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Budget Launches Blog-Based Up Your Budget 16-City Treasure Hunt

I've only posted about once a day here for the past three weeks. That's because I have had the extreme pleasure of providing both concept and creative management on the first entirely blog-based viral contest campaign, Up Your Budget. It launched this morning and entries are already flowing in. The client is Budget Car Rental and this is their first foray into blogging.

The advertising, launch PR and all the promotion are blog-based. Henry Copeland of Blogads called it "a quantum leap forward for the medium."

Steve Hall at Adrants wrote about it here. He says ""Already the thing is spreading like crazy. This is truly very cool."

The fabulous Komra Moriko did design and development for what may be the world's most complex blog-based project; Blog Card and cartoon king Hugh Macleod did the cartoons for the site, the flash animation and the ads; clue videos are shot by two very handsome cameramen from Center City Film and Video; and the Executive Producer is the magnificent Jay Arnold of Impax Marketing.

I've never enjoyed working on a campaign more. Thank you Budget, for the opportunity.

More launch coverage: Media Buyer Planner, GapingVoid, MarketingVox, Beyond Madison Avenue, BusinessWeek Blogspotting

UpYourBudget+Treasure+Hunt, UpYourBudget+Treasure+Hunt+clues, Budget+Car+Rental, BL+Ochman

Categories: Alternative Marketing, Blogging and Moblogging, Buzz, Commentary, Corporate_Blogging, Fun, Internet strategy, Marketing Strategy, Viral Marketing

Tags: UpYourBudget+Treasure+Hunt UpYourBudget+Treasure+Hunt+Clues Budget+Car+Rental BL+Ochman GapingVoid Adrants Jay+Arnold Hugh+Macleod Komra+Moriko Center+City+Film+&+Video viral+campaign blogging

BL Ochman | Oct 24 05 8:43 | TrackBack (3)

Comments

Congratulations on the launch of this contest! Looks like a lot of work went into its creation. I'll be very interested to follow the results.
Bravo on your creativity!

Posted by: Donna Tocci at October 24, 2005 10:17 AM

Brilliant idea, but I wouldn't have expected less from you. And, incidentally, because of your influence, I started blogging over the weekend.

Posted by: Judy Vorfeld at October 24, 2005 12:02 PM

Congrats on this, looks like an idea whose time has come. I posted about this on our blog this morning, and as I told Hugh, this campaign will be watched VERY closely as I think it represents a major step forward in the evolution of the blog as a marketing tool. Again, congrats!

Posted by: Mack Collier at October 24, 2005 4:31 PM

Hugh's a sellout! BL's a sellout! AAAH!!

Just kidding - congrats to both of you, and it looks like a fun promotion, which is just as important as anything else.

Posted by: Jeremy Pepper at October 24, 2005 5:09 PM

Nice media attention for the launch of this, B.L. Gee, it's reminiscent of the dial-up days when a company actually made news for introducing a new website. We've come a long way...and no doubt have a long way still to go. Much luck with the promotion.

Posted by: Peter Himler at October 24, 2005 8:06 PM

Wonderful, creative integration of multiple interactive tactics! Congrats.

Posted by: Toby at October 25, 2005 12:02 AM

Brilliant concept, well executed, except for one thing - you forgot the search marketing! If you search for "Up Your Budget" you don't get any reference to this promotion. A link to Budget Rental Cars in the non-paid organic space, but not specifically to the promotion.

I'm sure our members would be happy to help you set up the campaign - Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (www.sempo.org). We're a nonprofit org with a mission to educate the world on the value of Search Marketing. These days, it's an absolute MUST to integrate into a major promotion...

Good luck with the promotion. Please post again to tell us what kind of return on investment Budget gets on this campaign. It's nice to see someone taking creative risks, and I for one will be curious to see the outcome.

Dana Todd
President, SEMPO

Posted by: Dana Todd at October 26, 2005 3:37 PM

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TrackBacks

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.whatsnextonline.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/2721

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Budget Launches Blog-Based Up Your Budget 16-City Treasure Hunt:

Budget Launches Blog-only Campaign from TheSpunker - by Ben Popken. Published by Gattaca, Inc.
In a virtual roundup of who's-who and does stuff in the blogosphere, car company Budget launched today an entirely blog-based ad campaign, Up your Budget. A four-week, 16 city treasure hunt offers up to $160,000 in prizes. Gamers must find [Read More]

Tracked on October 24, 2005 12:04 PM

Up Your Budget (Rent a Car) from Chris Busch
Budget Car Rental has launched a new campaign with no promotional support other than blogs. The Up Your Budget promotion features a 16 city treasure hunt with $160,000 in prizes. Four $10,000 prizes hidden each week for a month. [Read More]

Tracked on October 24, 2005 10:49 PM

Blog based campaign by Budget Car Rental from rhizm.
B.L Ochman of What’s Next Online has worked on concept and creative development for 16-City Treasure Hunt, a viral contest campaign by Budget Rental Car. The car rental company has launched this four-week-contest, where participants have to f... [Read More]

Tracked on October 25, 2005 4:59 AM

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About BL Ochman

Blogger, social media strategy consultant to Fortune 500 companies, and sought-after corporate speaker B.L. Ochman heads the creative team of whatsnextonline.com. She also publishes the Ethics Crisis blog for SRF Global Translations

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