them?

• How can I develop, refine or as in the case of Gwilym, turbo charge my point of difference?

Easy to do? No.

Worth it in the long run? Without doubt!

Optus and Bell Shakespeare bring back Make A Scene

by Marketing ON 10 September 2009

Optus and Bell Shakespeare are inviting Australian students to select a Shakespearean phrase and reinterpret it for the ‘Make A Scene’ competition.

The best national entry will be awarded an Apple iPhone 3G as well as $5,000 cash for the individual student and $10,000 cash for their school.

Make A Scene is run as an online competition with entries being moderated by a judging panel while students across the country can vote for each other’s work.

The judging panel consists of John Bell, artistic director of Bell Shakespeare, Josh Rowe, digital creative group head of MARK, acclaimed children’s author Andy Griffiths, and Geoff Nevill, arts and community sponsorship manager at Optus.

“To help inspire the students and promote the competition, we have incorporated some fantastic innovative technology in augmented reality… which aims to engage and enhance the students interest in Shakespeare and encourage greater expression in their entries,” explained Maha Krishnapillai, director of government and corporate affairs at Optus.

Linda Lorenza, head of education at Bell Shakespeare, said, “Since Make A Scene moved to an online format in 2007, its popularity just keeps on growing. As technology is a key component of Australian secondary education, Make A Scene provides a unique mechanism through which students can explore their own contemporary interpretations of Shakespeare”.

Entries can be uploaded from 1 October 2009.

Sir Richard Branson chauffeur comp for Virgin Money

by Marketing ON 20 August 2009

Virgin Money has launched a competition calling for a member of the public to chauffeur Sir Richard Branson around Sydney in a specially designed Virgin London cab.

The winner will spend a ‘day in the life’ with Branson and attend TV and radio interviews, along with ‘calling in to say hi to the
staff at Virgin, ducking out for a spot of surfing before ending with a
night on the town’.

The competition winner will also fly with a friend to Singapore in September to join Branson and the
Virgin-sponsored Brawn GP team in the pits at the Singapore Grand Prix to meet drivers Jenson
Button and Rubens Barrichello.

Entrants need to record a 60-second video explaining
why they would be the best person for the job, with the most creative
entry awarded ‘the keys to Sir Richards black cab’.

According to Virgin Money, the winner will also receive a Tom Tom 930 GPS and a two-year Virgin Car Insurance policy.

TV host career offered in TVSN campaign

by Marketing ON 5 August 2009

TV shopping network TVSN has announced the launch of its national marketing campaign and will offer an opportunity for Australians to start a career in TV in its ‘Shopping for a STAR’ promotion.

Activity will see the network scour the country for a new TV presenter, with the winner receiving a three-month TV presenting role on TVSN, appearing across the Foxtel, Optus and AUSTAR networks. The show will also be streamed live online.

In addition, the winner will take home $30,000 worth of prizes and $20,000 cash.

TVSN indicates that the campaign aims to build on the success of its 2007 ‘Shopping for a STAR’ campaign, which saw English and communications teacher Justine Diana become one of networks presenters.

TVSN has said that it’s recording over 2,500 new customers every month and achieving growth rates of 15 percent per annum for the past four years.

Entries close 4 September 2009 and need to be accompanied by a one-minute video audition.

V Australia uses Twitter to push LA short trips

by Marketing ON 8 July 2009

V Australia has launched a campaign via Twitter with the promise of a flight for three people to Los Angeles to promote the city as Australia’s newest short-break destination.

The international airline of Virgin Blue has also indicated that if the three competition winners successfully send 4,320 tweets in 72 hours – one tweet per minute from the moment they land in LA to the moment they depart – they could set a Twittering World Record and win round-the-world tickets.

The campaign, created by Sydney agency Droga5 (which picked up a Silver Cyber Lion for its ‘Right Music Wrongs’ campaign starring Vanilla Ice), is primarily being conducted via its Twitter profile @4320LA.

A film crew will follow the winners, with their Twitter feeds, photos and video being made available to users to access throughout their trip.

V Australia maintains that the initiative marks the first time an Australian airline has positioned LA as a viable short-break.

Womens Weekly launches Product of the Year Awards

by Marketing ON 11 May 2009

More than 2.2 million consumers will be given the chance to vote for their favourite products with the launch of 2009 The Australian Women’s Weekly Product of the Year Awards.

The magazine’s publisher, ACP Magazines, will launch the new awards in October, when readers will be invited to take part in an independent survey based on consumer experiences and product innovation, revealling Australia’s must-have products.

The magazine’s readers, both in print and online, will have the opportunity to vote for their favourite products across a wide range of categories, which will put them in the running to win a share of $10,000 in prizes.

Brands will be given the chance to be in the running for an award by submitting their products in categories including health, beauty, cereals and snacks, frozen and dairy foods, pantry staples, home and cleaning products, as well as beverages, alcohol, toys and small appliances.

“Winning brands will be rewarded with a high-profile publicity boost, which comes from the integrity and credibility associated with The Australian Women’s Weekly brand and a national survey of this size,” says the Awards brand ambassador, Deborah Thomas.

All products entered in the Awards will be short-listed by a judging panel comprising Thomas along with other figures from the media and industry groups, as well as interested consumers chosen through an exclusive online competition.

The shortlist will then be published in print and online, giving readers the opportunity to vote for their favourite product in each category, with winners will be announced at a gala awards night in Sydney.

YouTube 48-hour ad contest with Cannes Lion

by Marketing ON 29 April 2009

YouTube and the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival have partnered to search for two young creatives to win a trip to this year’s event and fill a new 38th place as ‘Team YouTube’ in the 2009 Young Lions Film Competition.

The online video site will be running a 48-hour viral film contest to create an ad for a well known, international charity whose identity will be kept under wraps until the launch of the contest.

Contestants will then have two weeks to generate as many views possible. Two winners will be selected by a panel of experts who will judge the ad based on creativity, number of views and video ratings.

The winners will unite and receive an all expenses paid trip to Cannes to attend the International Advertising Festival and a chance to compete as the 38th team in the prestigious Young Lions Film competition.

“This is a great way to encourage young creatives in traditional media to grasp new media tools and develop an innovative viral campaign for a leading charity,” says Lorraine Twohill, vice president of global marketing, Google/YouTube.

The power of creative in sales promotion

by Marketing ON 24 July 2008

Well, first things first, a disclaimer: one of our publisher Niches other publications, Desktop, tipped
me off about this example of competition promotion. As a design
and desktop publishing magazine, theyre supporting the Worldwide Printing National Design Awards,
but as a marketing publication, were more interested in how theyve
gone about promoting their competition. So this ones relevant to
marketers interested in running a competition and how to go about putting that together, and to designers interested in winnign a MacBook Air.

Ive included a screenshot of the ad creative on their website that is
promoting the competition, so check out the image below right now, then
read on.

So what do you think of the creative for the promotion?

Well, I guess its festive at least.

For me, the promotion itself is sound, based on the offer and the target market:

The Prize – youre speaking to a design and printing solutions
market, and the product youre offering – a new MacBook Air – is a
design-driven creative innovation from one of the hippest companies
popular among the design community, Apple.

The Entry Criteria - the message is speaking to designers and printing enthusiasts, and is asking them to design Christmas cards. This is obviously something that designers would be capable of, and more importantly, might well be interested in doing.

But what about the other elements of the promotional mix, the advertising and public relations?

The Advertising – For me, Id like to see the creative in
the advert more obviously focus on the prize, the MacBook Air. Its a
sigificant prize for the entry criteria and fits the target market, as
discussed above. But it doesnt grab your attention that the prize is
on offer. Instead, the most prominent visual is of a Christmas bauble.
I would focus on putting an image of a McBook Air prominently in the
advertisement, as this would draw peoples attention quickly to the
prize, which is, after all, the incentive for entry.

The Public Relations – well, clearly were doing our bit for the contest by discussing it here on the site, but its interesting to note that the Worldwide Printing National Design Awards have run the same creative in both print and online.
The different ways that users consume content (ads and editorial)
online and in print would suggest that different creative should be
developed for both platforms.

Like I said, take a look at the creative below and in situ on the Worldwide Printing National Design Awards website. Id be interested to hear your thoughts on how this promotional campaign is being run:

What do you think of the prize?
What do you think of the advertising?
What do you think of the public relations?

And of course, tell the designers and creatives you know and work
with that if theyre at all interested in winning a MacBook Air, all they have to do is design a Christmas card.