A successful online contest is forcing Golfballs.com to add servers
Golfer Tiger Woods can tell a shoe manufacturer he wants a pair of custom-made shoes that look just so and have them on his feet in no time. Golfballs.com Inc. now is enabling the amateur golfer to do the same.
Between now and Aug. 31, Golfballs.com visitors can use web tools on a special page devoted to the e-retailer’s “Design Your Own MyJoys Contest” to create and purchase shoes—from No. 1 golf shoe manufacturer MyJoys—with a custom look. The sky’s the limit on just how outlandish designs can be, Golfballs.com says. And contest participants will have the option of buying the designer foot duds they create. The pair of submitted MyJoys with the highest overall star ranking, based on shoppers’ votes, will win a $1,000 GolfBalls.com gift certificate.
“We’re only five days into the contest and we’re stunned at the response,” says Tom Cox, president and CEO. The e-retailer to date has received 4,018 unique entries and 108,000 votes. “We’re already rolling into our contingency plans just to ensure the web infrastructure can support the tremendous volume.” The company has just added a web server that’s devoted exclusively to the contest web pages and voting.
“The objective is primarily to build our e-mail database, and secondarily to build brand awareness for both Golfballs.com and custom MyJoys golf shoes,” says Brandon Hartness, director of e-commerce. “A tertiary objective is to build incoming links to Golfballs.com through an embedded widget that shoppers can place on their blogs, MySpace page or other sites that promotes their particular shoe, asking their site visitors to vote for their shoe. When you create a shoe, you’ll see the widget code in your confirmation e-mail.”
The contest offers amateur shoe designers six base colors, 55 saddle colors, 55 accent colors, three lace colors, and dozens of monogramming and logo options. Each shoe designed by Aug. 31 is posted on the e-commerce site for voting.
Back...
