Last week I received another great example of Participatory Marketing at its finest via an email alert from Upromise. The alert was an invite to attend a live seminar in NY on March 24th called Tuition Tuesday. The 2 hour event, held in conjunction with Leap -- a non-profit organization that works to improve the quality of public education through art-based learning, promises to offer advice on planning for and managing rising college expenses. This is particularly relevant given the hit that many of us have taken on our 529 plans. In addition to the opportunity to mingle and converse with other portfolio battered families, the effort also includes a video contest called Tuition Tales. Tuition Tales gives participating individuals the chance to win $10,000 for college. Reaching across generations, the contest encourages students, parents, grandparents and friends to get involved and create a personal 30-second video detailing why they or somebody they know deserves $10,000 for college. Submissions across three categories (saving for college, in college now, paying it back) are due by May 5, 2009 and voting online begins May 12, 2009. Participating individuals are also encouraged to rally their friends and families to vote. Winners will be announced on May 20, 2009. You can sign up for additional details about the program via email alerts at the Tuition Tales website. 

For Upromise the program is not only an opportunity to engage existing Upromise members and to build upon their community efforts, but to extend the visibility of its brand to friends and family who they hope will also sign up to help those members save. Overall a good example of how a community focused program combined with a “social” contest and email marketing program join together to form a robust participatory marketing program that will help Upromise drives memberships, engagement and savings activity.