Archive of the 'Web Promos & Sweeps' Category

In one of the more innovative online game promotions to come down the broadband pipe, Facebook players in June were offered a peek inside a mysterious box that, they were promised, would change their lives.

Really. It said so right in the URL: www.LifeChangingBox.com. more

About five years ago, the Hard Rock Hotel Las Vegas realized it had a bookings issue. Guests were arriving for the weekend on Friday but leaving for home on Sunday, making Sunday evenings around the rock-music-themed lodging and casino kind of a snooze.

Not to mention a cost sink, because beverage sales fell off along with room bookings. The hotel realized it needed to figure out a way to keep some guests over Sunday night and to bolster those revenues. more

A number of releases have come out recently about Hispanic marketing account wins or appointments, and that led me to thinking about a question I honestly don’t have the answer to yet. When brands target their interactive marketing at a Hispanic audience, how well do they do in fulfilling that audience’s online needs? more

TV viewers who grew up in the mid-Atlantic region—I count myself among them—may cherish fond memories of the commercials featuring Tom Carvelas, founder of the Carvel retail soft-serve chain.

Actually, I don’t recall Carvel showing up often in the ads, which usually featured real workers and franchisees self-consciously making ice cream specialties for the camera. Carvel’s contribution to the spots was primarily as voiceover. But what a voice. It’s been described as “gravelly”; in fact, it sounded like he’d been gargling lugnuts. more

The mantra in the early days of the Internet was that “content wants to be free.” The last decade has added some important qualifiers to that, leading YouTube to pull copyrighted material and some big media providers like The New York Times to swing pendulum-like between paid subscriptions and complete availability.

But HarperCollins Publishers says it has seen strong results from a pilot program that follows that Web-pioneer dictum by throwing selected titles up onto the Internet cover to cover, permitting readers to consume them in toto on their PCs. more

In the world of video games, Rockstar Games’ upcoming April 28 release of “Grand Theft Auto IV: Liberty City” is generating as much buzz as the next Batman movie. And electronic game retailer GameStop has capitalized on that interest with a pre-launch GTA4 promotional game that integrated online, mobile and in-store activities. more

When it comes to interactive tie-ins with live events, there are two schools of thought. You can basically fish where the fish are and link your digital content to Web sites that are already seeing traffic from the event. On the other hand, there’s a lot to be said for building your own fishing hole and controlling both the experience and the visitors.

Last year, Totino’s Pizza Rolls took a fairly sedate approach to its sponsorship of a decidedly non-sedate event: the ESPN Winter X Games for extreme sports fans, held annually in Aspen CO. The General Mills-owned brand created TV spots and print ads that drove viewers—mostly 13-to-17 year old males– to a Totino’s-branded page on the ESPN.com site. There they were able to vote on their favorite moments from the games and to enter a sweepstakes to win a Jeep patriot packed with sports gear. Totino’s also used competing pro snowboarder Danny Kass as a brand ambassador, putting a logo on his board and posting his daily blog entries on the branded page. more