Photo Contest Gathers 5,800+ Opt-Ins for Newsletter

2017 Second Street Award – Best List-Builder Campaign Winner

Case Study Highlights

• 5,800+ opt-ins for new newsletter
• 1,900+ photo submissions
• Hundreds of hot leads for future advertisers

The Idea

Radio station, WMEE-FM in Fort Wayne, IN has a history of running great contests and promotions. This year, the station put forth a big initiative for prioritizing their email database and even set a goal to create and build a new email newsletter – the Mom Squad. WMEE knew they could leverage the power of promotions to grow this database; they just had to figure out the right contest.

For years, the station has run a Most Beautiful Baby contest. It’s become a staple for their programming on an annual basis. Sharing pictures of cute babies is a surefire way to draw in the moms in your area, so this seemed like a perfect fit.

The Execution

The station set up their photo contest in two distinct phases – submission and voting. By having two phases, this allowed the station multiple opportunities to reach out to their audience at different stages of the contest.

The station’s number one goal of the contest was to grow the database of their brand new Mom Squad newsletter. Not only did they include an opt-in for the newsletter, but WMEE also added two specific survey questions to know more about the moms they were adding to their database. This valuable information would help them tailor their content to fit their new audience.

Beyond growing their Mom Squad newsletter, WMEE also had a goal of growing and enriching their full email database. By also including survey questions about user’s automotive purchase habits, WMEE was able to gather valuable data they can then use when reaching out to automotive advertisers in the future – a frequent sponsor with the station.

To ensure excellent participation, WMEE needed to have a great prize. The baby who received the most votes would receive $500, a studio photography session, and to be the face of the 2018 WMEE Baby Fair and Family Expo – a huge annual event in Ft. Wayne. WMEE framed the contest by saying, “It’s your baby’s chance to become a star!”

The Results

The results of the contest were outstanding. More than 1,900 photos were entered, and more than 13,000 people cast a vote for who should win.

When it came to achieving their goal of email, WMEE knocked it out of the park. From this one contest alone, they were able to add over 5,800 people to their brand new Mom Squad newsletter. Plus, by including the automotive questions, the station identified 10% of their users were interested in buying a new car – excellent data for the sales team to take to prospective advertisers.

All in all, this campaign was a resounding success for the station and proves the point that having an advertiser isn’t necessary for a promotion to make a huge impact for your company.