When Bluefly Inc. planned a sweepstakes on Bluefly.com around high-fashion Manolo Blahnik shoes to generate consumer excitement and garner new customer prospects, it figured it’d lure about 55,000 names in 40 days. Instead, it has already nearly doubled that in half the time. The sweepstakes garnered 500,000 entries after the first 20 days, and just over 100,000 of them were newcomers who opted in to receive e-mail marketing messages.
Bluefly, which sells fashion apparel and accessories at discounted prices, is offering a grand prize of 24 pairs of Manolo Blahniks – shoes known for their comfort, high price and appeal to celebrities, a spokeswoman says. The shoes have been featured on TV shows such as "Sex in the City" and are favored by celebrities including Madonna and Sarah Jessica Parker, she adds. Bluefly is also giving away 42 pairs of Manolo slingbacks in its "pair-a-day" instant giveaway. The 42-day sweepstakes ends Nov. 11.
But the shoes alone didn’t bring in the half-million-and-counting sweepstakes participants. Along with an undisclosed amount of web advertising, Bluefly’s public relations department elicited interest in the sweepstakes among fashion editors at major daily newspapers around the country, and it sent a video related to the sweepstakes to TV stations. The video was shown on the Fox network’s Good Day Live show around the U.S.
Bluefly says the shoe promotion has already surpassed the prospect-gathering results of an earlier successful sweepstakes that gave away Hermes Birkin and Kelly fashion handbags last year.
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