Borrowing from a commercial trend that uses contests and social media to generate interest in and engagement with a brand, the state of Colorado is ending the first phase of an online contest to promote tourism in its state. Its "Snow at First Sight" campaign - a global search for three people who have never experienced snow before - just concluded with the selection of three winners from Atlanta, Australia and Hawaii.
Multi-city Adventure
This week the three finalists will begin blogging on the SnowAtFirstSight website about their experiences and post regular updates on social networks including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr.
The three will travel across Colorado to try a variety of winter activities such as learning how to ski, snowboard, snowmobile and snowshoe. They'll also dine at some of the state's notable restaurants, try out the apres-ski spots and go to spas and hot springs. Denver, Breckenridge, Georgetown, Black Hawk/Central City, Winter Park, Keystone, Snowmass, Steamboat, Beaver Creek, Vail, Copper Mountain, Ouray, Grand Junction, Crested Butte, Durango, Colorado Springs, Canon City, Salida, Buena Vista, Estes Park, Fort Collins and Boulder will be part of the cross-state trek.
Blogger as Olympics Reporter
Colorado is not the first entity to turn potential consumers into defacto spokespersons for a brand. Social media and the public's love of contests combine perfectly to generate buzz for a product or, in this case, destination promotion.
Another recent example is Microsoft, which as part of its sponsorship of the 2010 Olympics, is sending two winners of an online contest to report daily from the games alongside members of the credentialed press corps. They'll be equipped with the latest in Microsoft technology including Office 2010 Professional and Acer Aspire 4810 laptops to aid their reporting.
The Happiness Project
Coca-Cola Company launched a similar social media program last year, sending three bloggers around the world in search of what makes people happy. It is part of the latest push in the soft drink brand's "Open Happiness" campaign.
As part of the Coke "Expedition 206" effort the bloggers are traveling to more than 200 countries, documenting their journey through blog posts, Twitter updates, and YouTube videos.
