Finally getting the Ball Rolling

**J0schm03** · 10-08-2008 09:14 PM

Hi everyone,

I have been lurking on the forums for a couple months now, and I decided since I've finally got the ball rolling on my very first startup I would join the ranks.

I guess I'm just kind of curious on everyone's opinion of my startup.

It's an internet scavenger hunt site, where users can win prizes ranging from free plasma tv's to ipods to gift certificates etc... It's a real time competition of whit and speed amongst users from all over the globe.

Now I know that this idea has been tried, mainly by two companies who tried to take it big. But we think we have the answer to make it even bigger than those who have tried in the past, bringing us more users and more advertisers. After all if no one tried an idea because someone else has done it we wouldn't have a lot of the big companies we see today.

The website is currently in development.

The best part about it, is that we'll only be asking for an email address and user name from the users, and it's absolutely free to play.

We've had a vested interest in the free tech industry for some time now, and we've made a lot of money from all those Free iPod sites you see out there. But we saw an opportunity to take the free idea to another level, while most of those free ipod sites will end up costing you anywhere from $5-$25, we will be offering the same prizes without having to fill out pesky offers and referring friends.

What do you guys think of the idea?

Thanks for the input and I look forward to my stay on the forums

**MamaJennyB** · 10-09-2008 03:14 AM

Hi there,

Well, I can't really speak to the idea itself because it's not my market -- wouldn't be my thing. Then again, neither is online poker and that's popular.

I think your strongest point is this one:

"After all if no one tried an idea because someone else has done it we wouldn't have a lot of the big companies we see today."

People are pretty slow to change, so if it's been done before but poorly, then you probably have room to gain some traction. If you're trying to suggest an idea that has never been suggested, people often balk. But if it's something that has been in the realm of people's consciousnesses before, I can't see why it can't be appropriately implemented now.

I think the real trick is going to be keeping the motivation for activity high. It's something you'll want to make really addictive for the end user so it doesn't become soemthing they do for a few days and then quit.

**studynz2008** · 10-09-2008 05:56 AM

So who are your target market? I guess all you have to do is to change your activity so that people get excited every time they join.

**J0schm03** · 10-09-2008 02:58 PM

Originally Posted by MamaJennyB

I think the real trick is going to be keeping the motivation for activity high. It's something you'll want to make really addictive for the end user so it doesn't become soemthing they do for a few days and then quit.

That is one of our goals as well. Offering users "Gold Pendants" for every clue they find, giving them motivation to finish each hunt. Eventually with enough of these saved they will be able to cash them in for small prizes such as ringtones, to larger prizes such as ipod minis etc... Also if you finish the hunt regardless of your position you are entered into a random drawing for a runner up prize. Hopefully as we get larger and larger prizes that will draw people back in.

As for targeting a specific market, eventually we are going to be asking users questions when they sign up about their interests and hobbies and with enough interested advertisers, we can gear specific hunts towards a specific audience.

Originally our thought on our target audience was younger adults 18-30ish. But researching the past companies that tried this, I read a number of articles written by parents in their 40+ that said they turned the game into a family activity. So our audience may be much wider than we had first thought.

Thanks for the input and the questions. Questions like this help me to think about this more deeply, I like it.

**J0schm03** · 10-25-2008 08:10 PM

Well we're getting closer to launch! We've got less than a month. I'm very excited to get everything under way. In case you may have skipped the first post explaining what it is I'm doing I'll give another brief explanation.

It's an internet scavenger hunt, putting users from all across the globe against one another in a game of speed, wit and skill. Basically users scour the internet in hopes of being the fastest player to successfully find all the clues. The fastest player wins the grand prize, which ranges from plasma tvs to iPods to giftcards.

What's this mean for the advertisers? Engaging the consumers with your products and directing them towards a specific product or service you offer. Unlike a conventional banner ad we're bringing potential customers to your site and engaging them with your products. Another great thing about it, is you have a much longer exposure time than a typical banner ad. At this point our hunts are set to run for 1 month. And you will also gain exposure for some time after this month is over. Each hunt can be revisited by new and past players, which means they may link to your site for months after the hunt has finished. This means if a player sees a product or service that interests them they will easily be able to revisit the site of interest.

I know there are a lot of great companies that the members of this forum are a part of. If anyone is looking for a cheap effective way to bring in new customers for their company please feel free to contact me at advertising@theprizepursuit. com. Or if you would like some more details please feel free to contact me at the same address.

As soon as the site is ready for launch I will let everyone know

**J0schm03** · 10-25-2008 08:32 PM

I'm also curious to what everyone thinks about this idea. Any input is welcome whether negative or positive.

**J0schm03** · 11-11-2008 10:46 AM

What does everyone feel is the best way to go about contacting a company to potentially participate in our site?

Should you email first, then follow up with a phone call? Or just start off calling companies and asking for the marketing director right away?

**pvenero** · 11-11-2008 07:00 PM

It definitely is an interesting concept and I will try to offer insight on how to obtain the targeted advertisers you're after. Since this is your first run, I would probably not count on having big name advertisers you may be seeking but instead use this first run as a stage for what's to come in your future runs. Carefully document traffic and statistics and you will use this to leverage big advertisers in the future. For right now, start small - make your advertising affordable and keep your eye on the big prize for what will come later down the road. Make sure to document everything and keep thinking of ways to improve your model.

I wish you much success.

**J0schm03** · 11-12-2008 12:39 AM

Originally Posted by pvenero

It definitely is an interesting concept and I will try to offer insight on how to obtain the targeted advertisers you're after. Since this is your first run, I would probably not count on having big name advertisers you may be seeking but instead use this first run as a stage for what's to come in your future runs. Carefully document traffic and statistics and you will use this to leverage big advertisers in the future. For right now, start small - make your advertising affordable and keep your eye on the big prize for what will come later down the road. Make sure to document everything and keep thinking of ways to improve your model.

I wish you much success.

Thanks a lot for the input! This is one of the paths that we have thought about taking. That is, start with the smaller companies, giving them cheap affordable advertising and work up to the larger companies.

We also have tossed the idea around of right off the bat getting some of the big names on board. Offer dirt cheap advertising to start, or purely free for the first 2-3 "hunts". It would obviously be great for them, free advertising why not, and could possibly even build relationships with them for future.

Also we feel by going the second route we can use that as a selling point to not only our users old and new, but to future advertisers.

And I will be sure to keep good records of everything like you said. These statistics of our site will be important for potential new advertisers.

Thanks again for the input!

**pvenero** · 11-12-2008 08:16 PM

Not a problem j0schm03 and please send me the details - I would love to keep up on it.

All the best.

**J0schm03** · 11-13-2008 02:07 PM

Originally Posted by pvenero

Not a problem j0schm03 and please send me the details - I would love to keep up on it.

All the best.

I will definitely do that. Completion date got pushed back to the 16th now. Hopefully we can get this wrapped up and ready to go. I'm sure we will be looking for testers to try it out before launch and to make sure there are no bugs. So I'll let you know if we are looking for users to try it out also.

**mike.hometchko** · 11-13-2008 02:47 PM

I have to give thumbs up...if you do seriously have a decent advertising solution this could get pretty big. I would suggest getting on all those "What to do when you're bored." websites first when everything is ready to go. Although don't post there until it's actually up and running because bored people hate it when they find something to occupy their time and it turns out to be a fluke...then they need to waste more time finding a time wasting activity =P.

**J0schm03** · 11-13-2008 04:33 PM

Originally Posted by mike.hometchko

I have to give thumbs up...if you do seriously have a decent advertising solution this could get pretty big. I would suggest getting on all those "What to do when you're bored." websites first when everything is ready to go. Although don't post there until it's actually up and running because bored people hate it when they find something to occupy their time and it turns out to be a fluke...then they need to waste more time finding a time wasting activity =P.

Haha that last statement is very true. And that's a good piece of advice, thank you!

I really do feel that this could get big. With all the buzz of the Microsoft live search, and the incentivized purchasing and searching, the general idea is fresh in everyones minds. So hopefully this helps people embrace our idea and sort of back the whole philosophy behind it.

Yeah were anxious to finish this up so we can start actually promoting it. Like you said, we can't really do much until its running. People would type in the url, see theres nothing there and probably forget about it and think it's gone. So we definitely have to wait until its good to go.

Oh and were giving away a Nintendo wii on the first hunt! These are gonna be hard to find for the holidays again this year I'm sure. So hopefully this helps to pull in more people when the time comes to launch!

**Shurik** · 11-24-2008 10:42 PM

Have you launched? Please send update.

**J0schm03** · 11-25-2008 03:03 PM

Originally Posted by Shurik

Have you launched? Please send update.

We have not launched yet. Unfortunately during testing there were a few problems that were found and that need to be fixed. We're working on getting all these kinks worked out as soon as possible.

We're trying to get this all taken care of asap. So we hope to get this up and going very shortly!

I will definitely update as soon as we launch.