Precor sweepstakes kicks off smart viral email campaign

Precor’s “What Moves You” catch phrase could move and motivate consumers to help beef up the company’s consumer database — if a draw of a “dream vacation,” free equipment or discounts on purchases pays off.

Go to the company’s homepage at www.precor.com and not only does a large orange medallion in the bottom right announce “Save Big. Win a Trip,” with an enticement to click there, but visitors are sucked in by spectacular pictures of swimmers with tropical fish in blue waters, skiers flying through the air with a backdrop of dramatic mountains, and relaxed (and fit) vacationers strolling beaches.

“What Moves You?” asks the website after each visual. “How about big savings and an exotic vacation?”

You’re not only led to a page naming the dealers closest to you, but also to a link that takes you to a form to fill in to enter a sweepstakes for a vacation for two in Maui, Canada, the Caribbean or California, with 15 runner-up prizes of a choice of selected Precor home fitness equipment.

An entry means the company gets your vital contact statistics, and asks you if you want to be contacted by a local dealer, or if you want to receive a quarterly newsletter, as well as (and here’s the viral part) if you want to tell your friends about the promotion:
“Tell up to five of your friends about this promotion and you’ll get another entry into the sweepstakes for each friend you refer. Enter their email addresses to the right.”

“If Precor does a good job of providing relevant, interesting information, a customer might grant us the right to communicate with them via our quarterly eNewsletter,” said Kevin Flaherty, marketing manager. “It certainly is a nice opportunity to communicate frequently with our customers, but it will only happen if we provide viable reasons to do so.

“The ‘What Moves You?’ sweepstakes and savings event builds upon our overall concept of relevant web content,” he added. “And who wouldn’t be interested in winning a trip of a lifetime or some great Precor product?”

The promotion allows entry through Jan. 31, 2004. The grand prize winner will receive his or her choice of a vacation at Maui’s Grand Wailea Resort, skiing at Whistler Mountain with a stay at the Fairmount Chateau, a Caribbean Cruise on Radisson Seven Seas’ Navigator, or a deluxe tour of California’s Napa and Sonoma valleys, staying at the Villagio Inn & Spa.

“We believe that the traffic to the Precor website, the increased interest in Precor products, and the resulting traffic to the all-important Precor Dealer Network will result in a positive outcome for Precor and the dealer network,” Flaherty said. “And, more importantly, it will get more people moving well.”