2021 #WelliWindows Holiday Display Contest!
Sign-up for Merchants – just fill the form below!
A few more details:
The GIVING Season is upon us, as is our third annual, ever-popular, #WelliWindows Holiday Display Contest. A great opportunity to promote your business over the holiday season in a festive way and share in some merry competition with your neighbours.
For examples and ideas, see last year’s winners!
Participating merchants will be listed on our website and promoted via social media. Windows will be judged at the end of the contest by our panel of judges and audience for the ever-popular “People’s Choice Award.”
KEY DATES:
- Sign up to participate (using the form above) by November 22nd.
- All you need is a public-facing holiday window display or storefront decorations – preferably with extra lights – and an Instagram account.
- We’ll provide promotional window cards and social media tips.
- Decorate your window or storefront by November 26th (“Black Friday”) and then just keep the display up until December 25th.
- Judging will occur in early December: judges will award prizes for “Best Overall Display”, “Most Creative”, “Small But Mighty”, with winners to be announced at our Holiday Party.
- People’s Choice Award: we’ll also use public voting as a social media campaign for shoppers who share and tag their favourites on Instagram with #WelliWindows.
- Influence the vote! You’re strongly encouraged to try to woo customers to vote for your display. Give them incentives! Maybe even some playful rivalries, challenges, and trash-talk! Let’s have some fun with this!
WHAT YOU NEED:
- Commit to light up your window this year with a creative, festive display – and we’ll give extra marks to any businesses using lights of some kind in your display (low energy LED preferably).
- Choose your own theme, but remember that this promotion is conducted entirely on Instagram, so keep in mind the “Insta-appeal” of your display.
- Please keep your display lights on during evenings, even if you’re closed, to allow for judging and to encourage visits. In the BIA office, we had great success using a timer to turn off our lights between midnight and 7 a.m..
CATEGORIES & CELEBRITY JUDGES
At some point in early December, a panel of local celebrity judges will tour the windows and choose one winner for each of the following three categories:
- Best Overall Window Display
- Most Creative, Unique, or Innovative Window Display
- Small But Mighty (small window/doorway)
Every year, the judges also decide to give out a few extra “Special Judge’s Awards” to honour other windows that they love but might not fit another category.
PEOPLE’S CHOICE INSTAGRAM AWARD
In addition, the public will vote by posting photos to Instagram for People’s Choice Best Window Display using the #WelliWindows hashtag.
- We’ll provide a small window sign explaining the contest, and maintain a list of all participating businesses for the public.
- Each “vote” gets entered into a random draw for a chance to win a gift card to the participating merchant of their choice. (The BIA will purchase the gift certificates after the draw.)
PRIZES
Winning businesses in each category will receive:
- An award certificate to put on display.
- A gift certificate donated by sponsors.
- Promotion on BIA website, newsletter, and social media posts.
- And of course, every entrant will receive our profound gratitude for bringing joy to the streets of Wellington West.