Oldest Furnace Contest a fun tool for publicity

I’m sitting here shivering in my Betty Boop pajamas, blue bathrobe and pink slippers, practically watching ice crystals form in my coffee mug.

As I write this, the clock here in Wisconsin says 6:30 a.m. We program the thermostat in our house so the temperature drops during the night and comes back up around 7 a.m., allegedly to save up to 25 percent on our heating bill. So it’s the perfect time to tell you about the Oldest Furnace Contest, a clever marketing and publicity idea adopted by several furnace companies throughout the United States.

The concept is simple. Enter the annual contest, and if your furnace is the oldest, you win a free furnace. You can read about the contest sponsored by Wilkins Mechanical Services Inc., in Nashua, New Hampshire, in an article printed in the Telegraph, the newspaper in Nashua.

Why did the newspaper write a story about this? Because it’s unusual. And it’s fun. Furnaces seldom live past age 30. But this one, a cast-iron, “snowman” style steam boiler, beats ’em all at 135 years old.

Why not borrow this same idea for whatever it is you’re peddling? Selling lamps? How about an Oldest Lamp Contest? Or even better, an Ugly Lamp Contest? If you own a lamp store, display the finalists in your front window with the names and photos of the customers who entered them. Can’t you just hear everybody in town buzzing about your fun display?

In my “Special Report #18: Clever Contests That Will Tempt Reporters to Call,” I mentioned that at a newspaper where I worked, we had an annual “Ugly Tie Contest” and asked readers to submit their ugliest neckties. The winner, announced on Father’s Day, won a gift certificate to a local men’s clothing store. We displayed the top five ugly neckties on a posterboard in our lobby, and I’d often walk through the lobby and see people standing in front of the display howling with laughter.

The media love contests like these. And smart Publicity Hound use contests to promote what they’re selling.