GoPro launched it's now hallmark Photo of the Day (POD) and Video of the Day (VOD) promotion in 2010 as a way to reward GoPro users that produce amazing photo and video content, bring recognition to those users in our social media community, and showcase the best-of-the-best videos and photos that consumers share. We were also hoping to unearth some gem content that could potentially be repurposed for marketing materials and to feed our YouTube/GoPro channel. For the first 2 years of the promotion, we would scour the internet and wrangle content to promote as POD and VOD - we were hustling!
In 2012, we revamped POD and VOD into a submission-based program where consumers could proactively share their content in hopes of being selected for POD and VOD, which resulted in skyrocketing participation from GoPro users. We also added prizing to the promotion (beyond the "stoke" of us tagging the user in each POD and VOD post).
In 2014, we made additional significant improvements to the POD and VOD submission process, streamlining the submissions into one form and adding User Accounts for frequent contributors. We also opened up video submissions to include raw content and original files.
The 2014 improvements had a significant impact on the POD and VOD promotion, doubling submission numbers from a daily average of 137 photo submissions in 2013 to 285 in 2014, and video submissions from 86 per day in 2013 to 164 in 2014. Since switching to a submission-based promotion in 2012, GoPro users have submitted more than 128,000 photos and 93,000 videos for POD and VOD consideration.
GoPro launched it's now hallmark Photo of the Day (POD) and Video of the Day (VOD) promotion in 2010 as a way to reward GoPro users that produce amazing photo and video content, bring recognition to those users in our social media community, and showcase the best-of-the-best videos and photos that consumers share. We were also hoping to unearth some gem content that could potentially be repurposed for marketing materials and to feed our YouTube/GoPro channel. For the first 2 years of the promotion, we would scour the internet and wrangle content to promote as POD and VOD - we were hustling!
In 2012, with our social community and consumer engagement steadily rising, we revamped POD and VOD, transforming it into a submission-based program where consumers could proactively share their content in hopes of being selected for POD and VOD. This change resulted in skyrocketing participation and helped the program become a core promotion and pillar of our online consumer engagement strategy. In addition to the tagging users in all POD and VOD posts, we also added prizing to the promotion, with each POD and VOD winner receiving a 50% discount on GoPro.com
In 2014, we made significant improvements to the POD and VOD submission process, creating an easier-to-find landing page and easier-to-use portal format. We also streamlined the submissions into one form (we previously had separate forms for video and photo) and added User Accounts, so frequent contributors could create profiles and track each of their submissions and engagements. In 2014, we also opened up video submissions to include raw content and original files (we had previously only accepted published YouTube or Vimeo links.)
The 2014 improvements had a significant impact on the POD and VOD promotion, doubling submission numbers from a daily average of 137 photo submissions in 2013 to 285 in 2014, and video submissions from 86 per day in 2013 to 164 in 2014. Since switching to a submission-based promotion in 2012, GoPro users have submitted more than 128,000 photos and 93,000 videos for POD and VOD consideration.
We've also realized one of our original goals: that the POD and VOD promotion would feed our inventory of marketing assets and YouTube content. In 2014, POD submissions made up the majority of our photo assets used in marketing materials and the VOD submissions became the #1 source for our User Generated Content (UGC) team to find and acquire the best user generated videos before they go viral, for distribution on the YouTube/GoPro channel.
This increase in volume of submissions has also had a direct impact on the diversity of the content we receive, which supports our brand mission of being "the most versatile camera in the world." The variety of content we now receive – from action sports to family travel and animal encounters – directly supports our company's marketing initiatives to grow far beyond the core sports that the brand was built upon.
One of the unexpected benchmarks for the promotion's success is that our community is anticipating the POD and VOD posts on their social feeds every day. As a rule, we post POD at 10am PST and VOD at 1pm PST. In 2014, we tested different posting cadences and, WOW!, did people go bananas! It was amazing to see the response from the community and it really opened our eyes to how this promotion has truly become an institution in GoPro's online marketing.