Hotels.com begins Clay Yourself contest
By Adnews Staff
Toronto-based Hotels.com has begun a contest promotion called "Clay Yourself" focused on a new website at <http://www.clayyourself.com>. At the site, users can create clay-like figures representing themselves, then submit the images for possible use in an upcoming commercial for the company. Users can also share their figures with others through social media sites. Eight winners will be determined over eight weeks by means of public online voting. Each will each receive US$200 in Hotels.com vouchers. The figure of the grand prize winner will appear in the next Hotels.com commercial, which will be released in the spring. They winner will also receive a three-day trip to Los Angeles to see the commercial's production. The contest will close on Feb. 25. "There appears to be a great following for the series of Hotels.com animated commercials, which use clay figurines to tell a story," said Vic Walia, the company's senior director of North America brand advertising. "We're having a lot of fun so we've extended that experience to our followers by giving a lucky winner the chance to star in a commercial and having themselves be built out of clay." The promotion was developed by Young & Rubicam Chicago.