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The second competition of our competition series opens today: Xtract International Student Design Competition 2008. It is opened for all students of the following art schools:

• London School of Communications, London, UK
• University of Art and Design Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
• Akademia Sztuk Pieknych w Warsawie, Warsaw, Poland
• Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, USA
• California College of the Arts, San Francisco, USA
• Tama Art University, Tokyo, Japan

We are trying to educate people through this competition what real social networks are, not facebook buddies, but social networks of people who REALLY communicate.

Today, we are very excited since we are launching our first competition: Xtract Scenario Competition.

If you could see the social connections between your website visitors and find out who are the most influential ones – how could you utilise the knowledge to your business benefit?

Submit a presentation describing how you would utilise insight about your most influential users and the way your user base is networked, for example to improve your online marketing and advertising campaigns.

This is one of a twin pair competition, the other one being a closed competition for certain art schools around the world (opening October 22nd, 2008). We hope that these competitions will give some insight for both the online and mobile communities into the art of social networks and advertising in real social networks.

Any one with good ideas are invited to participate to the scenario competition, as it aims at being a vast brainstorm of scenarios of how to utilise the real social network of web sites.

The first prize is the Wacom Cintiq 12WX, read more on the competition website.

Xtract’s Scenario Competition opens at Online Marketing Show in Düsseldorf

Helsinki, Finland and Düsseldorf, Germany – September 17, 2008 –If you could see the social connections between your website visitors and find out who are the most influential ones – how could you utilise the knowledge to your business benefit? This is the theme of Xtract’s first international social advertising and marketing competition announced today at the Online Marketing show in Düsseldorf, Germany. The goal of the competition is to recognize online marketing and advertising ideas that incorporate the importance of social networks. More information at: http://www.xtract.com/competition2008/.

“Marketers have known for a long time that peer-to-peer communication has a strong impact on consumer purchasing, but measuring and utilizing it for marketing and advertising has been very difficult. With new technologies we are now learning more about large scale consumer networks and are therefore capable of understanding their needs better,” says Jouko Ahvenainen, chief strategy officer of Xtract, a provider of social marketing and advertising intelligence products.

The competition is addressed to online marketers and advertisers from traditional media companies to in-house marketers at long tail social media websites, blogs and social networking sites.

Entrants are requested to submit a presentation summarizing how they would utilise insight about their most influential users and the way their user base is networked to improve their online marketing and advertising campaigns.

Applications will be judged on two criteria:
1. Visual and effective presentation (are the ideas presented in a visually appealing way that gets the message across effectively?)
2. Creativity and practical application (how innovative are the ideas presented? Are they plausible and applicable to online marketing and advertising campaigns?)

Prizes
• First prize receives a Wacom Cintiq 12 WX or cash price of Euro 1100
• Second prize receives an iPod Touch 32GB or cash price of Euro 400
• Third prize, receives a one year subscription to lynda.com premium training video or cash price of Euro 300.
Additional awards will be given to the Best of Marketing Scenario, Best of Advertising Scenario, Best User-centered Scenario and Best Visual Design.

Jury
The jury includes world class experts in advertising, marketing and web 2.0 communities:

Alan Moore
Alan Moore is the creator of the principles of Engagement Marketing and co-author of Communities Dominate Brands. His ideas and practices are at work within companies such as Nokia, Microsoft, T-mobile Germany, EMAP, Telia Sonera, SonyBMG, The Coca Cola Company, H&M, Hewlett Packard, IPG and News International. Alan’s blog was voted one of the top 20 most influential blogs in 2008.

Brian Jacobs
Brian has worked for over 35 years in media and advertising agencies in the UK, Europe and the USA. He has been International Media Director of Leo Burnett, MD of Carat International, and EMEA Regional Director of Universal McCann. Before launching BJ&A he was EVP of Millward Brown.

Ajit Jaokar
Ajit is author of Mobile Web 2.0 and OpenGardens books and founder of the London- based publishing company futuretext. Currently, he plays an advisory role to a number of mobile start-ups in the UK and Scandinavia. He is also a member of the web2.0 workgroup and chair for Oxford University’s next generation mobile applications panel. His thinking is widely followed in the industry and his blog, The OpenGardens Blog

Jouko Ahvenainen
Jouko Ahvenainen is co-founder and chief strategy officer at Xtract. He is regarded in the industry for his knowledge in Social Advertising Intelligence. A veteran international business management consultant, Jouko has worked and lived in several countries including UK, Finland, Malaysia and U.S. where he held senior positions at Cap Gemini, Ernst & Young, Powerwave Technologies Inc., Nokia and Sonera.

How to participate
1. Enroll at: http://www.xtract.com/competition2008/
2. Create a (pdf or ppt) presentation of a detailed scenario on how you would utilise information regarding social connections between your website visitors and who the most influential users are in your online marketing and advertising campaigns.
3. Submit the file using the following file naming convention. The proposal of tom.jones@company.com would be tom-jones-company-com.pdf
4. Share your final presentation with us (competition2008@xtract.com) using the free service www.slideshare.net by October 20, 2008. Check the option that makes it possible for us to download it.

Winners will be contacted by October 27th, 2008 and announced during Adtech, NY, November 3-6th, 2008.

Xtract at Online Marketing Dusseldorf: Booth # 11 / B45.

Xtract was the runner up of a public voting to select Finland’s Most Promising Growth Company. View a 2 minutes elevator pitch for the jury by founders Kimmo Kiviluoto and Jouko Ahvenainen at the Helsingin Sanomat event yesterday. In Finnish only.