Best Retail Online Campaign

Debs Shops nationwide online model search was a server crashing success in 2009. Through the campaign Deb Shops wanted to continue to build awareness for their brand in the online space, connect with their audience on a social level, and drive sales.
The entire campaign was orchestrated to run from back-to-school up to homecoming, peaking at key milestones throughout that period.
With over 6500 contestants approved for the fully online contest, public voting on the website commenced and over 250,000 votes were received from registered users during the first phase of the contest which lasted four weeks. On the first day of voting over 12,000 people were hitting the server every minute, causing it to temporarily crash.
Contestants were encouraged to promote themselves on social networking sites, such as Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube, creating commercials and posting to blogs. The user generated content created a wave of organic search traffic for Deb Shops, which continues to have impact and drive sales.
Based on votes tallied from the public, guest judge and Project Runway Winner Jay McCarroll, and Deb Shops, the Top 10 semi-finalists were selected. In a surprise twist at the end of the contest, we selected two winners instead of one, a plus size, and a junior model, catering to both of Deb’s core audiences.
The awareness and buzz the online promotion generated resulted in Deb Shops highest sales month of the year. The number of fans in all social environments tripled, over 100,000 emails were added to the Deb Shops database, and Deb Shops engaged with their audience at completely new level.

Contributors:

Creative Director:	John Shanley
Art Director:	Sean Flanagan
VP of Marketing:	David Larkins
Project Manager:	Jessica Boonin

NETPLUS MARKETING

Location: USA