Category Archives: Contests

My Olympics Project: The Olys

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For the past few weeks, I have been doing some contract work at AdHack. It started out as an internship, and I was to write some case studies on the results of past clients who had used AdHack’s services, but it turned into something more.

The Olys

When the case studies were almost finished, James suggested doing an Olympic ad contest over the course of the Olympics and asked me if I was interested in running it. Of course, I agreed. I thought it was a fantastic idea. So that is how the Oly Awards came to be.

The Flickr Group of Ads

The first thing we did was start a Flickr group to collect some of the advertising surrounding the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. There was a ton of advertising around town, far before the Olympics even started. We organized a photowalk to get some of the initial photos in the pool. Our goal on the day of the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics was to have 50+ members and 500+ photos. We wanted to make sure there were enough people interested in the Olympics ads project, and would be willing to submit their photos. Well, we rocked it. The Flickr group now has over 80+ members and 800+ photos.

The Brands

I started writing a blog post or two a day during the Olympics on the major brands that were Official Sponsors of Vancouver 2010. We got some feedback from some of those brands too, which was great!

The Photo Contest

The next step was creating a photo contest at OlympicAdAwards.com. We set up a Strutta-powered contest for people to submit their best photos of Olympic Advertising. Our goal was to get 100 entries by the submission deadline. We got 115 entries and knocked it out of the park again.

The Judging

We enlisted some great judges to help us out with choosing the Best Brand and the Best Photo. They were:

We gave them a detailed scorecard to fill out on each of the brands. They are all Vancouverites, but they also had our Flickr group of Olympic ads for a resource in their judging. By the way, a HUGE thank you to the Judges who took the time out of their day to do this for us. They gave great feedback in the comments on some of the brands as well.

The Prizes

The 2 Prizes we sourced out to give to the winners, were original artwork by local Vancouverite Rachael Ashe. She alters books and turns them into the most unique and stunning pieces of art. The Best Brand was to receive “Swimming in a Sea of Words,” and Best Photo was to receive “The Butterfly Effect.”

The Winners

In the end, it was a tight race, but Coca-Cola with their Open Happiness campaign beat out the Hudson’s Bay Company by three points! Congratulations Coca-Cola, you did a fine job.

For Best Photo, there were 10 finalists chosen by public voting, from the 115 entries. In the end, Kim Werker‘s photo of the Hudson’s Bay Company won the popular vote. Congratulations Kim!

View AdHack’s announcement on the blog, or view the official press release.

Well, that’s that. My Olympic project has come and gone. It was a blast, and so interesting to see what developed over the 17 days of the Olympics. Not only in regards to local, national, and worldwide advertising, but in being a Canadian, and a proud Vancouverite, and witnessing the best party Vancouver has ever thrown. I am so lucky to have taken this role and to have been a part of the Olympics while they were here in Vancouver in 2010. I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat.

And now… a new adventure? I think so!

Mom to carry the Olympic Torch in 2010!

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It’s crazy, but it’s true. My Mom applied to carry the Olympic torch in 2010 – she entered contests, she wrote essays, and finally her hard has work paid off. She got an e-mail confirming that she would indeed be carrying the Olympic torch next year on February 4, 2010 for 400 metres through our hometown of Powell River where she lives, in honour of the Winter Olympics being held in Vancouver. All she has to do is fill out some documents and mail them in, and it’s final!

She e-mailed my brothers, my sister-in-law, and myself, on June 12, 2009 with the subject line “Olympic torch bearer!” You could actually feel her excitement through the e-mail… “I’m jumping up and down!”

We, of course, all responded to her immediately to congratulate her, and then we let the internet know. Jordan thinks that the greatest thing that will come from this, is that my Mom will actually start using Twitter. And she has! A little bit, anyway.

Stay tuned for more updates regarding my Mom and the Olympic torch relay. Us kids have already vowed to make the trip to Powell River in February to watch her carry it proudly, and video her in process, obviously, so we can share it with all of you!

The Behan’s are making the Newspaper

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On Saturday, Jordan, Wes, and I met at Wes’ place in Burnaby near Metrotown, so a photographer from the Burnaby Newsleader could take our photo. It was horrible rainy weather and we had to take the photos outside, decked out in our running gear. I hope that they turn out!

The week previous, each of us were interviewed by reporter Heather Gardiner, because she was interested in our Behan Family Vancouver Sun Run challenge. Something that started out as a friendly challenge (because I thought both Jord and Wes were going to say no to me!), has snowballed into something greater and even more interesting than I ever imagined. We are not only running the Vancouver Sun Run, but also competing in raising money for charity. You can view my previous post about our charities here and donate to my charity if you wish. We have until the day of the Sun Run, April 19, 2009, to raise money for our respective charities.

Sato Canada has offered a prize to the winner of our challenge, and also to donate to each of the three charities we are supporting. I just love that so many people have shown interest in our little competition, and that these three charities will benefit from our sibling challenge.

Stay tuned for the article on the Behan’s in next Saturday’s Burnaby Newsleader!

Support the Charities in our Challenge

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The charities for the “Behan Sibling Sun Run Challenge” have been chosen. If you look at  two of my previous posts, you’ll understand what I am talking about. In short, my brothers and I are competing in the Vancouver Sun Run, but we are also competing to see who can raise the most amount of money for charity before the day of the race (April 19, 2009). We have all chosen a favourite charity, and without further adieu, here are your competitors and their charities:

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I have chosen Rick Hansen Wheels in Motion (@WheelsInMotion on Twitter), firstly because my cousin, roommate, and friend Carly, works there as an Event Coordinator. They organize smaller, local community fundraisers, and are constantly looking for new ways to raise funds. Although they are a very established foundation, they struggle with fundraising because not as many lives have been touched by spinal cord injuries, as say, breast cancer, so they need all the help they can get! Their main goal is to succeed in helping people with disabilities in your community, and well, I happen to think that’s pretty darn cool.

wim1
“Wheels In Motion has touched thousands of lives with entire communities benefiting from the funds raised. By removing barriers and creating more accessible neighbourhoods, we are helping individuals with disabilities live life to its full potential and making our community stronger, richer and more vibrant.”

Click here for my handy dandy little DONATION PAGE.
All you have to do is click on “Donate Now” and fill out the required information to donate by MasterCard or Visa. Also, you do not have to tell me who you are or how much you are donating (but I’ve made a suggested minimum dollar amount of $5). And in case you were wondering, you will automatically receive an e-mail with your electronic tax receipt if you provide an e-mail address.

wesWesley has chosen the Children’s Miracle Network. Wes is a real estate agent for the Blum Real Estate Team of Re/Max Central, and they are proud sponsors of the Children’s Miracle Network, which is why he chose this charity.

miracle
“Children’s Miracle Network is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping kids by raising funds for 170 children’s hospitals across North America. Each year these non-profit hospitals provide the finest care, research and community outreach to help millions of children with diseases and injuries of every kind. In Canada, Children’s Miracle Network raises funds for 14 children’s hospitals, and has helped millions of Canadian children.”

You can contact Wes through his website or his twitter, or visit his office to sponsor his charity.

Re/Max Central (South Burnaby Office)
#1-5050 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC
V5H 4C2
Toll free: 1-866-433-2211
Fax: 1-866-358-8347
jord1Jordan has chosen the BC Cancer Foundation. We recently found out that someone very close to us was diagnosed with bladder cancer, so this one really hits close to home, as I’m sure it does for a lot of people. Here is his donation page.

bccancer

The BC Cancer Foundation is an independent charitable organization that raises funds to support breakthrough research and care at the BC Cancer Agency. The BC Cancer Agency is responsible for cancer care and control for everyone in British Columbia.

Since Jordan and I are most likely going to use the power of social media to get most of our donations, and Wes is going to try to do this the old fashioned way by personally collecting pledges, this is kind of an experiment to see who, or which method, will be the most successful. We would love to hear what you think of our little “challenge” and I encourage your comments below. Thanks for your support, and happy running. ;) Oh yeah, and don’t forget to donate to my charity.

The Challenge has Changed..

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In reponse to the positive feedback we’ve been receiving, we’ve decided to up the stakes a little in our Behan Sibling Sun Run challenge. Sato Canada (@SatoCanada on Twitter) has offered to award a prize package to the “winner” of our challenge, but now the “winner” will be the person who raises the most money toward the charity of their choice! This way, everyone wins – we all get fit, we do the Sun Run (which will also make my Mom unbelievably happy!), and 3 charities get a bunch of dough$$$. Sato Canada has also offered to give a prize package to our respective charities:

@SatoCanada: “Time for us to raise the stakes. Win or lose we will pledge to donate products to those 3 charities as well! This is exciting”

We will still, of course, keep our little sibling rivalry going, and come April, you will see much more smack talk happening over the the Twitter tubes between @jordanbehan, @wesleybehan, and myself (@janismary) -  but now, we’ve got a lot more work to do before the race!

Updates coming soon on which charities we will be sponsoring. Thanks for reading!

Win a Free Handbag!

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It’s super easy. Go to www.handbagplanet.com and enter your first name and e-mail address. They are giving away 24 handbags in 24 hours! But you can gain more entries if you: a) Import e-mail addresses from Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail; b) join the facebook or myspace group, or tweet about the contest on twitter; or c) write about the contest on your website or blog. That’s what I’m doing here, to help me get 25+ entries! Then all you have to do is e-mail Handbag Planet with the link to your blog, facebook, etc. Good luck ladies!!