Second Street Awards

Media companies honored for excellence in online promotions

Awards webinar recognizes top performing media companies in 27 online promotions categories

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At the 5th annual Second Street Online Promotions Awards, media companies from across North America were honored in 27 categories for their outstanding contests, ballots and deals programs. Second Street announced the finalists and winners during a webinar held on Dec. 12.

"Media companies drove substantial results by executing contest, deal and ballot programs," said Matt Coen, president and co-founder, Second Street. "The volume and success of promotions has grown significantly since our first awards presentation five years ago. This year's slate of nominees and winners represent millions of dollars in revenue for media companies and phenomenal results for their advertisers."

Borrell Associates' research shows that online promotions will grow to an $80 billion dollar industry by 2017, and the results represented in the Second Street Awards show strong growth in this area.

Some of the categories that were recognized include Best Photo Contest, Best Sports Contest, Best Recreation Deal, Best Deals Store and Best Overall Promotion. A few new categories were Best Deal Card, Best Metro Ballot and Best Niche Ballot. The ceremony also recognized the media outlets with the overall promotions performance covering small, mid-sized and large market properties.

"It was fantastic to see some new categories gain momentum this year. The Best Metro Ballot was awarded to The Signal, a small paper in Santa Clarita, Calif, who generated $75K with their annual 'Best of Santa Clarita Valley' program," Coen said. "In the niche category, we saw Best of Holiday Shopping, Best of High School Football, State Fair Favorites and more."

For three years running, the Second Street Awards have recognized a Best Overall Promotion. This year, Quad-City Times, a Lee Enterprises property in Davenport, Iowa, was given the award for its overall promotions strategy that included contests, deals, ballots and email and drove significant revenue and database growth for the paper. Quad-City Times was also the first company that won both Best Mid-Size Market for Deals and Contests.

The finalists for the Best Sports Contest category made up a total of over $600K in revenue and came from a variety of types, including auto racing, football, golf and basketball.

The winners and finalists from the 2013 Second Street Awards are:

Best Overall Promotion:

  • Winner: Quad-City Times' Promotions Program
  • Finalists:
    • The Roanoke Times' Best of Holiday Shopping Ballot & Deals
    • StoreUpNorthLive.com's Deal Cards
    • Entercom's National Contests

CONTESTS

Best Sports Contest:

  • Winner: The Wisconsin State-Journal's Mulligan Match-Up
  • Finalists:
    • WNOR-FM & WAFX-FM's Auto Racing Challenger
    • The Roanoke Times' Fearless Forecasters
    • Community Publisher's High School Football Frenzy
    • The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Bracket Fiasco
    • The State Journal Register's Pro Football

Big Giveaway:

  • Winner: WSB-FM's Lake Lanier Islands Dream Wedding
  • Finalists:
    • KCTV-TV's National Mortgage Giveaway
    • WRAZ-TV's Hardee's Tailgate Takeout Man Cave Giveaway

Best Video Contest:

  • Winner: WRAZ-TV's The Fox 50 Lip Dub Project
  • Finalists:
    • Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's Oh Say Can you Sing?
    • Entercom's Sing Like Brad Paisley

Best Bracket Contest:

  • Winner: Herald & Review's Fan Friendzy
  • Finalists:
    • Republican-American's Pick a Pizza
    • Gambit's Bar Wars

Best Photo Contest:

  • Winner: WEZB-FM's Baby Bash
  • Finalists:
    • WSAZ-TV's Cutest Pets
    • WJRR-FM's Ultimate Couple Contest

Best Sweepstakes:

  • Winner: Omaha World-Herald's Nebraska Crossing Outlets Giveaway
  • Finalists:
    • WFTS-TV's iPad-a-Day Giveaway
    • Popular Woodworking's 31 Days of Christmas

Best Advertiser Campaign:

  • Winner: Entercom New Orleans' $500 Bank Sweepstakes
  • Finalists:
    • KULR-TV's Pick a Beet
    • Quad-City Times' Christmas in July

BALLOTS

Best Metro Ballot:

  • Winner: The Signal's Best of Santa Clarita Valley
  • Finalists:
    • Naples Daily News' Southwest Florida Choice Awards
    • U-T San Diego's San Diego's Best

Best Niche Ballot:

  • Winner: The Roanoke Times' Best of Holiday Shopping
  • Finalists:
    • The Signal's Prep Football Fans' Choice Awards
    • MetroFamily's Family Favorites
    • The State Journal-Register's Illinois State Fair Top Ten

DEALS

Best Event Deal:

  • Winner: Provo Daily Herald's Stadium of Fire
  • Finalists:
    • Everett Herald's Warm Beach Camp
    • Miami Herald's Taste of Brickwell Food & Wine Festival

Best Restaurant Deal:

  • Winner: Tri-City Herald's Cedars Restaurant and Lounge
  • Finalists:
    • Honolulu Star-Advertiser's KFC Hawaii
    • HalfPriceCincy's Boi Na Braza Churrascaria Brazilian Steak House

Best Recreation Deal:

  • Winner: HalfPriceCincy's Belterra Casino Resort
  • Finalists:
    • The Post and Courier's Children's Museum of the Lowcountry
    • Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Deertrak Golf Club

Best Retail Deal:

  • Winner: Omaha World-Herald's Bellino Fireworks
  • Finalists:
    • Baton Rouge Business Report's Chris' Specialty Meats
    • Charlotte Observer's Perry's at SouthPark

Best Travel Deal:

  • Winner: Quad-City Times' Grizzly Jack's Grand Bear Resort
  • Finalists:
    • KMOV-TV's The Lodge of the Four Season
    • KSTP-TV's Whitefish Properties

Best Service Deal:

  • Winner: Billings Gazette's CARNU Auto Detailing Center
  • Finalists:
    • KTUU-TV's Kreative Audio & Security
    • Kansas City Star's Travel Clean Car Wash

Best Beauty Deal:

  • Winner: Miami Herald's Aveda Seven Seas Spa and Salon
  • Finalists:
    • Charlotte Observer's The Spa at Rock Barn
    • Reading Eagle's East West Massage

Best Deals Store:

  • Winner: Quad-City Times' Cyber Week
  • Finalists:
    • Miami Herald's Holiday Gift Guide
    • Miami Herald's Best of 2012

Best Deal Card:

  • Winner: UpNorthLive.com's Golf Card
  • Finalists:
    • WNWO-TV's Golf Card
    • Fresno Bee's Golf Card

MARKET WINNERS

Best Small Market Contest Partner:

  • Winner: KSBY-TV
  • Finalists:
    • DurhamRegion.com
    • KFDX-TV
    • KTUU-TV
    • Record-Journal

Best Small Market Deals Partner:

  • Winner: UpNorthLive.com
  • Finalists:
    • Billings Gazette
    • Augusta Chronicle

Best Medium Market Contest Partner:

  • Winner: Quad-City Times
  • Finalists:
    • Calgary Sun
    • KPTV-TV
    • KY3-TV
    • The Roanoke Times

Best Medium Market Deals Partner:

  • Winner: Quad-City Times
  • Finalists:
    • Omaha World-Herald
    • KY3-TV

Best Large Market Contest Partner:

  • Winner: Toronto Sun
  • Finalists:
    • Chatelaine Magazine
    • KVVU-TV
    • Omaha World-Herald
    • U-T San Diego

Best Large Market Deals Partner:

  • Winner: HalfPriceCincy
  • Finalists:
    • St. Louis Post-Dispatch
    • Charlotte Observer

Best Major Market Contest Partner:

  • Winner: WAGA-TV
  • Finalists:
    • The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
    • KTLA-TV
    • WCIU-TV
    • WFLD-TV

Best Major Market Deals Partner:

  • Winner: Miami Herald
  • Finalists:
    • Fort Worth Star-Telegram
    • Greater Media Philadelphia
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