Bags Fly Free™ Video Contest
Southwest Airlines is asking you to show them what you’d do for $100, and you could win 1 of 4 vacation packages.

Southwest chose Votigo’s Flash Contest Widget with Facebook Brand Page support for this video contest.  The widget is simply added to a brand page tab.  Users can sign up, upload their videos, vote, browse other videos, and get the details all from within the widget.  It can easily be shared with their friends on Facebook as well as grabbed and posted to any other site or blog like the one below.

Votigo also offers full-featured, completely integrated Facebook Contest applications like these contests for brands like Champion, Simmons Beautyrest, and KOHL’s.

We are very excited to announce our latest viral sweepstakes solution. This Twitter Sweepstakes for Quicken requires users to first follow @Quicken on Twitter and then tweet a message with a specific hashtag.   In this case it’s #quickenfreerent. Running a sweepstakes on Twitter is a great way to encourage users to follow your brand on Twitter.  Add on top of that the viral nature of Twitter and you’ve got a recipe for a successful promotion.

Some of the unique features of Votigo’s Twitter Sweepstakes solution is that it comes complete with a fully branded micro-site that displays the latest tweets from users entering the random-drawing sweepstakes with a specific hashtag.  All tweets are first pulled into the Votigo screening tool where they are reviewed and approved to ensure only appropriate content is displayed on the micro-site.  Each valid tweet is entered into the random-drawing.  Votigo’s technology validates that users are followers of the brand’s Twitter page.   There is also an alternate means of entry in the form or a standard online sweepstakes for those consumers that do not have a Twitter account.

Votigo handled the design, development, and official contest rules. We worked with Quicken’s PR agency Outcast Communications.

Coca-Cola and interactive agency Studiocom chose Votigo’s Flash Contest Widget to power their “Coca-Cola Correspondent” Contest.  This is a great example of how the design of the the widget can be customized!

About the contest:

Coca-Cola is looking for the next Coke Correspondent for the 2009 American Music Awards. For your chance to be on the Red Carpet at the 2009 American Music Awards, submit a video that shows us your personality, enthusiasm, on-camera presence, and excitement for the Coca-Cola brand. You can submit a video of yourself, or you can show off your killer interview techniques - just make sure you have permission from anyone in the video to upload your entry and that you don’t include any trademarks except Coca-Cola.
Each video counts as 1 entry into the contest. The contest begins on October 1, 2009 at 12:00 a.m. EST and ends on October 31, 2009 at 11:59 p.m. EST.
Watch the sample videos for inspiration - then create your own video that is between 15 seconds and 4 minutes in length. When you’re ready, come back and click on the “Submit Video” tab to register and submit your video.

Votigo Contest Widget Features

We’re beyond excited to announce that Votigo is powering the Royal Caribbean “Reporter at Sea” Video Contest.  There are actually five different contests going on in multiple countries and languages. (US, UK, Canada, Germany, and Mexico).  We worked with global PR agency Weber Shandwick and Outthink on the overall execution.

The Votigo Platform powers the entire contest including everything from custom user registration, video upload and playback, voting, data collection, reporting, sophisticated judging and screening tools, social media sharing functionaliy, hosting, and more.

About the contest:

Submit a creative video entry/news report showcasing your best reporting skills and explaining why you should be chosen for the assignment of a lifetime with USA Today!

Be sure to highlight your ability to entertain and clearly explain and effectively bring to life travel and cruising concepts.

* Videos must be fewer than 45 seconds in length and must not exceed 100 MB in size
* Format must be AVI, MOV, WMV, MP4, MPEG, FLV, 3GP, or 3G2
* One submission per person

The entry period is from Monday, September 28, 2009 at 12:00 a.m. ET until Friday, October 9, 2009 at 11:59 p.m. ET

Once the entry period has ended, 10 finalists will be selected

Online voting begins on Tuesday, October 20, 2009 at 12:00 a.m. ET and ends on Sunday, October 25, 2009 at 11:59 p.m. ET. Consumers can vote once per day for his/her favorite video.

Hilton Garden Inn presents the Holiday Kick Start Video Contest.

Show off your rockin’ dance moves and win a VIP trip to New York City to Kick Off the Holiday Season with the World Famous Rockettes!

Hilton Garden Inn is searching for your best dance moves this holiday season.  Tap, spin, twirl, groove, rock, step,and of course, KICK your way to New York City to meet the Rockettes, attend this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and see a VIP performance of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular Starring the World Famous Rockettes!

So, lace up those dancing shoes and show us what you’ve got!

KOHL’s is running a user-generated video, photo, or story sweepstakes to promote the KOHL’s California Grand Opening.  Users are encouraged to tell their Kohl’s savings stories and share them with their friends and family.  Users can log in with their Facebook account, vote, and comment.  There will be 4 winners everyday.

Votigo powers the UGC sweepstakes micro-site that includes video or photo/story upload, user-voting, commenting, recent activity stream, Facebook Connect login option, custom registration, data collection, and screening tool to ensure appropriate content.  Votigo worked with Katz Media Group on the promotion.

Find out more about the contest.

Find out more about Votigo’s social media contest solutions.

What’s Your Everest? Tell Champion and you could win $10,000!

The contest campaign includes a video / essay contest microsite and Facebook contest application for Champion Expedition.  We worked with the folks over at MaddockDouglas.

We all have dreams we aspire to fulfill. They range from modest to grandiose; from getting your diploma to finding a cure for cancer; and they’re all important. And we all know people who inspire us to reach those dreams. People like Jamie Clarke.

That’s why Champion is asking you to tell them What’s Your Everest?. It’s your chance to let the world know who you are and how you’re making a difference, and inspire others to do the same.

Here are some specific pages of the Contest Microsite.

• Custom contest microsite landing page.
• View & Vote page with sharing and commenting functionality.
• Sorting functionality on the Browse All entries page.

Here are some specific pages of the Facebook Contest application.

• Landing page for the application
• View & Vote page with Sorting, Sharing, Invite Friends and Commenting.

Find out more about Votigo’s viral video & photo/essay contest microsites and Facebook contest applications.

Votigo is very excited to be powering the Pandora Poster Contest for the 3rd year in a row!

Help Pandora & Levi’s to support youth music education around the world.

Calling all Artists, Designers, and Art Lovers! What does the new American Music look like? Pandora & Levi’s® need your help to support youth music around the world.

Votigo’s white-label viral contest microsite features People browsing, Recent Activity stream, Add Friends functionality with Address Book Import, User-voting, and maximum customization.

Check out the winning poster designs for the previous years.

2007 Winners

2008 Winners

Find out more about Votigo’s Contest Solutions.

Online sweepstakes are an excellent way to collect information from users to help gain insight about their overall intent to purchase or to collect information for re-marketing purposes.
This sweepstakes for Allstate Insurance with soccer superstar “Zague” is a perfect example of how a company can leverage the incentive of a prize package to garner the information they need from the users.

Watch a Tricolor game with Zague, Courtesy of Allstate.
WIN A TRIP TO WATCH THE MEXICAN NATIONAL TEAM WITH LEGENDARY PLAYER LUIS ROBERTO ALVES “ZAGUE” AT THE COTTON BOWL SEPTEMBER 30, 2009!

* Watch the game with Zague
* Receive suite passes
* Watch the players warm up from the sidelines
* Participate in a meet and greet with a current player from el Tricolor

Check it out!

Virally Spread Your Marketing Message - Assuming your contest site is built well and with the right viral tools at the disposal of users (see tips), user-generated contests can be a great way to virally spread your marketing message. What is unique about contests is that entrants have an incentive to promote themselves in order to get the votes needed to win the contest. And as we’re learning, in a digital world with a lot of noise, consumers have a higher level of trust and interest in content referred by their friends. This provides brands with an amazing way to expose their message to a new audience of engaged consumers.

Build Community Around Your Brand - Creating a contest microsite with built-in social networking features provides the landscape for your customers to talk about the promotion. What’s a contest microsite you might ask? It’s a standalone web site or sub-section of your existing brand web site that is dedicated to the contest and fully customized to your look and feel. In addition to contest rules, guidelines, user entry forms and voting it should utilize key social features allowing visitors to share and interact with the contest entries and each other. Depending on the theme of your contest, this interactive conversation could be focused on your product or brand specifically or something with which you want your brand associated with.

Allow for Safe Participation in Social Media - Some brands are reluctant to turn over control of their marketing to consumers for fear of what the masses might say. Contests can provide a great way for brands to safely participate in social media. By clearly outlining rules and guidelines for entering contests and making smart use of prescreen and moderation tools, your brand can remain protected.

Build Your Customer Database - Because of the viral nature of entrants reaching out to friends and family to promote entries, contests can be a great way to build your customer database for future marketing efforts. It goes without saying, however, that users must opt-in to receive future marketing messages.