From TV to RV: Promotion Gets 'Real'

Posted Thursday, December 1, 2005 12:00 am

By: Mark Fitzgerald Three Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. (CNHI) newspapers in Indiana spiked single-copy sales and ad revenue this fall by moving seven readers into an RV camper for an eight-day contest that borrowed from the TV shows Big Brother and Survivor.

The Reality RV Challenge, sponsored by the Greensburg Daily News, the Rushville Republican, and The Herald-Tribune, a weekly in Batesville, kept contestants cooped up in the camper without access to telephones, visitors, or showers. To win the grand prize of the camper, contestants faced trivia quizzes and a hot dog-eating contest, among other challenges.

Each day, more than 1,000 readers cast ballots printed in the two evening papers (combined circulation of about 9,250) to keep their favorites in the contest. Votes had to be in by 9 a.m., and at 11:30 a.m. the papers kicked one contestant out in an "eviction ceremony." Regional ad director Laura Welborn said the promo generated about $10,000 in ad revenue.

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From TV to RV: Promotion Gets 'Real'

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