MSN Program Engages Weight-conscious Consumers

#9 Best Use of Games, Contests and Sweepstakes

MILLION POUND MATCH-UP

AGENCY: Mr. Youth

CLIENT: MSN/Microsoft Corp.

Early this year, MSN.com needed to build awareness and traffic for its Health & Fitness Web site, www.health.msn.com. Concurrently, its parent, NBC, was looking to bolster the network’s viewership.

Brainstorming between the two produced the seed of a solution: a program that would engage weight-conscious consumers in an off-air competition.

That competition would be related to the popular NBC series “Biggest Loser,” and would push contestants to a special microsite at www.BiggestLoser.MSN.com.

MSN.com subsequently engaged the Mr. Youth agency to conceive a campaign, and “The Million Pound Match Up” was born.

The idea was to challenge people across the country to collectively lose a million pounds. Consumers were encouraged to register with a workout partner and record their joint progress online through Windows Live Spaces, a Microsoft product designed to bring people together in one place.

“It really gave consumers a way to engage and get involved in the ‘Biggest Loser’ weight loss movement,” says Matt Britton, Mr. Youth managing partner.

The promotion caught on, and ultimately 30,000 Windows Live Spaces were created where the respective teams documented the movement toward their goals with video clips, photos and daily blogs. Links to those blogs were subsequently created on BiggestLoser.MSN.com for the finalists in the contest.

The motivation underlying the campaign was the prize looming beyond the weight scale: a shot at appearing on an episode of the reality series and the chance to compete for a VIP trip to the season finale of “The Biggest Loser: Couples” in Los Angeles.

“To have that many competitors blew us away,” Britton recalls. “I think it indicated the fanaticism of the cause and the way the show inspires people.”

A daily sweepstakes kept the momentum going and brought the MSN.com Health & Fitness site into the action in the form of an interactive trivia quiz featuring “Biggest Loser” trainers Bob & Jillian. Former show contestants provided video-based fitness-related clues to which consumers could find the answers by surfing around the site. Zunes were awarded as daily prizes, and a grand prize of a luxury fitness excursion for two was also in the mix.

A “Biggest Loser” Million Pound Tour with past show contestants on board made the rounds of the five fattest cities in America to raise public consciousness about obesity-related health problems and build awareness of the campaign and the MSN Web site.

The tour also provided on-air content, with clips from each stop shown on episodes of the show each week, according to Britton. Those weekly one-minute “call-outs” noted the country’s overall weight loss progress, drove viewers to BiggestLoser.MSN.com, and alerted people to the tour’s next stop.

Overall traffic to the MSN Health & Fitness site grew by 10%, and 5% of that lift has been retained in the wake of the campaign that ran from Jan. 1 through April 15. Total page views on BiggestLoser.MSN.com exceeded 8.8 million, with 3.54 average page views per visit.

“We did not expect that it was going to be that successful,” says Ada Agrait, MSN consumer marketing director.

Based on the success, MSN is exploring opportunities to run a repeat performance.