A "Shop Local Video Contest" hits the streets
Challenge: Leading up to the 2009 holiday shopping season, merchants and restaurants in Princeton, New Jersey expected "abysmal sales as shoppers flocked to discount stores." They had banded together in a "shop local" group, Hometown Princeton, and were looking for a way to promote their cause.
Strategy: HomeTown Princeton teamed up with Shycast to create “Why I Shop Local" video contest, to try out its new DIY Content platform aimed at local businesses and media partnerships. Here's how it works:
*The contest was set up on a separate microsite, which can also be a sub-url of a main site.
*Rules said that contest videos much make a positive statement about shopping local and set criteria for what counts as "independent" ownership.
*Visitors uploaded videos saying why they like to shop local in Princeton, or else recorded these using aweb cam on their computer.
*Merchants were asked for $2000 in gift certificates to support the program. They also help promote the contest (this one had no media partner) through e-mail lists and in-store promotions.
*Other promotions included newsletters and presence at the local PTA, the library and the Arts Council, plus tent tables in local brew pubs and coffee houses.
*Viral components allowed participants to send links to friends and family with customizable messages, to embed codes for social networks and post to YouTube.
*The platform also provides custom e-mail communications with participants as the contest continues (thank you's and next step information) and a back-end management dashboard.
*After the public voting period (in this case, two weeks) the winner was chosen based on a combination of judging and voting. Winners got a gift certificate to be used at any of the members' stores. There was also a sweepstakes component, in which all video participants (even without a great video) had a chance to win, $1000 for first place, or $250 for second and third to be spent at an independent local store.
Of 20 videos were submitted in the two week period, some were extremely creative. They included a parody of a Mr.Rogers neighborhood, and a woman who got the local store owner to push her around in a shopping cart. To look at the whole contest got to http://hometownprinceton.shycast.com.
Results: The campaign drew 50 business participants, 20 video submissions, and more than 3,000 registrations. It was recognized by Borrell Associates for innovation in advertising for local businesses, capturing the top prize in the category “Benefit to Community”. Borrell reported that most businesses saw increases in revenues in spite of the depressed economy.
Lessons learned: "What we've learned from national contests is that if there is a cause behind the contest you have much better participation and shopping local is something that peope really care about," says Stepahanie Pelose, marketing director for Shycast. She also advised "promote early and often. We should have started eight weeks ahead of time. There was not a lot of time and thought because we needed to launch to announce winners before the holiday season ended." ShyCast founder Drew Peloso notes, “It’s incredible what a motivated merchant community can do when armed with the right tools, training, and support." Shycast will be partnering iwht media companies
The author, Alisa Cromer is publisher of a variety of online media, including LocalMediaInsider and MediaExecsTech, developed while on a fellowship with the Reynolds Journalism Institute and which has evolved into a leading marketing company for media technology start-ups. In 2017 she founded Worldstir.com, an online magazine, to showcases perspectives from around the world on new topic each month, translated from and to the top five languages in the world.
Keywords
content, shop local, video, promotions, shycast,
