17/08/2006 14:15
AAPT today launched their latest online viral campaign ‘Gotta get to the AFL Grand Final’, one of a series of irreverent online competitions. The campaign has Brisbane Lions supporters posting photos of themselves with a cardboard cut out of The AFL Trophy, on to the AAPT photo gallery for the chance to win Grand Final tickets or the next best thing - all the essential ingredients to host an AFL Grand Final party.

The photo gallery has been a great addition to AAPT’s sponsorship and event strategy providing greater longevity after events and another opportunity to engage with consumers.

“This competition follows the last campaign - ‘Say Cheese’ from Bendigo’s Torchlight Easter Parade, with bigger prizes and greater possibilities for creative interaction with consumers to take and post a diverse range of photos,” says Julian Boram, Head of Communications at AAPT.

Initially the gallery was designed to increase consumer involvement inviting subjects to view themselves online after an event with the ability to ‘send (photos) to a friend’. More recently however, the gallery has become more acquisition focused through the use of competitions such as the Say Cheese campaign and the current ‘Gotta get to the AFL Grand Final’ competition.

“The Torchlight competition drew thousands of photo entries in Bendigo where the public were photographed and entered and posted onto the site with the public invited to enter the funniest captions to win,” Julian added.

This competition marks the 4th online viral campaign for AAPT, with predecessors – ‘Straight Up The Guts’, ‘Straight Talking Santa’ and ‘Say cheese’ being just as irreverent as the current launch.

Julian said, “Online is an increasingly important part of our contact strategy with the Australian market. We’re constantly looking at new ways to interact with customers in relevant and meaningful ways.”

The site was launched in January 2006 and has seen constant improvement since. It is proving very popular with chat room forums when members feature on the gallery.

The site design was developed by Tequila, an award winning online agency who have been working with AAPT for several years. Tim Knight, Group Account Director says “we’re really pleased with this campaign as it encourages consumer creativity on what is already a really dynamic site”.

The competition goes live 19th August, closing on the 12th September and is open to Queensland residents only. Visit aapt.com.au/photos for more details.
-ENDS-

For further information, or for an interview please contact:
Stuart Hilton
AAPT
Ph: 02 9009 9750
stuart.hilton@aapt.com.au

About AAPT
AAPT provides a range of voice, mobile, data and Internet services to business, government, wholesale and residential customers throughout Australia, supported by an extensive national voice and data network. AAPT is part of the Telecom New Zealand Group. For more information on AAPT, visit www.aapt.com.au

AFL Authorisation Code GFBRI06/98