Contests are pretty common these days, but usually you see them used for profit-related activities. Buy a product, enter a contest. Visit a restaurant, enter a contest. Sign up for an E-mail subscription, enter a contest. You don’t often see them used for non-profit organizations, and especially not for religious ones.
The Pocket Testament League is a Christian service organization that encourages Christians to read, carry and share portions of Scripture. Around since 1893, the organization currently has over 200,000 members. George Pytlik was asked to help structure a contest to further the sharing activities for members of the League.
Because members regularly share stories of how their activities, it was decided to build the contest around the idea of sharing a favorite conversation starter, or “ice breaker.” Members would provide their ice breakers, these would be narrowed down to a select group by staff, and then members would be invited to vote for the ones they liked to select the winners. There were four categories. Three winners in each category — those receiving the highest votes — would win a free study Bible.
Measurement of contest success would be based on the number and quality of entries. These entries would be used in future communication projects to encourage members to be creative in sharing the Gospel of John booklets published by the League. The contest was promoted using E-mail, with a landing page for submitting entries.
Click the page numbers below to view the various elements of the project.