It’s the Toilet Paper Wedding Dress Contest, sponsored by Cheap-Chic-Weddings.com, a home-based business in Boca Raton, Florida that exists primarily to generate revenue from Google Adsense ads, sell a few products in its small online store, and sing the praises of cheap weddings.
To draw traffic to the website, owners Susan Bain; her mother, Roxie Radford; and sister, Laura Gawne sponsor the contest that’s under way right now. The deadline for entries is July 31. First prize is $500 cash.
If you didn’t know any better, you’d think many of the winning gowns from the past two years came right out of the glossy bridal magazines.
Take a look for yourself at the 2005 winners and the 2006 winners.
When I saw the photos, I was convinced the women actually wear their toilet paper gowns at their weddings, but Sue says that isn’t the case. So why do the women go through all that trouble?
“I want to believe that the majority of people who enter probably visit our website a lot,” Sue said. “Some of these people have very small budgets. To them, winning $500 is a lot. They come back and tell us they spent it on their wedding. I think they’re motivated by the money, but these are crafty, very talented people.”
Here’s the best part. The entire promotion campaign costs a paltry $200. They hired Paul J. Krupin from Direct Contact to write and distribute one press release.
News of the contest showed up in several magazines’ online versions including Glamour, Yahoo’s The 9, “and in tons of newspapers all over the country, from Sacramento, California to southern Florida where we live,” Sue said.
Feeling creative? Like you’re on a roll? Check out this year’s toilet paper contest rules.
Then think about what kind of a fun contest your own organization can sponsor. You’ll get many more ideas for great contests in “Special Report #18: Clever Contests That Will Tempt Reporters to Call.”
Thanks to Publicity Hound Gail Kent of Newport News, Virginia for tipping me off to this one.
That’s a great dress. Having a toilet paper as materials for the wedding gown, unbelievable..
Also nice idea of having a contest in a site. It really works well..