OLN Races to Tour de France with Sweeps
To boost ratings for its broadcast of the Tour de France cycling competition, the Outdoor Life Network (OLN) has launched a sweepstakes that dangles a trip to France and racing bikes as prizes.
Consumers have until July 23 to enter the OLN 2006 The Cyclysm Sweepstakes at Cyclysmsweepstakes.com. The grand-prize winner will receive a VIP-guided cycling tour for two of the French Alps. The second-prize winner will ride away with a TREK bike.
Meanwhile, in an instant-win game, participating retail stores will each have a Cyclysm sweepstakes display with 300 instant-win sports bottles carrying a game card inside each bottle.The winner will receive a TREK bike. Two hundred bikes will be given away during the promotion.
“OLN is in the business of providing exclusive, adrenaline-charged events,” said Wendy McCoy, VP-marketing, OLN, “and this promotion helped us to make a lot of noise around one of our marquee events while providing great value for our affiliates which fits perfectly into our overall marketing strategy.”
The Tour de France began on July 1 and is a long-distance cycling competition that takes place in stages. The competition, which ends July 23, consists of professional cycling teams that travel through France and its nearby countries.
OLN want to provide “an exclusive and engaging promotion that would help our affiliates generate revenue and gain several million dollars in additional tune-in exposure for the Tour on OLN,” McCoy said.
Stamford, CT-based OLN’s goal was to use the promotion to support its cable network affiliates and generate cross-channel support for the 2006 Tour de France cycling race.
In addition to the sweeps, OLN is featuring interactive maps, rider and team profiles, and Tour Blogs at OLNTv.com.
Westport, CT-based Marlin Entertainment developed sales support materials, retail window clings and tear pads for the promotion. The agency also handles the sweeps. With Lance Armstrong’s historic reign over, there’s a lot of interest and curiosity about who the next king of cycling might be, said Neal Frank, president, Marlin Entertainment, the agency handling the event. “This campaign enables consumers, affiliates and retailers to tap into this excitement, all of which will generate even greater exposure for OLN.”
Marlin ranked No. 83 in this year’s PROMO 100 with net revenues of $5 million for 2005.
