The City of Aspen and the Aspen Chamber Resort Association want YOUR marketing ideas for stimulating Aspen’s economy through special events and “outside of the box” approaches. And they’ve put aside $200,000 to make the winning idea happen.

“A lot of people have some good ideas out there about how to attract visitors to Aspen, fill empty storefronts or raise Aspen’s profile as a destination,” said City Manager Steve Barwick. “We’re hoping to create a way for those ideas to be harvested and vetted, with the best ones implemented.”

You have until Nov. 6 to pitch your idea.

All the submissions will then go to a committee of City, ACRA and Commercial Core and Lodging Commission officials for review. The best ideas then will be presented to Aspen City Council for possible implementation and perhaps funding as well.

“In a way this is a ‘request for proposals’ for ideas,” Barwick said. “But this isn’t a contest with a cash prize, or anything like that. This is Aspen’s citizens pooling their brainpower to come up with some creative ways to help us get through these difficult economic times.”

It’s also a bit of a beauty contest, of course, and a sucking up of free ideas (from everyone but the eventual winner). Still, it’s not compulsory to take part.

One early contender, Qittle, a mobile marketing company, has asked the council for $100,000 to help market its “Live the Dream” contest, in which an individual will be selected to live in Aspen for a year with all expenses paid. In return, that person will work for Qittle hosting a weekly radio/TV show that will air locally and also will be responsible for his or her own blog, where they will share their experience in Aspen and Snowmass with the world.

If that idea sounds somewhat familiar, that’s because it’s “modeled after a similar contest held in Queensland, Australia”, which garnered worldwide attention. [The Bahamas Tourist Office, similarly "inspired by" the Queensland campaign, is running a six-month competition to find aspiring and professional film-makers called The 14 Islands Film Challenge: 14 Islands, 14 Filmmakers, 14 Days, £14000 prize.]

Clearly great minds think alike — or at least copy from the same source material. We advise you to stay well away from the Tourism Queensland “Best Job In The World” concept if you’re pitching an idea for Aspen — too many of your competitors will be spontaneously inventing the same idea. Oh, and a copycat idea won’t “garner worldwide attention” either.

Here are the details of the Tourism Queensland promotion, just so you don’t get confused:

MINING ASPEN FOR IDEAS: THE DETAILS

Here’s what the “Mining Aspen for Ideas” Response Form includes:

Share your thoughts for stimulating Aspen’s economy through special events and outside of the box approaches to business.

How would you …

• Increase visitation?
• Showcase Aspen?
• Help local businesses?

Information you need to provide:

• Explain your idea:
• How will this idea stimulate Aspen’s economy?
• How much funding (if any) would be needed for your idea?
• Of that funding (if any), how much would you be asking the City of Aspen to contribute?
• Other than funds, what else would your idea require? (human capital, etc.)

There aren’t any terms and conditions currently associated with the RFP, so you’d be well advised to stick some copyright notices on your submission to protect your IP if you don’t win.

Read more about the RFP here.

Enter here.

Good luck.

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Tags: Aspen, aspen chamber resort association, Bahamas, cash prize, dream contest, empty storefronts, Marketing Ideas, mobile marketing, Queensland, request for proposals, tourist office