Innovative
on-line treasure hunt with a potential to win
£1million in prize
Viral marketing
is pulling in the punters worldwide to an
innovative on-line treasure hunt with a potential
£1million prize.
Island
Treasure’s award-winning website has
attracted players from more than 40 countries
since its September launch - over half of them
recommended by friends in exchange for extra
treasure hunt clues.
Encouraging
subscribers to ‘spread the word’ by
e-mailing friends is the key principle behind
most viral promotions. Its pulling power has been
spectacularly demonstrated by high-profile
marketing such as Budweiser’s current
‘Whassup’ campaign, which spread to
Europe via the Internet and e-mail weeks ahead of
being seen on the continent’s TV screens.
Island
Treasure’s adoption of cost-effective
promotional systems like viral marketing is a
pointer to the unique strategies employed from
the start by the Isle of Wight-based venture.
Norman
Bartholomew, co-founder and Managing-Director of
Island Treasure Ltd., had been greatly impressed
by media reports revealing that 95% of e-commerce
businesses were not actually making money! So
what was the route to a profitable business?
His solution was
to harness the power of the Internet, hence the
use of clever systems such as viral marketing.
“It has taken a year to develop Island
Treasure and in that time we've adapted many
proven Internet systems to come up with a unique
programme that's profitable from day one - and
we've done it without having to raise venture
capital millions,” says Norman.
Island Treasure
aims to attract millions of visitors to its
website before the competition ends at midnight
(GMT) on New Year’s Eve 2001. Developing
trust and loyalty with the game, adds Norman, is
key to the process of converting large numbers of
them into subscribers.
Entry to the
competition is gained by the simple process of
downloading an electronic treasure hunt book from
the website. The e-book blends the colourful
history of the Isle of Wight with an enthralling
time travel story as its 31st century heroes and
villains follow a hazardous quest for the secret
source of time itself - the Timeseed.
Trust and loyalty
among players is created by making entry to the
competition free of charge and also allowing free
access to the 84-page full colour e-book.
Subscribers are
challenged to join the quest for the lost seed by
deciphering clues within the story itself and on
a treasure hunt map split into a 30-piece jigsaw
hidden on sponsors’ websites elsewhere on
the Internet.
Sponsorship is
one of Island Treasure’s three main profit
centres - alongside advertising and the optional
sale of the treasure map. Many local companies
have grasped the opportunity of attracting
potentially massive Internet traffic to their own
sites by signing-up to ‘host’ the
treasure map pieces.
A guaranteed
£100,000 will await the holder of the first
correct entry on Island Treasure’s e-mail
server when the competition ends. The winner will
then have the chance to increase the prize to £1
million by solving the final treasure hunt clue
on an all-expenses-paid trip to the Isle of Wight
itself.
Island
Treasure’s on-line systems are now fully
operational and the website address is - www.island-treasure.com
DOWNLOAD THE
E-BOOK ISLAND TREASURE HERE
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