Companies often pay top dollar to PR and media agencies for help to gain exposure and increase brand awareness. With so many self-proclaimed social media gurus and experts tweeting and connecting in Facebook, you would think there are more successful campaigns out there. This is just not the case. When a campaign is truly successful, it deserves a nod. So this post is dedicated to a highly successful brand awareness campaign of 2010 – The Anywhere Challenge by Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG).

The Anywhere Challenge has Brought Great Excitement to Members

Like elemental Magnesium, online marketing campaigns and user contests are ubiquitous these days. Some perform well but The Anywhere Challenge put on by IHG has performed exceedingly well. There are still two weeks left in the contest and it has brought great excitement and user participation to IHG members.

The object of the contest is to bring awareness to the Hotels Anywhere program that allow Intercontinental Hotels Group members to redeem Priority Club Rewards points for any participating hotel, even competitors of IHG.

“Hotels Anywhere, is the first and only hotel industry redemption option that allows members to redeem loyalty points for more than 73,000 hotels all over the world, even our direct competitor.”

What a neat concept! I can now use my Priority Club Rewards points to book any one of the tens of thousands of participating hotels worldwide, including a direct competitor of the IHG family (Intercontinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn / Express, Hotel Indigo, Staybridge and Candlewood). Imagine if the airline industry also introduced a share-a-point system? There would be a lot more happier travelers out there.

The contest gives an opportunity for members to try and correctly guess a worldwide location for prizes and Priority Club Rewards points. Each new day of the weekly contest, members receive an additional clue along with a few photo elements that are revealed in a Flash based slideshow. Here is an example of what a typical week’s clues may look like:

To see the actual clue slider in action, you can view The Anywhere Challenge here.

Increasing Brand Awareness and User Engagement

There are a few online conversations that closely follow this contest but the most active one is located at FlyerTalk.com. Each day, many users compare and trade tips to try and figure out the answer. The contest has only been running a few weeks and the FlyerTalk.com thread has already accumulated over 3,000 replies and 500,000 views! In fact, this thread is so long, the administrators created a second thread to make it easier for users to discuss the remaining weeks of the contest. It is actually a surprise to see this contest getting users to talk more than just contest answers. Here are a few fun examples of users discussing potential future vacation travels and even a quick history lesson:

• mealto – fun history lesson of Malaysia – addressed to the creators of this contest
• gpapadop - contest inspired him to possibly visit a new location
• Motors – attempt to crack the code by extracting images from the Flash file
• imchaz – identified matching Shutterstock.com images used in contest
• DealDetective – doing some great sleuthing
• margharita girl - dashboard of answers and winners

With all of this attention on The Anywhere Challenge contest, there is no absolutely no denying that IHG increased brand awareness over the last few weeks. So does all of this extra awareness translate into?

Increased Brand Awareness is Always a Good Thing

It would be difficult for anyone not working at IHG to figure out their global sales but, I do know IHG has gained at least 1 more loyal customer. Not only did this contest allow me to earn a few extra points for my own Priority Club Rewards account, I now know I can use these points towards any hotel that is participating in the Hotels Anywhere program. In fact, the extra few thousand points from this contest allowed me to achieve Ambassador status so you can bet I am going to choose Intercontinental Hotels where possible on future trips to take full advantage of all benefits that come along with this status upgrade. This coupled with the fact that IHG has been running a Friends and Family discount deal over the last year has made IHG properties my first choice of hotels for all my travels.

During this worldwide economic downturn where hotels are no longer fully selling out rooms and are more often than not are selling them at a reduced rate, The Anywhere Challenge contest is a great driver to try and fill some of these unbooked rooms. Yes, IHG does give out massive points for this contest but if it brings in more customers, more often and helps to fill some of those empty rooms, it can only better IHG’s financials come year end.

For a contest that generates this much attention for IHG, a well-deserved pat on the back goes out to the creators of The Anywhere Challenge contest. This is truly a great example of a highly successful brand awareness campaign.

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Earlier this month, the BBC technology television show, Click, reported that their developer was legitimately able to use a 3rd party Facebook application to retrieve private information from Facebook users who have specifically asked to keep this type of data private. Now, 3rd party applications on Facebook are beginning to steal user identities for the sake of spamming.

Today, I noticed one of my Facebook friend, Michelle (her name has been changed to protect her identity), left a comment on my wall. The comment included a link to some shaddy website offering “legal bud”. Shortly after, I noticed many of my common friends with Michelle also received the same comment on their walls. It turned out that a 3rd party Facebook application that Michelle had installed auto-spammed all of her friends. In fact, the rogue application even took over her status and states that she has “found some potent legal bud”.

First, Facebook allowed 3rd party applications to retrieve their user’s private information. Now, they have allowed a rogue 3rd party application provider to take over commenting and status of their users. What’s next? Will Facebook user data get sold to anyone willing to pay for it? I can accept advertising based on the info I provide in my profile, but taking over commenting and user status is pushing behavioral targeting to a rogue level.

It looks like Facebook is allowing 3rd party applications to pretty much do whatever they want. How will Facebook move forward to address these privacy concerns and better protect their users? Does it mean moving all 3rd party applications in-house so that they run on Facebook servers rather than off-site? That is exactly how MySpace keeps tabs on their applications. Facebook can definitely learn from MySpace in this particular instance and implement immediate changes that will better protect their users.

If Facebook privacy issues continue to surface at they have recently, I will not be the only one requesting for a cancellation of my account. Anyone else got auto wall spam’ed yet?

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HealthCastle.com, the most comprehensive nutrition community run by Registered Dietitians on the Internet, is searching for the best Food & Nutrition Blog for their upcoming Top Blog Awards. If you have a favorite Food & Nutrition Blog, be sure to nominate it by 5:00pm PST March 23, 2008 for consideration.

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I vividly remember my first internet marketing industry event that I attended and really appreciated the sponsoring company who helped me get there. As I won’t be attending Affiliate Summit West 2008, I held a blog contest to help 2 deserving affiliates make it to the event. The results of Ian’s Blog Contest are in!

Congratulations to our winners Gyutae Park and Scott Gray. Gyutae and Scott both won a full conference pass to attend the next Affiliate Summit. Each full pass (worth $1,449) will not only get our hard working winners into all seminars, the exhibit hall, breakfasts and lunches, but more importantly, it will allow them to network with and meet some of the industry’s top internet marketing experts. Good luck to both our winners and enjoy attending Affiliate Summit. Going to this conference with the right attitude will help you build those important business relationships.

I look forward to reading Gyutae and Scott’s event review after they return from Affiliate Summit 2008.

Thanks to all who participated in Ian’s Blog Contest.

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After taking some time off for the holidays, I am excited to be able to post again on this blog.

A big thank you goes out to Mike from Bloggin-Ads.com for writing a nice review about ADS-Links.com. Thanks Mike for taking the time to read this blog and give it a review. I know how much effort this takes and I do appreciate it.

If anyone is interested to have your blog reviewed, or want to publish your review of someone else’s blog, you can submit it to Mike directly.

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Having come across many great articles over the years discussing the next-big-thing on generating more readers for a blog, I have yet to see too many bloggers take advantage of one of the most powerful syndication service in the Blogosphere. For many bloggers, one main reason for writing and maintaining a blog is to be read. What if there was a way to syndicate your blog content on major media websites like Reuters and FOXNews? Look no further – you can do it at cost!

Want to be Featured on Reuters?

There is an untapped opportunity for bloggers & publishers to get your high quality content syndicated on many media website. All you need is a properly formatted XML feed. If you run a blog using WordPress, you already have this feed in ready format. This is how ADS-Links.com articles have been syndicated on Reuters.com and Hoovers.com.

Eight months ago, I helped a client get setup with this free syndication service and now their articles are consistently being picked up and are reaching new users on major media websites. Here is a screen shot of total views by publisher from the past 7 days for my client who has been enjoying regular syndication. FOXNews alone has served almost 400,000 impressions of their latest article!

Publicity at No Cost – Get into BlogBurst

So how does one get content syndicated on top notch media websites? Simply apply to be accepted into a network called BlogBurst, a syndication service owned by Pluck that places blogs on top-tier online destinations.

BlogBurst mentions on their website that they have currently accepted 2,800 blogs into their syndication network. Once accepted, you will be able to see:

- which media website has syndicated your feed
- how many times your article’s headline was served
- how many pageviews your article received
- how many clicks were directed to your website or blog

The Best Kept Secret in the Blogosphere Revealed

So there you have it. The best kept secret in the Blogosphere has been revealed! And for those of you who have already discovered BlogBurst and are regularly appearing on major media websites, welcome to the club. How satisfied are you with the syndication?

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Since attending my first conference, I have always been surprised that companies hired booth helpers to promote their products and services at various events. It never dawned on me that when I was speaking with a booth attendant, they would only be armed with minimal information about the company that I was interested in. I can only liken this type of hired help to the auto sport world where race queens are the preferred choice of help during race weekends. As I was browsing event reviews of the most recent BlogWorld held in Vegas, one particular photo caught my eye. I recognized a booth attendant working at the Entrecard booth.

Note the booth attendant on the left side of the photo here with John Chow and Graham Langdon, Entrecard CEO.

Below is a photo of me at Affiliate Summit West 2007 in Vegas (Digital River oneNetwork Pure Imagination Party). Note the same model from above is also on the left hand side of the photo!

Here is the same hired helper appearing in a video of Shoemoney interviewing Graham Langdon at BlogWorld.

Video Source: Nate Whitehill

Do you recognize this model? Have you seen her at other trade shows in and outside of Vegas? Do you have photos of her as well? Post a comment with a link or send me an email and I will post it here with a link back to your blog or website.

Better yet, are you the model in the photo? We would love to hear from you as well!

Photo sent in by Shoemoney. Apparently Jeremy has her resume on file. If you are interested to hire this model, give him a shout.

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As part of a marketing campaign to promote the July 27, 2007 opening of The Simpsons Movie, a dozen 7-Eleven stores throughout the US & Canada have been transformed into Kwik-E-Marts. The only Kwik-E-Mart in Canada is located in Coquitlam, British Columbia. As a fan of The Simpsons since it’s first debut on The Tracey Ullman Show, I was completely shocked by the realistic outdoor facade encapsulating the 7-Eleven store front.

The crowd was definitely busy taking photos outside of the store. I entered to find more people getting their photos taken with the life-sized cartoon characters. After shooting some photos myself, I spoke with the manager, Parkar (on the right with Apu Nahasapeemapetilon – click to enlarge), and got permission to put his photo here. Since this is the only Kwik-E-Mart in Canada, Parkar tells me that the store has been busy 24-hours a day. As I mentioned, the line-up started outside of the store. Upon entering, you had to walk single-file to pick up merchandise before lining up again at the cash register. Only when customers exited the store would the security guard let more people in. Talk about efficient crowd control at the Kwik-E-Mart!

It’s a marketer’s dream to place products in movies and television. It is even more amazing when reverse product placement happens! Customers can now buy popular Simpsons products like Squishees (the 7-Eleven slurpee knock off), Buzz Cola, Krusty-O’s (breakfast cereal) and even Homer’s sprinklicious pink donuts with sprinkles. Get yours soon before they are gone. Rumour has it that products will only stay on shelves until the end of this month!

Here are some photos from the Coquitlam, BC, Canada Kwik-E-Mart! Click to view a larger version.

For anyone wanting to visit the only Kwik-E-mart in Canada, here is a map for the Coquitlam Kwik-E-Mart.

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