| Nationwide Video Contest Gets People and Their Furniture Talking |
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Nationwide Video Contest Gets People and Their Furniture Talking
Norfolk, VA (OPENPRESS)(July 23, 2008)
ForRent.com®, a leading apartment resource for searching apartments nationwide, and a division of Dominion Enterprises, today announced the grand prize winner and the top 10 finalists of its “If Only Your Apartment Furniture Could Talk” video contest. The winning videos on WinApartmentFuriture.com were selected from more than 50 submissions created by ForRent.com enthusiasts from around the country. Each responded to the challenge to create a short video creatively telling ForRent.com, through the eyes and voice of their apartment furniture, why they should win $10,000.
The grand prize winner, Brendan Walsh, a 20 year-old student from Steubenville, Ohio, majoring in digital media production at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, contributed the winning video, “Furniture Talk.” This short video gives apartment renters a “fly on the wall” point of view of the interesting conversations their apartment furniture has when they’re not around. One couch tells the story of his lazy owners and why they should win $10,000 to add more furniture to their apartment. Watch this video at http://www.winapartmentfurniture.com/video/view/26. “Social media is my life,” says Walsh. “In fact, I even created a Facebook group for my video submission to gain more views and votes. It’s like a chain reaction. I tell 10 people, they tell 10 people and it spirals.” According to Walsh, he learned about the contest through the Pittsburgh For Rent Magazine® as well as ForRent.com when searching for an apartment. In addition to Walsh’s $10,000 grand prize, the top 10 finalists will receive iPod Shuffles. These videos can be viewed at http://www.winapartmentfurniture.com/pages/finalists. The consumer video contest was intended to leverage the power of social media, extend the reach of the ForRent.com brand and to establish a long-term relationship with brand advocates. Social media is leading the shift in the way consumers experience brands. According to a 2008 Nielsen study, 78 percent of consumers trust the opinion of peers over all other information sources and advertising. “The response to our user-generated video contest has been fantastic with entries from all over the country,” said Terry Slattery, vice president and general manager of For Rent Media Solutions. “This contest provided a unique way for us to reach out to our brand community, allowing them to express their creativity and appreciation for ForRent.com and For Rent Magazine. We want to thank everyone who participated in the contest, helping us to make it such a success.” Vitrue, a social media technology provider, powered the contest platform which utilized a variety of social media features, most notably in its ability to quickly become a viral marketing campaign. Consumers had the opportunity to create a personalized profile with pictures and interact with others via commenting, rating, voting and adding to favorites. A syndication tool made it easy for consumers to distribute their favorite videos to more than 20 popular social networking Web sites, including Myspace, Facebook and Friendster. About Vitrue, Inc. About For Rent Media Solutions™ About Dominion Enterprises Kavita Mistry |