Fashion retailer Gap has partnered with mobile entertainment agency Skyrockit to bring its Casting Call contest to iPhone owners in the form of an easy-to-use iPhone app.
The Gap Casting Call App, which is available as a free download, makes it easier for parents to enter their children – aged 10 and under – into the contest. Using the app, parents can take or select a photo of their child, upload it, and then vote for their child to become the ‘Fan Favorite’ winner.
The app also encourages parents to engage their friends and family members in the Fan Favorite portion of the contest by giving them the option to promote their child on Facebook and Twitter. Parents who don’t have access to an iPhone can enter their children and vote for them at www.gap.com/castingcall.
“Now in its fifth year, we’re expecting Casting Call to attract over a million entrants,” says Gap director of engagement marketing, Olivia Doyne. “We’re constantly exploring ways to make the contest even more accessible for time-constrained parents who live on the go. Our new iPhone app was the next logical step in the evolution of the contest.”
20 finalists, made up of five baby girls, five baby boys, five girls and five boys, will be flown to San Francisco for a professional babyGap and GapKids photo shoot in mid-November. From 6 – 20 December, Americans will choose the Grand Prize Winners (one child from each of the four categories) to be featured in the windows of babyGap and GapKids stores nationwide around February 2011.
The four Grand Prize Winners will also receive a $1,000 Gap GiftCard, while the 16 remaining finalists will receive a $500 Gap GiftCard. The Fan Favorite winner will receive a $1,000 GapGiftCard.
Founded in 2001 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Japanese firm, Faith Inc., skyrockit describes itself as a mobile entertainment agency that helps major brands innovate with new digital experiences through popular branded mobile applications. It is the company behind the hugely successful Virtual Zippo Lighter app.