A Night of Winners ... well, except the Sea Dogs

Cindy Butts reports:
MAR announced the winners of the "Your Piece of Maine" YouTube contest during the pre-game of the June 28 Sea Dogs game ....

Driving towards Portland on Saturday afternoon it was clear the rain was going to continue. A cool, continuous rain .... which doesn't encourage arriving early for a game. "Your Piece of Maine" tee shirts and a giant cardboard check were in danger of being drenched by the rain, but fortunately it was also Hannaford employee night -- they had a TENT set up, and generously let MAR staff store everything someplace dry.

It was fairly easy to find the contest winners, as many of them starred in their winning videos (we told them to meet us out front - a good idea when it's NOT raining) -- Grand Prize winner Brett Slater, Second Prize winner Lorraine Aromando, one of the Third Prize winners Jon Wadick (with ADORABLE son Logan who starred in the "Logan's Piece of Maine" video), and Callie Pecunies, the REALTOR winner.

Our YPOM Spokesperson Michelle Flaherty immediately knew to put the script in waterproof plastic ... and joined MAR Patti Lawton and the contestants on the field for the presentation. Michelle sounded GREAT over the stadium sound system (she has been a STAR in this whole experience) - and told everyone in the stands she hoped they too found their Piece of Maine.

The contestants clearly THRILLED to get their checks from Patti .... And then the GRAND PRIZE video played on the BIG screen. It was really, really cool to see it there - And as I sat in my very wet General Admission seat saw the row in front of me (the public) SWAYING along with the song!

Big thanks to the REALTOR members and Kelley Craig, AE for the Greater Portland Board, who braved the rain, sat ON their dry YPOM tee shirts (a very welcome use!), and cheered on our contest winners!

A NIGHT OF WINNERS ... well, except the Sea Dogs ... (they lost 7-4) .... and except my husband ... (who lost a beer when the uber-enthusiastic Sea Dogs mascot Slugger ran by - accidentally hitting his "beer arm".)

MAR looks forward to what the members might do in the future with video to help people get their own piece of Maine ....

Winning YPOM Contest Videos - Watch Now

Here's a link to see the list of winning videos: Click here.
Grand Prize is Brett Slater (first video); Second Prize is Lorraine Aromando (second video); Third Prizes are in random order (but names as their videos appear on the playlist) - Aaron Megquier, Jon Wadick, Oakley Dyer, Tim Gagnon, Tim Hart, Kristy Ferran, Mike LeVecchia, Holly Austin; and REALTOR winner - Callie Pecunies (last video).

To watch by viewer: (note: We can't figure out why the Grain Surfboards video isn't working on the viewer playlist below)

The YPOM Images in Real Life

From our "Your Piece of Maine" print campaign and commercials ... here's the back story on Ben, the actor; and Wiley, the dog. Ben is also one of the 5 judges for the video contest. Wiley isn't.

MAR Shout Out at Sox Game

Join us at the Sea Dogs on June 28 for our "Your Piece of Maine" contest announcement day!

Picture from REALTOR Michelle Flaherty's Facebook page

The Second Commercial

Check out our second commercial for "Your Piece of Maine", which starts to air this week. You can also add it to your company site.

Your Piece of Maine: In the Media, on your sites

MAR's "Your Piece of Maine" campaign has kicked-off with much media and member attention, including:

1. TV: Channel 13 (WGME) and Fox included the YouTube contest as lead story on Sunday night's news; and Channel 8 (WMTW) attended the press conference and aired a report.

2. Print: Newspapers included stories about the YouTube contest.

3. Blogs: Thank you to the REALTOR bloggers who included details in their personal or company blogs.

4. Posting video on sites: Here's an example of a company that included the video on web site; and the Bangor Board of REALTORS site.

You can help spread the word too!

YPOM: Watch, Post, Send our Commercial

This is the first of two commercials MAR produced for "Your Piece of Maine". It airs on cable television and posted on You Tube and Facebook. You can post it too - on your blog, web site or any other site that allows embedded video. It's easy to do. You can upload a video, as shown here. Or sites have "code" that you can just copy/paste onto your site (like YouTube). Or there's a "share" feature on some sites where you can send to friend, family, network group, etc. It's much easier to do than you might think.

A reason to put a video on YouTube is it can give a world-wide audience. For example, if you make a video that highlights Boothbay Harbor, you can tag it "Boothbay Harbor" so if anyone searches "Boothbay Harbor" on Google or on You Tube the video will be among the search results.

Please click the video play button to watch. And consider making a short video "My Piece of Maine" for our contest too!

Your Piece of Maine Launches

The "Your Piece of Maine" (YPOM) social media campaign launched today. Media announcements on April 15. Significant components:

1. Television commercial (put on your web site/blog too)
2. You Tube Contest - $20,000 grand prize
3. Facebook Group
4. LinkedIn Group
5. Print ads (coming)
6. Email blitz
7. Blog
8. Press Release
9. Palm cards distributed at events

How you can help:

1. Post the commercial on personal/company site and blog
2. Announce "Your Piece of Maine" You Tube contest to others
3. Make a YouTube video for the contest
4. Ask Maine notables you know to make a video for YouTube
5. Blog about it
6. Hand out cards /talk about contest at homes shows, meetings
7. Join the Facebook Group ... and invite others to Join
8. Join the LinkedIn Network
9. Ask local media to report on the contest