The kids out in Sunnyvale usher in their new promotion scheme with the “Best of Yahoo Sweepstakes.” The sweep part comes in when you win a new Mazda5 or an MX-5 Miata or one of three trips going to L.A., New York, or Hawaii.
This content allows people to cast votes for their favorite establishments on bestof.yahoo.com through Oct. 4th. They are encouraging people to “find, use, share and expand knowledge” about their favorite restaurants, services and travel.
“We are pleased to be working with Mazda on this innovative marketing campaign that encourages users to engage with Yahoo! Local and Yahoo! Travel in ways they have never imagined,” said Lorna Borenstein, vice president of marketing for Yahoo! Search and Marketplace. “Through this innovative promotion, Yahoo! is empowering the consumer with information that was previously unavailable to them by allowing them to tap into Yahoo!’s huge network of community knowledge.”
There are lots of categories like “best cheap eats” or “best car wash” or a myriad of others. This could literally apply to any place in the world. So if there’s a Buddhist monastery you’re partial too in the Himalayas, there’s a shot you could list it here.
When visiting the website, they list a lot of cities to choose from or a link to pick your own. They also list a region if what you want isn’t in the continental U.S. They also have section called “select an interest” and each one of these categories allows you to bounce around to places like best snorkeling or best hiking and camping. There’s a lot more to the website.
The reason primarily for this campaign is to fill out their local search. This creates for them an good opportunity to pick up on all the little places no visitors no about but has the best burgers in a 500 mile radius. One of the beauties of traveling has always been finding the places that are good, that all the local folks enjoy but no one traveling through ever hears about.
Also this will be great advertising for small areas and in some case bigger areas. If there’s a neighborhood in Louisville, Kentucky with a great little pub, talk about it. Keep in mind all votes have the option to get at one of those trips or one of the vehicles, so the more you put in the greater your odds.
All in all, this project should have good results and is a great way to attract some attention to what’s special about your neighborhood and maybe win a little Miata in the process.
John Stith is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
