USATODAY.com Launches the 'Be a 'Pop' Star!' Contest

USATODAY.com Launches the 'Be a 'Pop' Star!' Contest

Innovative Promotion Leverages Consumer-Generated Video to Launch New Ad Campaign

MCLEAN, Va., July 6 /PRNewswire/ -- USATODAY.com, a leading news and information Web site, announces the launch of the "Be a 'Pop' Star!" contest, an online promotion that invites readers to create their own video ads promoting the popular pop culture blog "Pop Candy" (http://www.popcandy.usatoday.com/), written by Whitney Matheson.

Matheson's "Pop Candy" blog covers the world of pop culture, including television, music and celebrity, offering readers a sneak peak at what's new and noteworthy from around the Web. From July 6th through July 26th, readers will have the opportunity to create and submit their own 30-second promotional ads designed for use in an online ad campaign to run on the USATODAY.com web site throughout the month of August. The top three submissions, which will be judged based on creativity, originality, and content quality, will be used in the August campaign.

"'Pop Candy' is one of our most popular features because Whitney is able to offer a distinctive look at pop culture that creates a deep connection with her fans," said Laryssa Kundanmal, director of marketing for USATODAY.com. "Tapping into the creativity of the Pop Candy community is the most authentic way to promote the feature to prospective fans and create word-of-mouth about the blog."

For more information and instructions on how to submit video entries, visit http://popstar.usatoday.com/.

USATODAY.com is an award-winning news and information Web site that is updated 24 hours per day, seven days per week. Each month, millions of unique monthly visitors access USATODAY.com News, Money, Sports, Life, Technology, Weather and Travel sections which combine the best of USA TODAY news and information and the latest breaking news with cutting-edge interactive features, information graphics and multimedia functions including audio, video and live Webcasts. USATODAY.com is owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE:GCI). For more information, please visit http://www.usatoday.com/.

Source: USATODAY.com

CONTACT: Steve Anderson, Director-Communications, +1-703-854-5872,
sanderson@usatoday.com, or Heidi Zimmerman, Manager-Media Relations,
+1-703-854-5304, hzimmerman@usatoday.com, both of USA TODAY

Web site: http://www.popcandy.usatoday.com/
http://popstar.usatoday.com/
http://www.usatoday.com/

-------
Profile: intent