Category: Blog

The 40th ANA/BAA Marketing Law Conference Review

The 40th Annual Marketing Law Conference was held in Chicago last week and put on by the ANA (Association of National Advertisers). I was again able to attend which I’ve been doing now for over 20 years, but not every year. This association acquired the BAA (Brand Activation Association) back in 2014, which had changed it’s previous name from PMA (Promotional Marketing Association). So there are now many new team members, but most of the sponsors have remained the same and now presenting a wider range of content and technologies.

This year’s conference was titled “Upping Your Game: Pragmatic Business and Compliance Strategies” and featured another full agenda with more than 135 speakers, 65 sessions, and 15 roundtables. Day one of the Conference kicked off at the downtown Chicago Marriott at 1 pm on November 7 with several breakout sessions. Like the conference two years ago, it started the day after Election Day, this year the difference being midterm elections vs. a presidential election. During Dan Jaffe’s presentation Friday morning, Legislative Year in Review, he spoke a little about the results of this year’s election and cited how many women we elected to Congress and to state positions which received a huge round of applause from the audience.

I arrived in Chicago early on the first day of the conference and was able to attend one of the first breakout sessions, “The Basics of Promotion, Sweepstakes, Contests and Gaming”. Even though I do know most of the basics, it was a great overview and refresher that was presented by Barry Benjamin, Partner at Kilpatrick, Townsend & Stockton, LLP. I also attended the next breakout on Alcohol Industries which, since we have many alcohol beverage clients, provided me with a great amount of background as to how the industry has been regulated. That evening started out with another welcome cocktail reception which is always a great networking event to see familiar faces and meet new ones.

Then on Day 2 Thursday, after several Breakfast Roundtables that we had the choice of attending, Ed Kaback, Co-Chair of the event and team member since the PMA days, greeted us with his welcoming remarks.  Bob Liodice, the other Conference Co-Chair, followed with his opening remarks presentation that included an extended version of the Extra Spearmint chewing gum love story commercial from the Wrigley Company as well as the inspirational father-daughter relationship commercial from Windex which had many of us in the audience on the verge of tears. Bob stressed in his remarks that even though many of us attendees are from different industries and are lawyers, government regulators as well as us advertising agency folks, that “Growth is the key to all of us no matter what business we are in”.

Linda Goldstein, a Partner and Head of the Advertising, Marketing and Media practice at BakerHostetler in New York again delivered her annual industry review on the morning of Day 2. Linda was joined onstage this year by Amy Mudge, Co-Leader at the firm. Their presentation was titled “A Year in Review, Sweepstakes, Contests, Privacy, Digital and Social Media”. Linda opened up stating that by 2020 50% of all searches will be voice. Marketers need to up their game because games are now involving more and more people. The video part of their presentation involved a fictitious game called HiQ 15 which was similar to the HQ Trivia game app. In the HiQ 15 game participants had minutes to play at a certain time each day in which they had to answer 12 questions correctly and whoever had the highest score was a winner. But as the game evolved, it added sponsors and advertisers who were collecting data of participants without their consent and also influencers who were not fully disclosing that they were being paid to promote a brand or product. The topics of both consumer data and privacy and well as influencer marketing and endorsement guidelines were all a big part of what was discussed throughout this year’s conference.

Friday was the final day of the conference and Ron Urbach, Chairman & Co-Chair of Advertising, Marketing & Promotions Practice Davis & Gilbert LLP, was back for the morning’s general session with another highly entertaining presentation. This year’s title, “PURSUIT OF “TRUTH” IN ADVERTISING”, tied very much into what we have been experiencing in politics with the media and the continuous use of the term “Fake News!” and also how the social network platforms have been used to spread some real fake news. His video presentation included a journey into a world where what was true and what was not was very blurred. It asked the question, “What is Truth?” and overall is the good of what social media has provided us outweigh the bad? Today social media is much more then just the platforms that deliver it to us. Consumers have become more and more the providers of this content. We need to remember that social media is still only 10 years old, so it’s still in its infancy. Ron asked if the advertising industry in general will be regulated more in the future to determine what is fiction and what is fact. He ended with this hashtag, #StandForTruth.

It was a very informative and fun three days in Chicago. So thanks to all who put on another great conference. Ed Kabak said that they had record breaking attendance with about 850 attendees. The big news is that after many, many years of having the conference in Chicago, next year it will be in San Diego, Nov. 4 -6, 2019, at the Marriott Marquis. Quite a bit difference from November weather in Chicago.

This year I stayed over an extra night till Saturday in order to meet up with my daughter, Alex, and her boyfriend, Tyler. Alex is living outside of Chicago working as a veterinarian at Golf Rose Animal Hospital. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant called Formento’s that I would highly recommend when visiting Chicago.

Halloween Giveaways

We haven’t had many Halloween themed sweepstakes this year. However, here’s a small Halloween Giveaway that the folks at Salon Perfect ran to help promote their Halloween Collection. Just take a look at their Instagram page, @salonperfect, which I’ve grabbed a screen shot here, to see what they’ve been promoting.

Three lucky winners won Salon Perfect’s entire Halloween collection which includes all 6 nail sets and all 8 different Halloween nail polishes!! All people needed to do was first follow @salonperfect on Instagram, find the promotional post on their page, like it and then add the Halloween emoji ? in the comment section. The winners were announced on October 20.

Salon Perfect is one of the brands that is part of a company called American International Industries (AII Beauty). They are mostly known by their over 60 different beauty and skin care brands. Some of their other brands include Ardell Beauty, Body Drench, China Glaze, CLUBMAN Pinaud, EzFlow, GiGi, Hollywood Fashion Secrets and ibd Beauty to name a few. They run mostly Instagram givewaways which we’ve now been assisting them with for the last two years.

I thought I’d share a photo of my dog Izzie in her rocker costume! She isn’t too excited about it though! Happy Halloween! Hope you enjoy the day!

Red Sox player Mookie Betts’ stolen base delivers us all free tacos!

Last evening the 2018 World Series got under way at Fenway Park with the Boston Red Sox hosting the LA Dodgers. I wrote this post last year about the opening game which was held in Dodger Stadium and was the hottest game ever played in the World Series reaching a 103 degrees. It was not that way last night with 40 degree temperatures and damp from some earlier showers. The Dodger’s ace pitcher, Clayton Kershaw, pitched in both opening games, this year going up against Boston’s ace, Chris Sale. It turned out not to be a great night for either pitcher with the bull pen for both teams being pulled in earlier then expected, but Boston defeated Los Angeles, 8-4, in Game One.

Taco Bell is again running their “Steal a Base, Steal a Taco” campaign for their seventh year. They are offering a free Doritos Locos Taco to all in the U.S. if a player steals a base in any World Series game this year. “Every year, we’re overwhelmed with the excitement from our fans when combining America’s favorite pastime with America’s favorite tacos,” said Marisa Thalberg, Global Chief Brand Officer at Taco Bell Corp.

Mookie Betts lead off for the Red Sox in the bottom of the first inning, singled into center and successfully stole second base shortly after. So that happened much quicker in the series than ever before. “We said be aggressive early, trying to get a run across, and on top of that I just wanted some tacos,” Betts told the FOX postgame show after Game 1.

People can get their free Doritos Locos Taco at Taco Bell on Thursday, Nov. 1 between 2-6pm. If for some reason they can’t make it that afternoon they still can get a taco voucher online and grab one any time during the day. If a Game 7 is needed to be played it would be on Halloween evening, October 31, so the day after that free tacos may help to celebrate the winning team and the end of another great baseball season.

This is the seventh time a baseball player has given the country free tacos during the World Series. Betts joins Cameron Maybin (2017), Francisco Lindor (2016), Lorenzo Cain (2015), Ángel Pagán (2012), Jason Bartlett (2008), and Jacoby Ellsbury (2007) in accomplishing the feat.

Go Red Sox!!! They will be remembered as the greatest Red Sox team in MLB history!

Upping Your Game: Pragmatic Business and Compliance Strategies-40th Annual ANA/BAA Marketing Law Conference

Next month I will be heading back to Chicago next month to attend the 40th Annual ANA/BAA Marketing Law Conference which is taking place this year November 7-9 at the Downtown Chicago Marriott. I’ve attended this conference more then ten times over the past 20 or so years. I attend to help keep up with new information regarding the legal and regulatory issues facing the industry as well as to assist with promoting and covering the event for the association. Plus it still is the greatest networking event in the industry and is known as THE conference for marketing, advertising, and privacy law.

This year’s conference is titled “Upping Your Game: Pragmatic Business and Compliance Strategies” and features another full agenda with more than 135 speakers, 65 sessions, and 15 roundtables. Key topics this year will cover the role of data in marketing post-GDPR, all aspects of privacy, and real-time and in-store marketing, presented from top brands including Microsoft, Facebook, Snap, Google, Whole Foods, Uber, Buzzfeed, Verizon, Twitter, Pinterest, and Spotify. Some of the other major topics that will be addressed are again influencer marketing, native advertising, the right of publicity, expanded regulatory coverage (FTC, FCC, FDA, NAD, CARU), state AGs, ASRC and as always, the best learning on sweepstakes, skill contests, gaming, and loyalty programs.

Last year they had another great attendance record with over 750 attendees and they expect another high number this year. I summarized last year’s conference with this post. Two years ago the conference started the day after the presidential election and this year the start date has been moved back up and will be day after the midterm elections. So there should be quite a bit of discussion about the outcome of these elections as it was during the breaks and cocktail receptions two years ago. So please remember to vote this year!

I decided to book an early flight to Chicago on the first day of the conference in which they have several breakout sessions. In the past I have missed the first sessions that start at 1pm which includes one that they hold each year titled “The Basics of Promotion, Sweepstakes, Contests and Gaming”. This year it again is on the agenda and I plan to attend even though I do know the basics by now, but curious as what will be covered. The second breakout session of the day will be on the marketing of alcoholic beverages and this year marketing of marijuana will also be covered. In fact today is the first official day that recreational marijuana is legal in the entire country of Canada.

Ed Kabak, SVP, Law for ANA  is again a Co-Chair of the event and will kick off the first official day of the general sessions on Thursday morning. He had stated that “Ours is an industry of rapid evolution. Since we deal with best practices and the state of the art in Marketing and Advertising Law and Digital Media; IP and Privacy, FTC, State A.G. and state-regulation, Lanham Act, Class Actions, and other areas, this forum is invaluable for marketers to move responsibly forward.” When I spoke to Ed recently it was the day of the deadline for the early-bird conference rate and he was pretty happy with the number of attendees that had already registered which was keeping him quite busy as well.

One of the highlights of the conference will again come from Linda Goldstein, Chair, Advertising Marketing & Digital Media Practice Baker Hostetler LLP in New York who will deliver her annual industry review on Sweepstakes, Contests, Privacy, Digital and Social Media. Last year she opened up stating that “mobile now has become the glue to our digital world” and she associated the phone to an adult pacifier. Linda stated that there were, at that time, 4.1 billion users of mobile messaging apps and that by 2020 there will be 10x’s the number of devices as there are people in the world.

Linda’s presentation is always entertaining and last year she included video clips that showcased how a brand might soon be able to change their marketing in real time. Her presentation included a male consumer who was making an in-store purchasing decision on perfume for his girlfriend’s birthday present and he was trying to recall the right brand. The marketers where able to make changes to the packaging in store in order to help him remember and persuaded his purchase. We’re not there yet, but maybe soon.

Friday is the final day of the conference and we’ll get to hear Ron Urbach, Chairman & Co-Chair of Advertising, Marketing & Promotions Practice Davis & Gilbert LLP, who is known to always provide a highly entertaining presentation. This year’s title, “PURSUIT OF “TRUTH” IN ADVERTISING”, is described as: “rapid evolution, transformation and radicalization of social media has made it more and more difficult to distinguish fact from fiction – and real news from fake news” a term we’ve heard many times over the past two years. During Ron’s presentation last year he brought up the term “Fake News” which he referred to as the “dark underbelly of social media” referencing the ads that were bought by so called Russian companies and not properly disclosed as such. Influcencer Marketing was also a huge topic of discussion last year and Ron cited that it is one of the most cost-effective marketing tactics and that working with influencers on a multi-channel campaign can drive up to 16 times more engagement than paid or owned media.

If you’re interested in attending you can register here. I’ll be at the Marriott on Michigan Ave., so please say hello if you’re there. This year I am staying till Saturday so I can meet up with my daughter, Alex, who  lives in a Chicago suburb and is a veterinarian at Golf Rose Animal Hospital. She and I will get a chance to see each other and have dinner together.  So looking forward to visiting Chicago again!

Sandals is awarding travel agents a Million Dollars in prize money!

We have been working with Sandals Resorts now for many years assisting them with sweepstakes. Most of their sweepstakes have been targeted to consumers giving away stays to both couples and families at their various resorts. However, right now they just recently launched their biggest ever sweepstakes targeted to travel agents called the Million Dollar Multiplier Sweepstakes.

During the next twelve months eligible travel agents can enter the Sweepstakes by completing a booking with a client to any Sandals or Beaches Resort. Travel Agents have to visit the Sandals online TA Portal to first register for the sweepstakes and then every eligible booking that the agent makes will earn them an entry into that month’s drawing. Each booking must be a minimum of a three-night stay.

There are a total of 50-$1,500 Grand Prizes, 100-$1,000 First Prizes, and 1,450-$50 Second Prizes that will be awarded throughout the Sweepstakes Period totaling $900,000 in prizes! Each month either 133 or 134 winners will be drawn from all the eligible entries.

They are also running a similar sweepstakes just for travel agents in Canada which is awarding $100,000 in prizes. So the total of both sweepstakes equals One Million Dollars to the travel agent community!

Alcohol beverage brands winning with text-to-win sweepstakes

For the past several years we’ve worked with Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) who  is the second largest alcohol beverage distributor in the U.S. We’ve been assisting them with a several text-to-win sweepstakes which are very popular with alcohol beverage brands since they receive extra awareness at retail and bar locations. These types of sweepstakes encourage retailers to display the brand’s point of sale communications in their stores.

We started out working with RNDC for Pernod Ricard, the sponsor, for their Absolut Vodka and their Martell Cognac brands. Last year RNDC was working with Edrington Americas and we assisted them with the Macallen DoubleCask Sweepstakes which offered Texans a chance to win a trip to Scotland.

Now this year we recently helped RNDC launch another two text-to-win sweepstakes. The first is a sweepstakes for Edrington Americas for their Highland Park Whiskey brand. People who are 21 years of age or older from Florida, Georgia and Texas are invited to participate. They can text the word “VIKING” to the shortcode 65047 where they receive a text message back that contains a link to open up an online entry form. They can also enter at www.highlandparktailgate.com. Once they complete and submit the form they are entered for a chance to win. In this case Highland Park is tying into the football tailgating season and offering eight lucky weekly winners a chance to receive a tailgate package that includes food and drinks for 10 people valued at $300.

A new sponsor that we’re working though RNDC is Santa Margherita USA for their Santa Margherita wines. People who are 21 years of age or older from Texas are invited to participate. They can text the word “UNCORK” to the shortcode 65047 where they receive a text message back that contains a link to open up an online entry form. People can also enter directly online at http://app2.sweeppea.com/UNCORK for a chance to win. Three weekly winners each week for a total of 21 weekly winners each receive a $100 Albertson’s Gift Card and one Grand Prize winner at the end of the Sweepstakes will receive a $400 Albertson’s Gift Card.

Both of these sweepstakes began on September 1 and will run till the end of October. We’ve been working with a mobile platform in the U.S. for the past couple of years called Sweeppea. They provide the shortcode and we set up the campaign in their platform. We have the option of creating the online mobile form from their platform as well. The form is a great way to collect more data on the entrant such as their first and last name, email address and age, which in the case of alchol beverage brands we need to know that they are 21 or older. So try and enter one today and see how easy it is.

The One Tank Trip Sweepstakes is part of a complete marketing package offered to these select Honda Dealers

We have been working with RealWorld Marketing, an advertising and marketing agency firm based in Scottsdale, Arizona, that focuses solely on Acura and Honda. They currently work with over 20 Honda and Acura associations throughout the U.S. and provide marketing and advertising services exclusively to these association with the goal to help increase Acura and Honda sales.

We are currently assisting them with two sweepstakes, one for the Rocky Mountain Honda Dealers (RMHD) and the other for the Western Washington Honda Dealers (WWHD). The RMHD association is comprised of 14 Colorado based dealers and the WWHD association includes 18 Washington based dealers. Both of these sweepstakes are named the One Tank Trip Sweepstakes because they include trip prizes to places within each state that are basically in driving distance with, you guessed it, one tank of gas.  People are invited to visit the websites and fill out the online form to enter. The websites provide additional information about the prize packages and help to promote each of the trip destinations.

Both sweepstakes started on June 13 and will run until September 3. Each sweepstakes has first place winners who each receive a weekend getaway trip prize, along with weekly second place winners who receive various other prizes. You either need to be a resident of Colorado to be eligible for the RMHD sweepstakes or Washington for the WWHD sweepstakes.

For the RMHD sweepstakes some of the secondary prizes include tickets to the Colorado Rockies baseball games or tickets to see the Broadway musical “On Your Feet”, the story of Gloria and Emilio Estefan. which is at the Buell Theater in Denver, Colorado during August. Some of the trip prizes for this sweepstakes include a trip for two to The Lodge at Steamboat in Steamboat Springs, CO, or a two night stay in the Mt. Princeton Hot Springs Resort in Nathrop, CO.

The WWHD sweepstakes had secondary prizes that include tickets to a Seattle Mariners baseball game, a Seattle Sounders soccer game or to a Washington Huskies football game. Some of their trip prizes include a trip for two to the Snug Harbor Resort on San Juan Island, WA, or to Willows Lodge in Woodinville, WA.

We now have a few more weeks left for both of these sweepstakes with some more prizes to give out. All the winners that I have contacted so far have been very happy and grateful for the prize that they have won. They also want to know if they are still eligible for the grand prize, which I tell them yes they are. At the end of the sweepstakes period we will draw a winner from each sweepstakes from all those that entered throughout the sweepstakes period. Each Grand Prize winner will be given the option to receive either a 3-year lease on a 2018 Honda Civic LX Sedan or a 3-year lease on a 2018 Honda HRV AWD LX. Both prize options are valued at $11,500.

All the dealers receive both an advertising media kit and a social media kit that includes all the information on the sweepstakes, a calendar that lists all the prizes along with information on the partners that have provided the prizes. The ad kit includes TV, radio and online ads that they can use and place with various media. The social media kit includes post ideas for the various weeks of the sweepstakes for Facebook, Instagram and Twitter along with photos that they can download and track-able links to include with each of the posts.

So RealWorld Marketing has provided a complete marketing package to help increase dealer visits, test drives and sales while making many people happy winners. I hope the promotion is a huge success for all involved.

Gold Rush DirtCar Giveaway Sweepstakes from DirtCar USA is back for a 2nd year

The Gold Rush Dirt Car Giveaway is back again and in the middle of it’s second year. Once again, DirtCar USA is giving away another race-ready dirt modified car. The car has been built by Harris Auto Racing and is powered by a Mullins Race engine. Also added to this years giveaway is over 50 racing products that will be secondary prizes valued between $50 to $600!

To enter this sweepstakes people are invited to purchase any of their race car parts at DirtCarUSA.com. For every $10 they spend on the website they get one entry into the sweepstakes for that month. Then each month, which started in March and ends in December, we draw five entrants who will be that month’s winners. DirtCar USA then will conduct an additional drawing via a Facebook Live event on their Facebook page, www.facebook.com/DirtCarUSA, to determine the monthly prize that each winner will receive. Here’s how that works:

  • First name drawn: Fifth place monthly winner receives a prize with minimum value of $50
  • Second name drawn: Fourth place monthly winner receives a prize with minimum value of $100
  • Third name drawn: Third place monthly winner receives a prize with minimum value of $150
  • Fourth name drawn: Second place monthly winner receives a prize with minimum value of $200
  • Fifth name drawn: First place monthly winner receives a prize with minimum value of $250 PLUS they will also receive one entry into the Finalist Grand Prize Drawing

One Grand Prize drawing will take place on December, 31, New Year’s Eve, from all the ten monthly Finalist winners. This drawing will also be conducted by DirtCar USA via a Facebook live event on their Facebook page. Each monthly Finalist winner will receive confirmation on when the final drawing will be held and invited to view the event.

The Grand Prize winner will receive the Race Car which will have been driven in several races during the 2018 calendar year. The next one on their schedule is the Dirt Knights race in Spencer Iowa and the Harris Clash race at Deer Creek Speedway, August 6th and 7th.

Because we are requiring a purchase to enter the sweepstakes, we also are providing an alternate means of entry without purchase which is by mail. The rules include the information required to mail in along with the mailing address. We have received many mail-in entries which continue to come in each month. So my assumption is that some sweepstakes newsletter must have picked up the information about this sweepstakes and posted it to their website. However, we also have been receiving many entries that have come from the website.

We will be doing the next drawing with all the July entries this coming Monday to determine this month’s five winners including the one finalist. DirtCar USA sent out an email yesterday on the last day of the month to encourage people to enter for July which is shown here.

So if you’re a race car fan, you can still enter for a chance to win in the next 5 monthly periods! An entrant can only win one prize per monthly drawing but may win additional prizes each month during the Sweepstakes period. Last year’s grand prize winner was a very happy guy, Nathaniel Webb from Ohio!

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Toyota What’s Your Sign Contest encourages participation from the community

For about the past five years we’ve been working with REACH, an experiential marketing and event management agency. Over the last year they have come to us for assistance for several promotions for their client, Toyota Motor North America, that are tied to Toyota’s sponsorship of the Rock ‘N Roll Marathon Series. We’ve been working with REACH on a new promotion that just launched last week called the Toyota What’s Your Sign Contest which will now be running till the late November.

Toyota became the official vehicle sponsor of the Rock ’N’ Roll Marathon Series back in 2015, and is one of several sponsors. The Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series has made running over 20 years now. The Series infuses each event with live bands, cheer teams and more. For 2018 the Series organizers, IRONMAN, are now promising to bring more music, better runner support, improved technology, and more community engagement to every event.

This year Toyota is continuing with their ROCK YOUR RUN theme. Runners and their supporters can find Toyota’s footprint at each event including at the finish line. During each festival in the 19 cities throughout the U.S., Toyota will have various vehicles on display and will offer fun games and also give out complimentary gifts. This new Contest was launched to coincide with the 2018 Humana Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicago race which was held this past weekend. The next event will take place in Dublin, Ireland, and then it comes back to the states on September 1st in Virginia Beach.

The Toyota What’s Your Sign Contest invites people to show off their best sign – motivational, inspirational or just plain funny. They are directed to the online contest page where they need to fill out the required fields on the entry form and upload a photo of their sign. The contest page includes photos of three different signs to help depict what the message photo should contain.

The one Grand Prize winner will receive a trip for themselves and a guest to attend an upcoming U.S. Rock ‘n’ Roll race that is scheduled to take place on or before November 30, 2019. The prize package includes the round-trip airfare for two to the race city, hotel accommodations for two nights and a $250 BROOKS gift certificate which is valued at $2,700.

The Contest submission period is open till November 12, 2018. Once that period has ended a panel of judges will review all eligible photos that were submitted and will choose five finalists based on the following judging criteria: 30% inspiration, 35% design, 35% originality and creativity. The photos from the five finalists will then be showcased in an online photo gallery and people will be invited to visit the gallery and vote for the photo they believe is the best. The voting period will be open from November 15 – 25. The photo that receives the most votes will be deemed the Grand Prize winner.

For this Contest we are again utilizing the Shortstack application in which we have built the entry form and are collecting all the entrant’s data along with their photos. I have given the REACH team direct access to the campaign as well as a separate, private, online page that was created so that they could view all the photos that are submitted in real time. Once it is time to judge all the photos, REACH will be able to share this page with the judges so they can chose the five finalists. At that time we will then update the photo gallery to display only the five finalists, add the voting capability and open it up for all  to view and vote. One vote per day, per person will be allowed.

All of Shortstack’s entry pages are mobile friendly from the start with Shortstack’s “One Campaign for any screen” design philosophy. Each campaign created is assigned a URL address which can be customized by adding text to the beginning of the address, but keeping the characters that where originally assigned. In this case Toyota wanted a fully customized URL address so we purchased www.Toyotawhatsyoursign.com and am hosting the page. We took the embed code from the Shortstack campaign and added that to the new online page. If you would like more details on how to set up a promotion utilizing the Shortstack platform, please feel free to contact me. It’s a great tool and it also includes a great team of support people.

Hilary Van Messel, Producer at REACH stated “Similar to previous contests, this Contest goal is to develop a following and spark action in the Rock ’N’ Roll Marathon community. Differently, this Contest runs for an extended period of time, so we’re promoting it in fun and different ways, including a cyclist in each of the cities who passes out little business cards that explain the Contest to the supporters on the sidelines of the race courses. We hope that people get excited to enter, whether that is through our promo work or the trip for two Grand Prize.” Currently there have been a few photos submitted to the Contest. The Contest is also being promoted on various online social channels as well as it will be featured throughout the year on the official Rock ‘N Roll Marathon Facebook page. 

The Join Me In Jamaica Sweepstakes is added to the Jamaica Tourist Board’s campaign

The Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) a couple of months ago launched their new Join Me In Jamaica digital marketing campaign. The campaign includes several 90-second videos featuring local Jamaican celebrities and friends of Jamaica sharing unique stories about the love for their profession, and their homeland and what makes it a great place to visit.

“The Join Me in Jamaica campaign was created with today’s savvy traveler in mind as purchasing decisions as to where one will vacation are often made after a series of online searches. These short videos will serve to entice visitors to come experience our destination and our greatest asset, our people,” noted Donovan White, Jamaica’s Director of Tourism in a press release.

We have now just started working with their agency, Finn Partners, to assist with the launch of the Join Me In Jamaica Sweepstakes. The sweepstakes, along with the campaign videos, will be targeted to those in the continental U.S. and Canada. It will be promoted through JTB’s social media channels including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube, as well as through a digital ad campaign aimed at reaching consumers where they look for inspiration while making travel decisions.

The sweepstakes just launched and people can enter by visiting www.joinmeinjamica.com and filling out an online registration form. At the end of the sweepstakes period, which ends on August 17, we will draw two Grand Prize Winners, one from the U.S. and one from Canada. Each grand prize winner will receive a trip to Jamaica that includes two round-trip economy air tickets along with a 4-night stay for two people in Jamaica, two nights at the Round Hill Hotel and Villas and two nights at Terra Nova All Suite Hotel. Also included are round trip transfers to and from the airport and the hotel. The prize is valued at $3,000 each.

A total of eight videos for the campaign were produced covering a variety of interests and passion points highlighting Jamaica’s music, cuisine and attractions. Each video was created through the eyes of local celebrities and personalities that share their stories about why they love their beautiful island. Here is one that features Chef Martin Maginley of Round Hill Resort and Villas, one of the hotels that’s included in the prize package.

You can see all eight videos of the campaign that feature the other local celebrities from Jamaica here at JoinMeInJamaica. Definitely makes we want to visit soon!