Business with Us

Sponsor a Contest

What are the benefits of sponsoring a contest on Polyvore?

Contests are the most compelling form of viral advertising you could ever imagine.

Sponsoring a contest allows you to harness the power and creativity of the Polyvore community to merchandise your products, raise brand awareness and generate viral buzz. They're a great way to instantly boost your products' popularity and promote your brand to the entire Polyvore user base.

For the duration of the contest, users are interacting with, talking about, and generating content with your brand. As the submissions roll in, each entry is essentially a display ad that remains indefinitely on Polyvore, gaining exposure via the community as well as through search engines.

Additionally, each set can be displayed on your retail site, on blogs, and wherever you or the creator decide to take them.

To get a better idea of the Polyvore contest program, take a look at some of our past contests:

What does a contest entail?

There are 3 components to a contest:

  1. Branded contest page
    Our creative team will work with you to create a branded contest page on Polyvore that is tailored to your marketing needs. The page can be customized with links to your site, graphics, YouTube videos, Flash widgets, and marketing copy for a specific theme or campaign of your choice. Check out the Confessions of a Shopaholic contest for an example of a contest page with a YouTube video, or the Gossip Girl Style Challenge for an example of a contest page with a Flash widget.

  2. Contest entries
    Every entry to the contest is like a miniature ad or editorial featuring your products. The entries get viewed on Polyvore.com as well as on blogs and social networks, generating buzz for your brand. Polyvore provides you with a variety of widgets that allow you to embed the entries and winners on your website, blog, Facebook Fan page, or anywhere you like. Here is an example of a widget that displays contest entries from the Spring Forward with Piperlime contest:

    See more on Polyvore

  3. Contest promotion
    All contests are promoted to the entire Polyvore audience via the Polyvore Explore page and the Polyvore blog.

How are contests judged?

You are in complete control of the winners of your contest. However, to help make the judging process more convenient, we can send you a top 30 list of finalists so you don't have to browse thousands of entries yourself. The finalists list is chosen by our editorial team based on the entries' organic popularity and how well they showcase your brand.

How many winners can I choose?

Contests can have anywhere between 1 and 12 winners.

What kind of prizes should I offer?

Prizes such as gift cards and merchandise tend to work best. We recommend a gift card value between $50 and $1000, with higher amounts for higher place winners. For example, a $300 gift card for the 1st place winner, a $100 gift card for the 2nd place winner and a $50 gift card for the 3rd place winner.

What kind of returns should I expect from a contest?

Contests usually get anywhere from 900 to 4000 entries, depending on the theme and brand. Since contests are a form of brand advertising, you should expect to see a lift in your brand's popularity on Polyvore, as well as viral buzz about your products around the web.

What kind of performance report will I receive after the contest ends?

2-3 weeks after the contest ends, we will send you a detailed performance report with information on how well your contest performed, the popularity & viral spread of your products, and the amount of traffic driven to your site from Polyvore.

I've decided I want to sponsor a contest. What do I do next?

Please contact us for rates. Send us an email at ads [at] polyvore [dot] com with the following information:

  • Name of your brand or store
  • Link to your website
  • The approximate dates you want your contest to run
  • Any ideas you have for a contest theme
  • Number of winners and prizes you plan to offer

We'll get back to you with an exact price quote and will work with you to tailor a contest for your needs.