Flippin’ Fashion

The trouble with retail contests isn’t that they’re a dime a dozen. It’s that too many of them fail to inspire in the loot department. Not so at Canada’s Masonville Place. The prospect of winning a free Flip video camera was alluring enough for 300 people to enter the shopping center’s back-to-school contest.
The initial task was for contestants to write down their fall fashion statements about Masonville Place, and then gather as many online votes as possible for their entry.
People used Facebook and Twitter to garner votes—one contestant even blogged about giving away some of her winnings in exchange for additional votes—and the top five made it through to the next stage of the competition. Each finalist was then handed a Flip video camera and let loose in the center for three hours to capture images of their favorite fall fashions. They even got to keep the camera.

The winning videographer earned a $1,000 shopping spree, as well as bragging rights for having their entry posted on the contest website and YouTube.
“We were astonished at the response throughout the community for our first viral contest,” said Alex Mochrie, marketing director.
“It went crazy, including some customers contacting the nearby radio station to encourage their listeners to vote.”
The winning videographer managed the task with such enthusiasm that her finished work turned out to be the perfect testimonial for the center, depicting a young woman as she shopped the stores and tried on various outfits to match the window displays.
“We could use it for a television commercial!” Mochrie noted.
The Flip contest was the brainchild of Circus Strategic Communications, which also designed a promotional postcard for it and mailed it to 75,000 homes throughout the city of London, Ontario.

Dec.
2009

Posted in Departments

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