While checking my Yahoo! Mail account the other day, one particular email caught my attention. The email was from mktgteam@yahoo.com.sg and it was about my being picked as the winner of the Ideas 2005 promotion they ran a few weeks back. Yahoo! Southeast Asia was looking for the best online marketing concept to help promote Yahoo! products, e.g. Photos, Mail and Search in the region. My sister forwarded me the link to the contest page and thinking I had nothing to lose, I went ahead and submitted my entry. The real reason for joining the contest is this: the frustration of not being able to have a substantial say in the way online initiatives are conceptualized and deployed in my present corporate existence. I thought it would be a blast for a traditional IT professional to win a marketing concept formulation contest. Somehow I thought that would validate all the concepts I’ve proposed and were rejected by all the marketing gurus I’ve had the chance to work with before, in the most likable “in your face” way.
The email reads:
Hi there,
Thank you for taking part in the “Ideas 2005″ contest.
URL: http://promotions.yahoo.com/ideas2005Congratulations! You’ve been selected as our winner but we need to verify that you are a Singapore resident, can you supply us with your mobile phone number so we can have a quick chat with you. Thanks.
Thank you and hope to hear from you soon!
Yahoo! Southeast Asia
http://yahoo.com.sg
http://yahoo.com.my
http://asia.yahoo.com
Alas, the initial elation soon gave way to tearful regret.
Eligibility: You must be a legal resident of Singapore to participate in the Contest. Your participation in the Contest is void if you reside or are located in any territory or country outside of Singapore or if you are a member of any organization, institution or other entity where such participation is prohibited by such organization, institution or other entity…
I guess I won’t be acknowledged for the concept I proposed. It shouldn’t matter, I won for myself another believer: myself.
________________________________
UPDATE: I emailed them back yesterday. Here’s a copy:
Hi,
Thank you for picking my concept. While traveling to Singapore won’t be a problem, I’m sad to say I’m not a Singapore citizen nor resident. If Yahoo! Southeast Asia would still like to move my idea from “concept to reality”, I’ll be glad to provide help in any way I can.
Rgds
Marc Macalua
I know I shouldn’t expect a reply. I should really just read item 5 (Licenses and Intellectual Property) of the contest’s terms and conditions:
With respect to information (”Content”) which you provide or submit for the Contest, you grant Yahoo the world-wide, royalty free and non-exclusive license to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publicly perform and publicly display such Content on any part of the Contest Website and for the purposes for which such Content was submitted or made available.
Just for posterity’s sake, my contest entry centered on an online scavenger hunt ala-Amazing Race®, with clues scattered all over the more than 80 Yahoo! properties (Photos, Mail, Search, etc.). Participants are led from page to page, uncovering clue after clue. Corporate sponsors may pay for product placement spots in certain points of the scavenger hunt. By laying out the game across the different Yahoo! properties, brand recognition and ultimately product usage is increased.