Le Meridien Mina Seyahi’s famous Barasti Beach Bar in Dubai launched its “biggest promotion ever” – The Barasti Big Deal - with media partners Dubai 92FM radio and Time Out, plus, African and Eastern (agent for Corona beer in Dubai) and Virgin Atlantic on 2 October 2009.
Le Meridien Mina Seyahi is already well represented across social media, with its long standing Barasti blog ‘The Mina Effect’ and Facebook pages for Barasti, Le Meridien Mina Seyahi and
the Westin Dubai (see Vital Signs 11 August 2009). The focal point of the Barasti Big Deal promotion’s social media attention is barastibigdeal.com, a Ning.com network set-up and branded for the campaign.
With every bottle of Corona beer bought at Barasti during October 2009, participants receive a scratch card which entitles them to enter into a draw to win a ‘Barasti Big Deal T-Shirt’ (starting 2 October 2009) and become 1 of 52 people that enter a competition card game (between 31st October to the 12th November). In tandem, a competition run by Dubai92 FM radio’s popular Breakfast Show enters listeners that register via Dubai92.com in a prize draw to win Barasti Big Deal t-shirts and so win a chance to enter the card game. T-Shirt winners get to drink in Barasti for free for the duration of the promotion. Card game winners compete for a chance to win big ticket prizes such as an all expenses paid 6-day trip to New York; or a holiday for two at The Westin Maldives; or free food and drink at the Barasti Beach Bar for one year.
The barastibigdeal.com Ning networking site has gained 551 members over the past seven weeks, 288 video views and 95 fan photos submitted (see full stats below). However, the #BarastiBigDeal promotion driven by @Catboy_Dubai (Breakfast Show presenter Catboy) and @Dubai92 on Twitter has taken on a life of its own. On Tuesday 27 October 2009, all Twitter users that include #BarastiBigDeal in their tweets (regardless of their country of residence), will become Barasti Big Deal t-shirt winners and get entered in the grand prize draw. #BarastiBigDeal has already been a trending topic in the UAE (according to UAETweets.com) and goal seems to be to attempt to make #BarastiBigDeal a global trending Twitter topic on 27 October 2009. @BarastiBeach was launched on Twitter 24 September, but @minaseyahi has remained the main voice of Barasti for the competition and @BarastiBeach is not linked to on the barastibigdeal.com for some reason.
Whilst Bigbarastidea.com gained 551 members since the beginning of September 2009, @minaseyahi account gained 156 followers on Twitter since August, @BarastiBeach gained 113 since the account opened and The Barasti Beach Bar's Facebook page gained 547 members since August.
Big Barasti Deal campaign ended 19 November 2009.
Updated 27 November 2009.
Big Barasti Deal campaign ended 19 November 2009.
Updated 27 November 2009.
Campaign URLs
Website: bigbarastideal.com
Website: Dubai92's Barasti Big Deal page
Facebook: The Barasti Beach Bar Facebook group
Ning: Barastibigdeal.com 551 members (25 October 2009), 636 members (27 November 2009)
Blog: followers not available for Minaeffect.com
Facebook group: The Barasti Bar 2,385 members (11 Aug 09), 2,932 members (25 Oct 09), 3,222 members (27 Nov 09)
Twitter: @minaseyahi 473 followers (11 Aug 09), 629 (25 Oct 09), 670 (27 Nov 09)
Barastibigdeal.com (as of 25 October 2009): 35 blog posts (incl. 5 fan blog posts), 8 blog comments, 180 photos (incl. 95 fan photos), 15 videos (incl. 5 fan videos), 288 video views
Barastibigdeal.com (as of 27 November 2009): 43 blog posts (incl. 5 fan blog posts), 8 blog comments, 545 photos (incl. 394 fan photos), 24 videos (incl. 6 fan videos), 1,071 video views
Barastibigdeal.com (as of 27 November 2009): 43 blog posts (incl. 5 fan blog posts), 8 blog comments, 545 photos (incl. 394 fan photos), 24 videos (incl. 6 fan videos), 1,071 video views
Facebook page: 20 posts on promotion from hotel & staff, 0 posts from members (25 October 2009), No further posts on Barasti Big Deal post 25 October 2009
Minaeffect.com blog: comments are turned off (25 October 2009)
