As part of our video and photo contest with Alltop, we set up a photobotth at the Girl+Guy Party. The talented Kris Krug was on hand to take the photos, and fun was had by all.

There's still time to enter the contest and vote! Check out http://sxsw.strutta.com, or simply email your photos and videos directly to sxsw@strutta.com.

The gang here at Strutta are excited to announce our SXSW photo and video contest with Alltop.

We're especially excited because we're boarding a plane Friday morning, bound for Austin. "Over the Top at SXSW" is the theme of the contest, and both photos and video will be accepted. You can enter at SXSW.Strutta.com after Thursday, or simply email your entries to sxsw@strutta.com, and they'll be automatically entered.

Here's a preview of the contest widget, where you can view and vote on entries:

The Judges

An esteemed panel of VIP judges has joined us, to help select the best "over the top" entries. They include:

Guy Kawasaki

Guy Kawasaki is the founder of Alltop, managing director of Garage Technology Ventures (an early-stage venture capital firm) and a columnist for Entrepreneur Magazine.

Shira Lazar

Shira Lazar is an EMMY nominated TV and Web Personality. She is also the host of This Week in YouTube, a contributor on The Huffington Post and the host for Live Earth Video.

Amber MacArthur

Amber MacArthur is a new media host/producer, strategist, and speaker. Amber also developed “commandN,” a popular video podcast that covers online and offline technology trends.

Kris Krug

Kris Krug is a web strategy expert and well known fashion photographer. He has taken some of the most iconic photographs in the history of the SXSW festival, and shares all of them online.

Stefanie Michaels

Stefanie Michaels, “Adventure Girl®,” has carved a unique niche in the world of travel and entertainment. Her website, AdventureGirl.com, has been utilized by millions looking for tips on exciting places to visit.

Violet Blue

Violet Blue is a sex-positive author and blogger, is regarded as the foremost expert in the field of sex and technology, and is interviewed, quoted and featured prominently by major media outlets.

The Prizes

The prizes are a major highlight as well. The Grand Prize winner, selected by the judges, will win a full prize package consisting of:

• an Apple iPad
• a HP Photosmart Premium TouchSmart Web All-in-One Printer
• a Kodak Zi8 pocket video camera, and
• two tickets to see Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas.

The top vote getter will also win a prize package, including:

• a HP Photosmart Premium TouchSmart Web All-in-One Printer
• a Kodak Zi8 pocket video camera, and
• two tickets to see Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas.

There is also a prize of a Kodak Zi8 Pocket Video Camera for the Best Video as selected by our judges, and just for voting you will be entered to win tickets to see Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas.

So spread the word! Take lots of photos and videos of your SXSW fun, and enter them in the contest to win these great prizes. Look for the Strutta crew at the festival, and say hi! We look forward to meeting you.

The Summary

Media: Photos only
Winners Chosen By: Public, Panel of VIP Judges

The Oly Awards were created by Adhack, to celebrate the best of brand advertising during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games. A Flickr group, several photowalks near the Olympic venues and a Strutta photo contest comprised the low-cost, highly interactive campaign.

The Execution

From February 12 to 28, The Oly Awards collected crowdsourced photo submissions of advertising associated with the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games (from official Olympic partners, and "unofficial" advertisers as well) on the popular photo-sharing website Flickr.

Adhack CEO James Sherrett wanted to guage the interest in the idea before proceeding with a contest. They met and exceeded the targets that they set for themselves: 50 photographers and over 500 photographs in just over a week. In the end, more than 85 photographers contributed 800+ photos of Olympic-related advertising campaigns.

The second phase involved using Strutta to determine the public and VIP panel of judges' picks for the best advertising execution at the Olympics. Marketing representative Janis Behan led several photowalks in Vancouver, and rallied photographers to submit photos.

The Adhack team also set goals for the photo contest. They wanted to have over 100 of the best photgraphs entered in the contest before the start of judging, and once again they met their targets in a very short time.

A "Pro" Strutta account was used, and Adhack provided their own design and administration.

The end of the campaign was an awards "show" featuring Behan and Sherrett:

The End Game

The contest was designed to measure a number of different metrics that are relevant to Adhack and its community. First, the level of participation around the Olympic advertising and Flickr photo group was measured and considered before proceeding with the contest. During the contest, the number of submissions, votes, comments and feedback were considered. Judges were also given an extensive evaluation form, where they rated the leading brands selected during the public voting round.

The contest was a success on several levels. Adhack community participation numbers were way up, and the Adhack concept was exposed to a large number of new creatives and ad agencies by way of the campaign. Adhack even received thanks and feedback from many of the brands they were evaluating: both official Olympic partners, as well as some of the "unofficial" advertisers as well.

The Analysis

By setting specific goals for the campaign, the Adhack outlined a plan for themselves, and stuck to it. It's important to note that the success of this campaign did not happen automatically. In a testament to the effectiveness of (properly executed) social media and online engagement, Janis rallied community members at every turn - planning photowalks, conversing on Twitter, reaching out and commenting on Flickr, and along with Sherrett publishing several blog posts and videos during the 17 day campaign.

Additionally, Adhack was anything but shy about letting people know what the campaign was about. As a footer to most of the blog posts and campaign announcements, they ran this call to action:

Want to talk about how crowdsourcing and creativity can help your brand?

AdHack works with agencies and brands big and small to put crowdsourcing to work for them.

• Call us: 1-877-477-5697
• Email us: sales@adhack.com
• Get the full AdHack contact details.

Do get in touch now and we’ll find the right fit for you.

The Numbers

To boost the awareness of Adhack among the advertising agencies working on the Olympics, the local advertisers trying to ebenfit from Games-related exposure and among creatives, Sherrett decided that by setting goals from the outset, they would drive the success of the campaign. It worked, and introduced Adhack to a number of new prospects, while garnering them plenty of online attention in the process.

Flickr photo pool of Olympic advertising: 88 members, 837 photos to date
Strutta photo contest: 115 photo entries and over 4000 unique views

The Winners

With the help of their expert panel of judges, Adhack selected an overall brand winner, as well as a "Best Photgraph" from among the submissions. Both were presented with a prize of an original piece of artwork from Vancouver artist Rachael Ashe. And the winners are:

Best Brand: Coca-Cola

Best Photograph: Kim Werker

Hudson's Bay Co. Downtown Covered in Its Own Ads - kpwerker on Flickr

If you have questions about running your own photo or video contest, contact us and we'd be happy to help you get started. 1-877-477-5717

We are excited to announce the launch of Crate and Barrel's Ultimate Wedding Contest.

One lucky couple will win a $100,000 dream wedding package, and have their special day planned by celebrity wedding planner Jo Gartin.

“This promotion is a first for Crate and Barrel and it was essential that we select a platform that was flexible, scalable and reliable,” said John Seebeck, Direct Marketing Business Director at Crate and Barrel. “We are very pleased with the Strutta contest platform and the level of service we have received.”

“We are excited to be working with Crate and Barrel on this campaign,” added Strutta CEO Ben Pickering. “It is a great example of how Strutta’s contest API can be utilized to create a customized and integrated consumer experience.”

The "photo with story" contest continues through the next seven weeks, and the competition will be fierce. As of this morning, there are already over 2400 entries.

On a recent tour of Silicon Valley, our fearless leader Ben Pickering sat down with Read Write Web's (and Canada's own!) Dana Oshiro to talk about "How To Run and Online Contest" for their Read Write Start channel.

From the article:

Strutta lets you collect user-generated content and showcase it in a seamless web contest experience. Users can upload videos and photos, vote on other contest content and promote entries to their Twitter and Facebook friends.

Thanks for checking us out, Dana!