Contests are arguably the oldest form of user-generated content, at least those where you have to compete by submitting something creative to win. In the March issue of ‘Lucky’ and on the magazine Web site, there’s a contest announcement soliciting the best text entrants can pen for 4 pages of the spring shoe guide. The prize is a $1,000 shopping spree at Barney’s New York Co-op. There’s a gaffe—you can’t use a noun as a descriptive on any page more than once.  I rarely meet a noun I don’t like, but this part of speech won’t do well as a descriptive unless you have the occasionally twisted poet mind. I do appreciate additional advice the sponsors offer—a whole list of banned words like bling, adorable and groovy. Does anybody really ever say groovy? Did anybody you’d want to be seen in public with ever really say that word at all?

The ‘Lucky’ Web site is a great resource for aspiring competitors, and there’s an online form that’s yours for a click. So get in the heel and toe mode and pen some words that make a consumer with a shoe fetish (my younger daughter comes to mind) want to rush out and grab six pairs of those stiletto creations that make your legs look like Hollywood and your back feel like a Hollywood hangover. You could find yourself the ultimate consumer, scrolling the aisles at Barney’s, and return to your office looking like a million bucks worth of bling.

Technorati Tags: Beneath the Brand, Kay B. Day, Talent Zoo, contest, copywriting, shoes, catalog, advertising

Filed under: Advertising, Marketing Innovation