Help Us Help Your Neighbors Contest reminds us of what to be Thankful for
November 23, 2011
By Guest Blogger, Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk
It's the morning before Thanksgiving and I sit here in my home at my computer with many thoughts floating through my head on what to include is this blog post. What strikes me all of a sudden is that I can't believe another year has passed.
It's been a good year for me and my family considering how many families are struggling. Both my daughters arrived home last night from college safe and sound and it's nice to have a full house again. However, Thanksgiving was always my mom's favorite holiday and it will be the second one without her. The holidays are a time when we all realize how much we miss our loved ones that have passed on.
Last night I ended up watching quite a bit of TV while catching up on my email since I had to stay awake in order to pick my daughter up at the Rochester airport at midnight. I was really disappointed by many of the ads that I saw that were all related to Black Friday, which is now becoming Black Thursday.
A Walmart ad told me that they are opening at 10 pm on Thanksgiving night, joining Toys R Us and Kmart. Many of the other big retailers including Target, Best Buy, Macy's and Kohl's have all decided for the first time to open at midnight. Target's ad shows this over-stimulated women in a red suit and white pearl necklace doing work-outs to become a super athletic shopper. I find this ad really, really annoying and not sure what their marketing to women strategy is here. Anyone agree with me?
I do want to share with you a heart-warming, holiday promotion that was just launched this week by the folks at Franz Bakery. Franz Bakery started out as a small neighborhood family-run bakery in Portland, Oregon over 100 years ago. They have grown to become the largest family-owned, independent bakery in the North West with locations throughout Oregon, Washington, Idaho and northern California.
Their agency, the Noot Group, who are based out of Idaho, came to us for guidance on developing a holiday contest. The Help Us Help Your Neighbors Contest invites people to nominate a person, family or organization from the North West region that they believe is in need and deserving of being one of the ten “Neighbors to Help”. Participants must visit the Franz Bakery website and complete an entry form along with an essay that illustrates why they chose this nominee. Franz will judge the submissions and choose ten winners who will each receive a $500 cash prize. The participants who nominated the winners will each receive a year's worth of Franz bread.
There's nothing splashy about this contest and there's no voting or gallery to read the submissions. In fact they all will remain confidential. The winners will be notified sometime after December 15, in time to enjoy some Christmas cheer and have something to be thankful for. Franz is promoting the contest on their Facebook page and directing people back to their website.
I point out this promotion today to remind us all not to get too caught up in the "Black Friday" weekend and all the new technologies that are connecting us. Let's remember what Thanksgiving is all about...giving thanks, sharing the day with family, eating great food and if you can, reaching out in some way to those less fortunate than us. Oh yeah, and let's not forget about football.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone and thanks for being a reader.
This thread has great information on shopping. A friend of mine told me about this cool app that allows you to get instant feedback from your Facebook friends on whether you should buy something or not (for themselves or as a gift). Here's the link - I think the app is coming out around Black Friday but you can sign up now:
www.leapcommerce.com
Posted by: Lauren Wilcox | November 24, 2011 at 12:26 PM