Month: March 2014

If you are planning or even thinking about getting married how would you like to win a contest that awards you with a wedding? Here are a couple of wedding contests that we’re assisting clients with that are targeting two totally different audiences.

The first one is the Bahamas 16 Islands Wedding Invitation. This contest is sponsored by the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism who have been promoting their Islands as a perfect wedding destination. Their website offers 16 different wedding packages from among their 16 islands.

The contest invites participants to enter the contest by visiting the Sponsor’s website, bahamas16islandsweddings.com or their Facebook page. To enter they must first pick their top 3 Bahama Islands in order of their preference and then explain why they should win their dream wedding. The submission may consist of a either a photo with a written essay or a link to a video and convey why they should win a wedding in The Bahamas. Both the photo and the video should include the entrant with their partner. The written essay should be no longer than 250 words and the video should be no longer that one minute.

The contest launched on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14th and submissions are being accepted up till June. 13. All the submissions can be reviewed here on the site which now has about 1,200 submissions.  Justin Hancock, Digital Content Manager at the Zimmerman Agency,  (Sponsor’s agency) stated that “So far we’ve seen great success in gaining entries through Facebook and our 16 Weddings landing page. From quality video and image content, to creating an email database from the users who have opted in to receive our targeted emails, we’re very excited with the results of the campaign at this point.”

Starting on June 14 through the 30 the public will be invited to vote for their favorite couples. At the end of the Voting Phase a panel of judges will review all the submissions and choose 16 grand prize winners, one winner per island who will each receive a wedding package to take place on one of the 16 different islands in The Bahamas. The judging criteria is based on the following: Public Appeal 30%, Creativity 40% and Quality of Submission 30%. Some stories are very heartwarming, so I invite you to take a read here.

The wedding packages range from The Royal Bliss on Paradise Island which is the most elaborate valued at $5,645, to Colour Me with Love on the Island Nassau with a value of $2,210, to the smallest package such as Seashell Beauty on Crooked Island valued at $1,300. All wedding packages come with a Marriage Officiant, Processing of Legal Documents, Transfers to and from Registrar General’s or Commissioner’s Office, Bridal Bouquet, Groom’s Boutonniere, Ceremony Site and a Wedding Coordinator. Even if you aren’t planning on getting married, may be worth a story to help celebrate your anniversary. 

The second contest is sponsored by the folks at VisitDenmark which is called Validate Your Love in Copenhagen. Denmark is celebrating 25 years of same-sex civil unions. They are inviting same-sex couples to enter the contest for a chance to win a trip to Copenhagen to get married during the outrageously fun and extravagant Eurovision Song Contest festivities. Denmark is known for hosting many gay and lesbian events during the year, including the annual Copenhagen Pride Week festival that takes place in August each year.

Participants are invited to the VisitDenmark website and instructed to upload an inspirational and creative photo or video explaining why they want to get married in Copenhagen. Or they can post their video or photo on YouTube, Vine, Vmeo, or Instagram and include the link to it in the designated field on the entry form. If they use Instagram they must provide their Instagram handle.

One grand prize winner will win a trip for two people to Copenhagen to get married on May 9, 2014. The wedding will take place on the cobble stoned square of Højbro Plads which is located on the Eurovision Fan Mile in the city center of Copenhagen in vicinity of the Danish Parliament, Christiansborg, the first place in the world to acknowledge and legalize same-sex civil partnerships. The wedding ceremony will be performed with other aspiring wedding couples from around the world, and is not a personalized wedding ceremony.

Submissions for the Validate Your Love contest will be accepted up till April 6. No voting is is included in this contest. A panel of judges will review all the submissions and choose the winner based on this criteria; Originality and Creativity 35% and Relation to the theme sixty-five 65%.

So there you have it. Two different wedding contests, both with weddings taking place on two different specific dates, in two different places in the world, targeted to two different audiences.

Requesting user-generated content to be submitted in contests is an extremely popular way for brands and companies to engage with consumers. Social media enables them to help spread the word, gain new followers, and hopefully customers, while at the same time creating buzz for their business. By inviting people to upload a photo, a video, a recipe, a design, or a written essay they also can gain great insights into how consumers use and/or feel about their product and services. This new contest from Song Silo invites people to create and share music on their new platform.

SongSilo.com is a social collaboration website that launched late last year with the objective of becoming a universal community of artists, bands, writers, musicians and music lovers. It is the brainchild of three brothers, Michael, David, and Bernard Edwards, Jr,  who have a passion for music which they inherited from their father, disco icon Bernard Edwards. SongSilo came to us for assistance in launching their first contest with an objective to drive people to the site to create, collaborate and listen to music.

On March 1 they launched the SongSilo Original Works Contest. They decided to open up their first contest to all U.S. and Canadian residents and are allowing anyone 13 years or older to participate. Submissions must include a track which is original material, the work of the person who entered and at least two and a half minutes long. Participants have to visit the Contest Profile on the site to publish their track. They can publish as many tracks as they wish during the Submission period which is open till March 31.

A panel of judges will review all submissions and select the top five Finalists based on the following criteria: Originality and Creativity, 25%, Quality of Submission 25%, Uniqueness & Style 35% Use of collaboration 15%.  These five Finalists will then have their tracks displayed in the Contest Gallery on the SongSilo website. Starting on April 5 the public will be invited to vote on their favorite.  Only one vote per person per track will be allowed during the voting phase which will end on April 26.

So instead of leaving the determination of the winners totally up to public vote, the judging phase helps to prevent a submission from becoming a winner that really does not meet the high standards of what SongSilo is all about.

“We wanted to give everybody who wants to be involved in music, an opportunity to create and enjoy the artistry of song,” said Michael Edwards. “Not everyone has the tools it takes to create or compose — whether that is a specific skill or piece of equipment. Song Silo changes all that.”

The Finalist with the highest number of votes will be determined as the Grand Prize winner who will receive a $1,000 cash prize plus a SongSilo premium account for a year. Also one First Prize winner will receive $250 along with a SongSilo premium account as well.

The Edward brothers are hoping to carry on the family tradition of making music fun. Their father, Bernard Edwards, along with Nile Rogers, was a founding member of Chic. Together they created such hits as ‘Dance, Dance, Dance,’ ‘Everybody Dance,’ ‘I Want Your Love,’ and ‘Le Freak’. The brothers are hoping to leave their own mark through the creation of SongSilo. Already the contest has gotten some good, quality submissions. Check it out here, sign-up for free, take a listen and if you’re a musician, get your track created and submitted soon.