REDMOND, Wash., May 11, 1999 — Following the launch of its new branding campaign using the tagline
“What Matters,” Slate® ( http://www.slate.com/ ), Microsoft Corp.’s online magazine of news, politics and culture, today announced the
“Win What Matters”
sweepstakes.
The sweepstakes’ prizes are designed to appeal to the discriminating readers on Slate. Grand prize winners can grab their laptops (to read Slate on the road, of course) and pack their bags for one of four travel experiences around the globe: cooking lessons in Paris, the British Open in Scotland, VIP treatment at the 2000 U.S. Democratic or Republican National Convention, or art appreciation at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. In addition to the four grand prize winners and four first prize winners, Slate will award 20 daily prizes of $25 online gift certificates from barnesandnoble.com ( http://www.bn.com/ ). Throughout the 33-day contest, which ends June 11, Slate will give away a total of 660 gift certificates. Starwood Vacations, the vacation program of Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc., is providing travel and accommodations to the grand prize sweepstakes winners.
To advertise the sweepstakes, Slate is spending $300,000 on an online advertising campaign created by Quantum Leap Communications Inc., a Chicago-based Internet advertising agency. Banner ads, running on a variety of Web sites, such as The New York Times on the Web, washingtonpost.com, Newsweek.com, Yahoo! and Infoseek, will advertise the Slate
“Win What Matters”
promotion. Slate is also receiving advertising support for the sweepstakes from the MSN
™
network of Internet services. Slate will receive more than 100 million ad impressions for the sweepstakes over the 33-day contest period.
During the promotion, small, clickable
“Win What Matters”
buttons will appear in the margins of Slate stories. Readers will be encouraged to visit and read often to increase their chances of winning. A quick click on the button will activate a small pop-up box. After entering their name, postal address and e-mail address, visitors choose which category they want to enter: Arts, Politics, Culture or Business. One entry is allowed per person per day during the sweepstakes.
“With the traffic generated by this sweepstakes combined with the Slate site enhancements that we unveiled today, I expect our Internet reach will continue to climb,”
said Scott Moore, Slate publisher.
“Our reach has jumped 175 percent since we went free on Feb. 12, and we’re doing everything we can to spread the word about the high-quality content available at Slate.”
At the end of the promotion, the four grand prize winners and four first prize winners will be chosen randomly from entries received throughout the entry period.
The following prizes will be offered in the Arts category:
-
The grand prize winner will receive a trip for two for five nights and six days to Bilbao, Spain, with complimentary passes to the Guggenheim Museum.
-
The first prize winner will receive season tickets for two to a theater company, orchestra or museum in their city or a $1,000 donation to the arts foundation of their choice.
The following prizes will be offered in the Politics category:
-
The grand prize winner will receive a trip for two for five nights and six days to the U.S. city hosting either the Democratic or Republican National Convention in 2000.
-
The first prize winner will receive a $1,000 donation to a political cause of his or her choice.
The following prizes will be offered in the Culture category:
-
The grand prize winner will receive a trip for two for five nights and six days to Paris and cooking lessons at Le Cordon Bleu.
-
The first prize winner will receive video copies of the American Film Institute’s top 50 movies of the 20th century.
The following prizes will be offered in the Business category:
-
The grand prize winner will receive a trip for two for five nights and six days to the British Open in Scotland in 2000.
-
The first prize winner will receive an NEC handheld PC powered by the Microsoft® Windows® CE operating system.
Slate, the online magazine founded and edited by Michael Kinsley, is published by Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
). Each day, Slate offers the Internet’s informed perspective on politics and culture.
Microsoft, Slate, MSN and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/ on Microsoft’s corporate information pages.
