Jones Soda Contest Hits the Road for Travel Photo Ops

Premium soda brand Jones Soda, which styles itself “the Official Soda of the Roadtrip,” wants to see where people are going on their own driving vacations this summer and will put the finalists of a North American travel photo contest on an international run of its product bottles.

The beverage maker has partnered with Griffin Technology, which produces iPod/iPhone accessories, to offer the Roadtrip Jones contest. Launched last Tuesday and extending to Aug. 28, the contest is meant to celebrate “the Great North American Roadtrip” of any distance, from an afternoon outing to the lake to a 10,000-mile trek across the continent.

Participants enter by sending a social media update including the hashtag #roadtripjones to Twitter, Facebook, Flickr or YouTube and including their projected itinerary in the update. Twitter users are asked to tweet directly to @jonessodaco; users of other social media can also register using a central form that outlines where they’ll be blogging their trip. The hashtag will enable Jones, Griffin and contest administrators to identify the entrant and follow their travel chronicles in real time.

Once they’re entered, players can then upload their travel photos and video at (after registering with an e-mail address.) As with other submissions to the many photo contests Jones runs, they can also pin their travel photos to an interactive map.

At the end of the contest, managers will select the 10 best roadtrip photos and print them on labels for thousands of bottles of Jones Soda. Shortly afterward, one winner will be selected from those finalists to win a $500 e-commerce shopping trip. During the contest run, Griffin will also choose one entrant a week at random to receive one of 10 iTrip AutoPilots, an after-market accessory that plugs into a car’s power source and plays iPod or iPhone content through open FM frequencies on the car radio.

To sweeten the pot a bit, Jones will be sending an official Roadtrip Van across the southern half of the United States this summer and tweeting from @Jones_Soda_RV. Travelers and stay-at-homes alike who manage to spot the van can receive #RoadTripJones bumper stickers, product coupons and other prizes. They can get the RV’s projected route and can get updates on its progress and whereabouts by following the Twitter account.

Visitors to the RoadTrip Jones Web page can also follow a link to download and print their own #roadtripjones bumper sticker. If they use the contest entry form, they can also order a free sticker and a Jones Soda key ring.

Finally, those travelers passing through Jones’ Seattle home town—or Seattleites just planning a stay-cation this year—can drop by the company’s headquarters and pick up a free bumper sticker, along with coupons and a free bottle of Jones Soda.

“Launching the Jones Soda road trip this summer is an extension of the everyday personal connection with our fans,” Jones CEO and president Joth Ricci said in a release. “utilizing the power of social networking sites like Twitter will bring road trippers together while providing a place to share road trip experiences, like visiting national landmarks and enjoying a refreshing Jones Soda on a hot summer road trip.”

“The road trip is back and it’s bigger than ever,’ Griffin marketing manager Jennifer Fisher said. “We couldn’t pick a better partner to help us celebrate the great North American road trip.”