Shawnee High celebrates Valentine’s Day with “Red Hot Yearbook” promotion February 19, 2015
February 19, 2015 / Marketing / Why Didn't I Think of That?

Shawnee High celebrates Valentine’s Day with “Red Hot Yearbook” promotion

Written by Evan Blackwell, CJE

Continuing in the tradition of creative marketing that led to YearBlinko, movie posters and Halloween candy giveaways, the yearbook staff at Shawnee High School in Lima, Ohio, recently organized their latest fun promotion this month around Valentine’s Day.

Shawnee’s annual Sadie Hawkins Dance happened to fall on Feb. 14 this year, so the yearbook staff offered up a prize package as part of their “Red Hot Yearbook” contest. They filled up a clear container with more than 2,000 Red Hots candies in it.

Staff members then displayed the container in the cafeteria for a week. Students who had purchased the yearbook were given a chance to guess the number of Red Hots to win the prize, which included 2 free tickets to the dance, a free dinner for two at a local restaurant, a candy heart and custom “Red Hot” T-shirts.

“The prizes were donated to us so the only expense was the Red Hots, which was minimal,” said Brian Krawetzke, adviser at Shawnee High. “The students loved the promotion.”

Krawetzke said 225 students entered the contest to guess the number of Red Hots in the container. Included among those entries were 20 new book sales just that week.

A pretty sweet idea to keep in mind for next Valentine’s Day!

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Evan Blackwell, CJE

Evan Blackwell, CJE, is the Marketing Automation Supervisor for Walsworth. He's been a writer, editor and web content specialist for Walsworth for the past 15+ years, and is the author of the Yearbook Suite's "The Art of the Interview" unit. Prior to joining Walsworth, Blackwell spent five years as an award-winning newspaper and magazine journalist. He holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Kansas.