Grand Slam For a Year

Denny’s is the most recognized name in family dining providing good food and service for more than 50 years. With approximately 1,500 restaurants across America and systemwide sales of more than $2 billion, Denny’s is the largest full-service family restaurant chain in the United States. Providing real breakfast 24/7.

Next month, Denny's will pick the winners of its "Grand Slam for a Year" promotion. Each can order 52 servings of a Denny's Grand Slam breakfast, or two eggs, two strips of bacon, two sausage links and two pancakes. That's a stack of pancakes four feet high, with 17,680 calories, not counting the syrup.
Denny's Corp. hopes the contest brings more customers through the door, especially since people can't necessarily eat this much themselves and often bring along their friends. "Consumers still respond to free," says John Dillon, the company's vice president of marketing.

Out of the 600,000 people who entered the Denny's contest, 450,000 opted to join the Denny's Rewards program, which regularly emails updates on new menu items and specials. WAY TO GO DENNY'S :)

Free Ghirardelli Chocolate Squares Anyone?

This month, and throughout the month of April, one million Ghirardelli Chocolate Squares will be handed out to people in a number of major metropolises as part of a promotional campaign that is the largest undertaking in the brand's history.

The campaign, “A Million Moments of Timeless Pleasure,” turns on highlighting one million everyday occasions that would offer a reason to unwrap a square of chocolate and indulge. The sampling tour will hit 10 cities: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Miami, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. As each of the one million consumers is handed a piece of chocolate they will be encouraged to enter a sweepstakes, the anchor of the program.
Consumers who enter the sweeps will submit a “Ghirardelli moment” or a description of when they enjoyed their free sample.

At the dedicated Web site visitors will find information about the sweeps, which ends Oct. 31, and a live Web cam of thousands of people's “moments” that are being broadcast on the gigantic Thompson Reuters and NASDAQ digital billboards in Times Square this month.

Under a social element, people can follow the tour on Twitter @GhirardelliTour to find out where the tour is stopping.

So all you Chocolate lovers down in the States keep your eyes open for that free sample of chocolate and the chance to share your moment with the world :)

Wedding Bells will soon be Ringing

Wedding Bells will soon be ringing, its that time of year again folks..good ol Wedding Season.
Crate and Barrel and digital media source Daily Candy have partnered on a social media campaign designed to offer one betrothed couple a grand wedding—or more accurately, one hundred grand.
To enter, couples—including same-sex couples planning a commitment ceremony—must create a registry account and profile on the brand’s Web site and fill out that registry with 50 items worth at least a total $2,000.
They can then upload a photo of themselves along with a 100-word statement about their love story, three important facts about their relationship and a short description of their dream day.
Until March 31, those entries will be available at www.ultimateweddingcontest.com/entries for friends, families and well-wishers to view and vote on. At the end of the submission period, the 50 entries with the most votes will be considered for the grand prize by a panel of judges that includes Gartin and others chosen by Crate and Barrel.
Your big day will be in the savvy hands of A-list expert Jo Gartin, who's planned the nuptials of stars such as Kate Walsh and Tori Spelling…and now, maybe you. Known for her impeccable style and unique ideas, Gartin will make your affair one to remember.

Augmented reality is changing the way we view the world

Video games have been entertaining us for nearly 30 years. Computer graphics have become much more sophisticated since then, and game graphics are pushing the barriers of photo realism. Now, researchers and engineers are pulling graphics out of your television screen or computer display and integrating them into real-world environments. This new technology, called augmented reality, blurs the line between what's real and what's computer-generated by enhancing what we see, hear, feel and smell.

Pulling players deeper into a brand experience for longer periods of time is high on the list. Augmented Reality, has the capabilities to do that and is being tested by a number of marketers. Built into game play will be more ways for players to contribute, such as designing a character or syncing up a player's voice to a character. The goal here is to increase time spent and viral sharing.

As an example, HBO and ePrize got players to spend an average of seven minutes creating "fashionistas" by choosing different clothing, shoes and accessories in a promo to build excitement for the premiere of the HBO movie "Sex and the City." Players unlocked additional fashion items by entering codes received from viewing video content on affiliates' sites.

Augmented reality is changing the way we view the world -- or at least the way its users see the world.