This is a tale about Concentra, a small but innovative software firm,
and Oracle the world's second largest software company — and how
we helped bring them together in one of the most storybook marriages
in promotion history.

The story begins with a challenge: How to inspire over-booked sales people to "test drive" a unique new software system.

Concentra's SellingPoint software product was designed to work with
Oracle's heavy-duty "back-end" database software.
In the same way that consumers can pick
and choose specific features for their cars,
Concentra's interface system allowed users, as well as sales reps and customers, to "configure" the product best suited to meet their needs.
SellingPoint users had direct access to the Oracle inventory database
which provided information on product compatibility, availability, and cost.

Despite its benefits, product familiarity among Oracle's sales force and
core constituencies was, in the client's own words, "at ground zero!" We were charged with developing a promotion that would increase product awareness — first among the Oracle sales force, then among Oracle users.

Our creative solution was the Go Configure Sweepstakes, a program that utilized the SellingPoint technology to deliver the sweepstakes.

In the Go Configure Sweepstakes, each participant "configured" his own dream vacation and then were entered to win it! This fun, fantasy exercise was, in reality, a demonstration of the SellingPoint software. Extra chances to win the Grand Prize Vacation of your Dreams were earned when players took a brief "tour" of the SellingPoint software. Participants could also pre-select from a list of Instant-Win prizes they hoped to win.

The first phase of this promotion was announced via email to the Oracle sales team. Based on the success of the original Go Configure Sweepstakes, a second version of the program was launched at the annual Oracle users group convention in Hawaii.

And this story has a very happy ending.
A third version, Oracle's SellingPoint
Go Configure Sweepstakes was rolled
out after Oracle acquired Concentra!

Now . . . that's awareness!