• by Adam Bernard , April 27, 2001

As Alanis Morissette once crooned, "Isn't it ironic?" Just a few short months ago, a 29 year old Steven Walls was working for the Internet company ibooks.com. It was there where he heard about a new site, Business.com, and the contest they were having.

"A friend at ibooks.com sent around their (Business.com's) URL, and being a dot-com ourselves, we always checked the others out, so I signed up, then didn't think anything about it," recalls Walls.

What Walls signed up for was Business,com's "Search for Accuracy Challenge." A marketing campaign developed, and implemented, by L90. The Challenge was a business-trivia game that offered users the chance to win a 2001 Acura MDX SUV. For registering on the site, each user earned one entry into the contest. If the user chose to take the Challenge, though, they had a chance to earn 75 additional entries towards the Acura. Walls took the challenge, and answered the five business related questions. If he had any trouble with a question he had two opportunities to search the Business.com website for any needed information.

Some time passed, and on a Monday, Walls received an email saying he was the winner, but he didn't really pay much attention to it. That Wednesday, Walls, after surviving a round of layoffs in January, lost his job. "The board pulled back the investment money and basically shut us down," explains Walls. The next day, he took a closer look at that e-mail, and realized he was the winner. Upon this realization, Walls said, "I was hesitant to tell any of my friends till I was REALLY sure."

It was true, and Walls was the winner of the 2001 Acura MDX. To add to the hectic nature of it all, he turned 30 the next week. "Being unemployed and 30 wasn't part of the plan, but getting the car was nice," Walls commented, adding, "I think this was my entire luck for the rest of my life."

Regardless of whether Walls luck has run out, or not, Business.com reaped huge rewards from their campaign. More than 100,000 people signed up during the "Search for Accuracy Challenge," and over 70% of those who registered took the 5 question Challenge.

- Adam Bernard may be reached at Adambernard@mediapost.com