A couple of weeks ago while I was running (training for the TC10K) I had an idea. It’s one of the reasons I like running, I get into this meditative state and come up with whacky ideas.

The Idea

It was a few days before the Olympics started. I didn’t have tickets for any of the events but was excited about watching them on TV, especially the men’s hockey – I love hockey. Which got me to thinking, why don’t we (me and ??) put on a private party for people to watch the game together. Where could we do that in style and comfort – the Parkside Victoria Resort & Spa, of course.

A few emails later the good folks from Aviawest were on board with the venue and catering along with Liquor Plus, who sponsored the beverages. The Parkside Victoria has a private movie theatre with 29 plush leather chairs that could put you to sleep in minutes.

But then I thought, that’s not enough we need prizes. A few emails later the Victoria Salmon Kings were on board with game tickets and jackets along with Rocky Mountain Soap Victoria who offered up beautiful gift bags for all 15 winners.

The prize package ended up being a catered private party for you (the winner) and 14 friends, Salmon Kings tickets and jackets, and a gift bag for all 15 attendees. Sweet!

The Execution

Great prizes in hand we wanted to find a way to return the sponsors maximum value. The contest was promoted and executed via 100% social media; blogs, Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin. My original post announced the contest and prizing. There were several methods of entry involving blog comments, Retweets and Facebook comments. All the sponsors used their social media profiles to promote the contest and a different sponsor was featured every day.

The Results

In the end there were 105 entries over 8 days. The majority of entries came in via Facebook, followed by Twitter and the blog, which makes sense given the ease of entry and user penetration. Facebook is still much higher than Twitter.

Of course we know that the beauty of social media like Facebook and Twitter is the fact that whatever a user does is exposed to their followers or friends via status update. A rough calculation determined that those 105 entries resulted in message exposure to over 12,000 individuals.

Then of course there’s the deeper brand experience the winner (Darnell Marr) and her 14 guests had watching Team Canada thrash the USA in an epic 3 – 2 overtime win. No doubt they will remember where they were when they saw “Sid the Kid” score that goal for many, many years.

Scott from Rocky Mountain Soap is already enjoying a few new customers as a result of the party. I overheard one of Darnell’s guests talking to Scott, “…when Darnell invited me to a private party to watch the gold medal hockey game I wasn’t too excited. Then she said ‘and you get a bag of Rocky Mountain Soap’ and I said, I’m in”.

Where were you when Crosby scored the goal that was heard around the world?

Darnell, her friends and the sponsors celebrating with Team Canada.

FEBRUARY 2, 2014 UPDATE:
The original contest was so popular and we had so much fun doing it that we have decided to do it again. You can enter here for a chance to win a private party at the Parkside Victoria Resort & Spa to watch the 2014 Men’s Olympic Hockey Gold Medal game.