In the spirit of award show season and the amazing year that just came to pass, we'd like to present the first annual Strutta BOOM! Awards. Brands and campaigns showcased here are among the best to hit the social web in 2011. Find tips for success in each category below and feel free to apply them your promotional campaigns this year!

A giant THANK YOU goes out to all of our partners, clients, DIY product customers and contest participants of 2011. Here's to a booming 2012!

Engaging Brands of the Year
Culver’s (Hiebing), Vancouver Canucks, Guy Kawasaki

We applaud these brands for genuinely connecting with their online communities! They have crafted a positive voice and have earned their loyal following. They continue to grow with thanks to their marketing strategies that are rich in social media promotions and activity.

Tip: Build excitement and keep fan engagement level high by setting an expectation of running fun and interactive promotions regularly.

Promotions of the Year
Ultimate Wedding Contest - Crate and Barrel, Fittest Friends - Men’s Health & Women’s Health Magazines (Rodale), Live @ YVR - Vancouver International Airport Authority (Edelman)

These promotional campaigns excelled in three key marketing objectives: grow brand awareness, increase fan engagement and generate sales.

Tip: Strengthen your brand and community by providing a platform for people to share their offline life experiences online.

Best Collaboration
48 Half Hours - Tourism Newfoundland & WestJet, Metro Presents... - Metro Newspaper & Live at Squamish Music Festival (Brand.Live), Destination Honeymoon - AirBnB & Honeyfund.com

These campaigns gained clout and momentum through co-promotion from complementary brands.

Tip: Bring sponsors and partners on board to help offset costs, spur excitement and extend a promotion’s potential reach.

Best Design
Basic package: Make That Sandwich - Mezzetta, PRO package: Destination Honeymoon - AirBnB, Custom build: Sing Like Lady Gaga - Entercom

At our basic, pro and custom package levels, these campaigns truly showcased their brand and our platform’s look & feel customization options.

Tip: Create a positive user experience with consistent branding across all of your promotional channels and boost your audience's brand sentiment.

Best Community Campaign
Hometown Heroes - Culver’s, A Thousand Forests - Wacom, Picnic Anywhere Project - Schneider’s

We do our best to help bring brands, causes and people together. These campaigns are outstanding examples of brands using our platform and social media for social good.

Tip: Give individuals in your community the opportunity to inspire others with their positive ideas and actions through shared content.

What’s a BOOM! AWARD? It’s only the most honourable form of recognition you can get within the Strutta family; it’s about 7 levels above a high-five.

Feeling inspired? Contact us to see how Strutta can help power your creative campaign ideas in 2012!

Through the awesome promotions that run on our platform, we get the opportunity to see some pretty impressive content. Every Friday we dish out BOOM! AWARDS to our favorite contest entries.

BOOM! AWARD #1

Contest: Maggiano's Bliss List Contest
Entry: Falling Deeper In Love With My Babe by Craig Cota

Oh, Motorcycles. The beast that has brought couples together at all ages of their journeys. Craig took his lady out at just 15 years old for their first ride and have been riding together ever since. Keeping the dream alive after 35 years is a blissful victory, even though it hasn't been the smoothest ride. That is why Craig and his "babe" deserve a Boom! Award. Keep the dream alive!
Couples like Craig were invited to submit photo entries and descriptions of their top dreams for their "journey" together in hopes to win dream vacation at any Sandals Resort in the Caribbean. Hot prizes like vacations and emotionally driven entries are great ways to create social engagement for your brand and build up unique fan content! Way to go Maggiano's!

BOOM! AWARD #2

Contest: Luxeon's Bright Idea Contest
Entry: Up-cycled Lightbulb Terrarium by Shawna Griffith.

Shawna is the lucky winner of this BOOM! Award not only for making something we would personally hang in our own homes, but for inspiring others to get crafty and sustainable at the same time! Way to go Shawna...can we hire you to make us terrariums for our office?
We get pretty excited when our technology is used to promote sustainable living. Luxeon's "Bright Idea Contest" is allowing people to share their great ideas on how to creatively use old incandescent bulbs via text/photo/video. Shine on!

BOOM! AWARD #3

Contest: Canucks' Fans on Vacation Contest
Entry: My Brothers Richard + Romi Shredding Fernie by Ryan Suave.

Seeing a family of Canucks-loving shredders representing their team on the hill deserves a few high fives and a BOOM! Award in our books. Check out the green man!
Ryan's entry is one of over 270 photos showcasing major fan love for Vancouver's favourite hockey team. The Canucks' "Fans on Vacation" photo contest is asking fans to submit photos of themselves in their Canucks gear doing something awesome on vacation for shots to win tickets to an upcoming home game. We look forward to seeing many more fantastic entries; the contest closes in April!

What’s a BOOM! AWARD? It’s only the most honourable form of recognition you can get within the Strutta family; it’s about 7 levels above a high-five.

Have you seen a contest entry worthy of a BOOM! AWARD? Share it in the comments below.

Through the awesome promotions that run on our platform, we get the opportunity to see some pretty impressive content. Every Friday we dish out BOOM! AWARDS to our favorite contest entries.

BOOM! Award #1

Contest: Concorso LaStampaSnow.it
Entry: Skiing on Sunday Inviata da: Simone Mana

Simone's caption reads (as translated by Google): "The usual queues in the area of the Milky Way on Sunday afternoon" in English. I'll bet it's worth the wait!
La Stampa, an Italian daily newspaper that is well-known and widely distributed in Europe, is offering fantastic ski packages and passes to top entrants who help showcase some of Italy's finest ski resorts in this Facebook Tab photo contest. See Italy's slopes from a local's perspective and learn some italiano while you're at it. La Stampa's agency, CESEN, fully translated Strutta's contest app to Italian!

BOOM! Award #2

Contest: Qatar Airways National Day Photo Contest
Entry: Congratulations and Celebrations !!! by Chandrashekar Angadi

This image has helped to solidify my wanderlust towards the Middle East.
Qatar Airways, in celebration of Qatar National Day, is encouraging everyone to participate in their photo contest by offering amazing prizes to both entrants and voters. Top entrants and 75 participants selected at random will win free Qatar Airways flights and gear from contest sponsors. Qatar Airways created a clean and very shareable page by embedding their Strutta-powered contest into their website and including social share links along the side.

BOOM! Award #3

Contest: Patch Deck the House Contest

Entry: Our Dancing Lights by Brent W

These dancing lights are nothing short of spectacular. Make sure Harry and Marv don't take their Wet Bandits operation to Rochester!
This holiday season, Patch is inviting folks in 860 towns across America to vote on the very Best Decked House, and rewarding community involvement! 860 winning homes will be recognized on Patch's site and 24 national finalists, as voted by the public, will get their December electric bill taken care of. Then, of those 24 finalists, one will earn the whole community with $100,000 for their schools! The nation-wide bracketed competition is being handled through Strutta's API.

What’s a BOOM! AWARD? It’s only the most honourable form of recognition you can get within the Strutta family; it’s about 7 levels above a high-five.

Have you seen a contest entry worthy of a BOOM! AWARD? Share it in the comments below.

Join the Strutta team and beat your "case of the Mondays" with a healthy dose of promotion inspiration! We hope these great contest ideas, design tips, case studies, etc. will inspire you throughout the week.

Using their school's colors, Strutta's clean template design and sweet typography, Charles Sturt University in Australia created an eye-catching (and very click-worthy) Facbeook Tab image for their You + CSU = $20000! sweepstakes.

CSU chose to run the promotion as a standalone microsite. You'll find the same branding there and in the intro video. Check it out!

Join the Strutta team and beat your "case of the Mondays" with a healthy dose of promotion inspiration! We hope these great contest ideas, design tips, case studies, etc. will inspire you throughout the week.

The mobile social media audience grew 37% in the US and 44% in Europe's top 5 markets in the past year. Since introducing our Optimized for Mobile features with the launch of our contest platform's Advanced Builder earlier this year, many of our clients have tapped into this fast-growing channel.

Making your site Optimized for Mobile will allow your community to participate and engage with your contest on the go: they can submit entries (photos, video, text and audio) via email, and the will see a simplified version of the full site, ultimately getting a better user experience.

Visit Europe teamed up with Ancestry.com for their mobile-ready contest, Follow Your Roots: Visit Europe Family Photo Contest". The ask is to submit a family photo and describe the significance of following their roots back to Europe. The prize is a trip for two to the described European Homeland plus a World Membership and Custom Family Photo Album by ancestry.com. Just visit the contest site on your smart phone or tablet to access the Optimized for Mobile site!

By default, your Strutta-powered contest site will be accessible on mobile devices for viewing and interaction whether it is launched as a Facebook Canvas App, Standalone Microsite or embedded in your web site (iframe). Find out how to optimize your contest site for mobile in our DIY Promotions Builder!

Have you run a mobile contest yet? If not, what are you waiting for? Let us know if you have any questions!