##CHALLENGE

The Vancouver Aquarium wanted to grow its email database and raise awareness of its latest attraction, a colony of penguins among its local fans. It also sought to strengthen online relationships with fans in a way that aligned with the brand’s core promise: Engage. Amaze. Inspire.

##SOLUTION + STRATEGY

In Our penguins need B.C. names, the Vancouver Aquarium accepted pictures, videos or written submissions that highlighted cities, parks and other favorite locations in British Columbia, the Canadian province in which the Vancouver Aquarium is located. Contest winners, selected by the Vancouver Aquarium, won a one-year family membership, and got to take three friends on a VIP penguin experience.

Using Strutta’s Contest-Designer functionality, Vancouver Aquarium was able to:

• customize the entry form to gain specific insight
• accept photo, video, and text submissions
• take control of the contest’s look and feel

Since building its email database was a main campaign objective, the Vancouver Aquarium created an entry form that captured entrant email addresses. To determine whether entrants were local or not, the Vancouver Aquarium also asked entrants to share their zip/postal code. Learning demographics allowed the Vancouver Aquarium to send more relevant messaging and promotions.

The Vancouver Aquarium ran targeted Facebook ads in order to increase traffic to its Facebook-based contest and accepted different types of creative submissions in order to convert more visitors to participants.

This original Facebook contest supported the Vancouver Aquarium’s reputation as an excellent tourism destination and cutting edge non-profit organization. The Vancouver Aquarium designed a positive crowdsourcing initiative that stayed true to its core promise. Through inspired action, the Vancouver Aquarium established a genuine connection with its community.

##RESULTS

• Strutta’s analytics revealed a 100% newsletter opt-in rate
• Over 80% of contest visitors live within the Greater Vancouver area
• 383 of 389 entrants chose to share their idea through photo or text over video