College Networking Site Connects Up and Coming Designers with Aussie Art Experts
SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Brickfish, the online content marketing platform, today announced a partnership with college networking site U Sphere, Inc. (www.usphere.com) to launch the “U Sphere JMC Design” campaign, a contest inviting students wanting to embark on the world of digital design to enter their art for the chance to win $5,000 in tuition towards a year of study at the accredited JMC Academy in Sydney, Australia. Located at www.brickfish.com/Lifestyles/UsphereScholarship, the contest will award the most artfully-inclined entrant with a week of higher education in the land down under.
“As a global network of students and universities looking to find each other, we understand that digital media is a red hot industry with a vast number of prospective students vying for the chance at a once in a lifetime opportunity,” said Dave Van de Walle, president & CEO, U Sphere. “Aspiring artists are eager for the chance to showcase their work and a user-generated content campaign allows them to share their talents with millions of people globally across the Internet. We can’t wait to whisk one deserving student off to Australia and the exclusive JMC Academy to train alongside the experts.”
The campaign enables entrants to submit online examples of their most creative digitally designed art. Anyone can view, vote on and share their favorite designs and U Sphere will hand select one grand prize winner from the U.S. to receive a $5,000 tuition scholarship towards a year of study at the JMC Academy or a $1,000 scholarship for any educational purpose in the U.S. A second place winner, chosen by top score from the top 50 entries, will receive a week of online design tuition, and the most viral entry will receive a $100 Amazon gift card.
According to Van de Walle, the Brickfish user-generated content (UGC) platform creates the perfect opportunity for students and aspiring designers to broadcast their talent over the Internet by enabling users to share their favorites through email, Instant Messaging and hundreds of Internet sites around the world. In addition, it provides a way for entrants to obtain direct and useable feedback on their work because anyone can view and vote on entries.
“Good education has become increasingly coveted as students vie for that one-of-a-kind experience,” said Shahi Ghanem, CEO of Brickfish. “UGC creates a unique way for educational institutions to preview potential students and secure feedback from outsiders. We are very excited to work with U Sphere to make one student’s dream take off with an incredible scholarship to a leading international design school.”
The “U Sphere JMC Design” campaign ends September 28. For contest rules and more information about Brickfish, visit www.Brickfish.com.
About U Sphere, Inc.
U Sphere, Inc., headquartered in Evanston, Illinois, works with students throughout the globe to match them with the colleges and universities that are appropriate for them. The company's proprietary platform includes an application tool and "Personality Profile," which aims to get at the character traits that are most in line with the needs of U Sphere's college and university clients (in North America and around the world). Schools can then make an offer of admission to those students who they think will fit in best on campus.
About Brickfish
Brickfish is an online marketing company that has created a new platform for driving consumer interaction and response through User Generated Content (UGC). Companies use the Brickfish platform to launch advertising and marketing campaigns that spark the creation of brand-relevant UGC, such as blogs, images, video and audio. Campaign content is shared in a peer-to-peer fashion via email, IM and thousands of sites across the Web and campaign participants are rewarded for creating, voting, reviewing and sharing campaign content. Brickfish tracks consumer interactions with this content and then provides customers with comprehensive analytics on campaign reach and performance. This approach provides better value than traditional online marketing approaches such as display-based advertising and key word buys. Brickfish is headquartered in San Diego, Calif. with personnel in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
