A million dollars probably won't get you on the morning talk shows, but a Web-based entry form and a twisted sense of humor might. When slipcover manufacturer Sure Fit, Inc.
took its sixth annual "Ugly Couch Contest" online last fall, the company raked in over 2,200 entries and nailed more than 180 nuggets of press coverage, mostly in newspapers. But
the coup de grace was a guest appearance for the winning sofa - an orange, yellow and black monstrosity, circa 1970s - on "LIVE with Regis & Kathie Lee."
If you're stuck with a minuscule media relations budget, online contests can pose a cost-effective strategy for winning ink. Although the heavily capitalized Web contest
iWon.com (the search engine that lures users with the promise of winning millions), has scored a windfall in press attention, it's an anomaly. Journalists are more likely to
choose kitsch over glitz in their search for oddities. And kitsch is exactly what a well-oiled Web contest can deliver.
To wit: editors at Forbes.com and the San Francisco Mercury News are already among those awaiting the results of the "Funniest Expense Report" contest, launched last week. The
contest sponsor, Freeworks.com, is a Silicon Valley software manufacturer that creates online office applications for purchase orders, expense reports and the like. In this case,
the contestant who submits the most inane expense report story - in an email of 150 words or less - will win a weekend for two in San Francisco, including lunch with Dilbert
cartoonist Scott Adams. (Adams, being the foremost expert on office inefficiency, will choose the winner.)
"Humor is key [if the budget is small]," says Veronica Skelton, cofounder of Sydney Communications, the PR agency for Freeworks.com. "What's great about online contests is you
have two times you can hit up the media and have it be newsworthy - at the front end when you announce the contest, and then at the back end when you announce the winners and
their funny stories."
In truth, contests don't even have to be numerically "successful" to gain press attention, if the hook for reporters doesn't hinge on statistically valid data.
Last January, consumer advocate Gerri Detweiler launched MoneyForMail.com, a permission-marketing site that pays users cash (funded by participating sponsors) to volunteer
their personal data online and read targeted emails. To build brand recognition for the site and its consumer-friendly concept, Detweiler kicked off a "King or Queen of Junk
Mail" contest, offering $2,000 in prize money for contestants who could prove they'd received the greatest volume or the most ridiculous pieces of junk snail mail. In the end,
the month-long contest pulled only 25 entries, but the results were priceless in terms of their media value. One winner, a 12-year old boy, produced a letter that congratulated
him on his pregnancy and offered a maternity insurance policy. The press ate it up, and the contest received mentions in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, LA Times, USA
Today, BusinessWeek, Red Herring and hundreds of other papers and radio shows.
"The news is always so filled with rape, fire and death that [journalists] are happy when they can report about something silly," says Liana Toscanini, director of PR for Sure
Fit and the mastermind behind the Ugly Couch campaign. "[Contests] also help build ongoing relationships with customers," she says. "They like to be entertained. We did the
voting for this year's contest online, and people kept checking back at the site to see who won."
Of course there is one caveat for PR practitioners who hope to ride the contest wagon to media stardom: Make sure your contestants are along for the ride. Detweiler was
basking in the press interest surrounding her junk mail contest results until she realized her newly crowned 12-year old king had stage fright.
"The major network morning shows were interested in interviewing him, but he was too shy," she says. "We'd put something in the contest rules that we could use people's names
and likenesses for publicity purposes, but we didn't say anything about press interviews. Next year we'll make it a requirement."
(Toscanini, 413/258-4904, http://www.surefit.com;
Detweiler, 941/379-0456, http://www.MoneyForMail.com; Skelton, 415/342-3435,
http://www.Freeworks.com)
Best Bang for Your Budget
Online contests don't have to break the bank. Here's what our sources paid for theirs (including prize money, travel expenses, production costs and agency fees):
Ugly Couch: $25,000
Funniest Expense Report: $10,000
King of Junk Mail: 5,000
Contest Rules
Thinking of launching an online contest? Some tips from the pros:
Promote Online. "I hire freelancers to work roughly 20 hours a week scouring the Web for search engines and other places where our contest should be listed," says Liana
Toscanini, director of PR for Sure Fit. "Many of the contest sites send stuff to each other, so word spreads." In a nice bit of serendipity, Sure Fit's Web site was named
Yahoo's "Pick of the Week" on the same day it launched its 1999 Ugly Couch contest. A week later, Web traffic had doubled.
Promote Offline. To pique media interest and illustrate your contest concept, develop some funny, theoretical "case study" examples of the kinds of results you hope to
generate from the contest. Then plaster your URL on everything the press sees, so that early media coverage will help drive contestants to your site.
Go Viral. People are more apt to enter online contests because it's easier than stamping and mailing an entry form. Make it easy for them to spread the news, too.
Include sticky tools such as "email this entry form to a friend" on your site. "And don't overlook the resources you have next door," says Liz Einbinder, partner at Sydney
Communications. "Email contest information to your friends and family and ask them to spread the word." If it's fun, they'll do it gladly.
Change Your Angle. If your contest becomes an annual event, don't formulize it. Reporters won't cover the same story twice. Judges in the Ugly Couch contest over the
years have ranged from celebrities to Sure Fit factory workers to foreign tourists in Times Square. "One year we required contestants to write a poem," Toscanini says.