With One Week Left, hotels.com 'Clay Yourself' Contest Reaches Over 375,500 Visitors

DALLAS, Feb. 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Clay Yourself" contest, sponsored by hotels.com® has been underway since the first week of January with over 215,154 clay avatars created. Designed as a way for users to have fun while expressing their digital personalities, the Clay Yourself (http://www.clayyourself.com) microsite provides an opportunity for users to create a digital avatar, which also serves as an online "audition" to star in a hotels.com commercial. Since launch, over 40,100 clay figures have been uploaded on Facebook, and over 1,069,000 votes have been cast.

This swelling participation accounts for the layers of interactivity within the microsite. Users mold their online clay selves by choosing specific physical attributes from eye color to beard length. Once users have created their ideal online images, they can create a stage name and a script before browsing through fellow would-be stars in the photo gallery. Digital clay avatars may be shared through social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and e-mail.

"We've had such great response to our SMART and our clay campaign, we wanted to invite our fans to participate in the next commercial," said Vic Walia, senior director of North America brand advertising. "Through the clay yourself microsite, users can express their personality while simulating an audition process."

This "audition" is as simple as submitting one's digital avatar. The avatar could then be chosen to star along-side SMART, the clay character of hotels.com, in an animated commercial. This grand prize winner will also receive a three day, two night trip to Los Angeles for a behind-the-scenes look at the spot production. Hotels.com will also give the winner the molded clay figurine.

Throughout the contest, seven weekly winners have received $200 coupon vouchers for hotels.com – a weekly prize that will continue through the contest's end on February 25, 2011. (Prizes are open to U.S. and Canada residents, excluding Quebec.) Although the "Clay Yourself" contest concludes last week, the microsite will remain active indefinitely, allowing anyone to participate in the portal for years to come.

Last week, clayyourself.com was awarded the Favorite Website Awards "Site of the Day" distinction. With over 100 million site visits since August 2010, the Favorite Website Awards choose which sites to highlight based on creativity, originality, design, content, and personality, among other website characteristics.

Follow Hotels.com on Facebook at www.facebook.com/hotelsdotcom to see the winning clay avatars. For more information, please visit: http://www.clayyourself.com

About hotels.com

Hotels.com® is a leading provider of lodging worldwide, offering more than 130,000 properties in over 60 countries from national chain hotels and all-inclusive resorts to local favorites and bed & breakfasts. Hotels.com is the smarter way to book travel by offering  welcomerewards®, an industry leading loyalty rewards program; the real opinions of other travelers captured in over 1.5 million Guest Reviews and; a Price Match Guarantee, so that those booking with hotels.com can be assured they are getting the best deal, either online or by speaking directly to a travel expert at 1-800-2-HOTELS 24 hours a day. For more information, please visit hotels.com. Hotels.com is an operating company of Expedia, Inc. (Nasdaq: EXPE). Follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/hotelsdotcom and Twitter via www.twitter.com/hotelsdotcom or visit the hotels.com Travel Smart Blog for consumer and business travel information. Get clayed at http://www.clayyourself.com. Detailed Hotel Price Index data is available at: http://www.hotel-price-index.com, hotels.com, A Smarter Way to Book™.

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SOURCE hotels.com