Delta Airlines, in partnership with American Express and Hilton Hotels, has launched its own version of the
The contestants are sent to as many as four destinations over four-day weekends to film their travel adventures. The competing videos are posted at delta.com/challenge where the public votes on what video made them want to travel to the destination the most and who they think are the ultimate SiteSeers. The team with the fewest votes following each trip will be eliminated as the remaining teams prepare to travel to the next destination to complete a new video. The last team standing wins the challenge. The contest ends on Sept. 19 when the final two competing videos are posted for viewing. The winner will be announced in late September.
At-home viewers can receive 250 bonus miles for voting in each round and an additional 1,000 bonus miles if they vote in all four rounds, for a total of 2,000 bonus miles. Also, to celebrate Delta’s first SiteSeer Challenge video competition, American Express® Cardmembers can earn double flown miles on all American Express ticket purchases at delta.com between July 25 and Sept. 30.
In addition to getting bonus miles, armchair travelers can find out the inside dirt on the teams’ blogs that Delta has set up, offer up opinions in the forum section of the site, investigate the destinations further or even plan a flight to one of the international cities.
World Travelers The airline chose five teams from its frequent flyer members to compete in the new travel contest: Gwamnisum and Chiwuzo Okwumabua, Team O, from East Point, Ga.; Renee Sherbert and Jackie Kellet, Carolina Cops, from Mauldin, S.C.; John Crow and Stephanie Ryan, Steph and Crow On the Go, from Atlanta; Clarence and Margaret Waterfall, The Waterfalls, from Ogden, Utah; and, Joel and Stephen Levinson, Awesomest Brothers, Dayton, Ohio natives who now reside in Los Angeles and New York City, respectively.
All five teams departed for the first destination, Budapest, Hungary, on July 26. The participating teams completed and filmed various activities that highlight Budapest, such as cruising the Danube, exploring Roman ruins, traveling to underground fusion clubs and following the labyrinth beneath Castle Hill. The Carolina Cops were eliminated in that round.
Originally the agency was going to allow the contestants to film their own trips, but decided that might not be the best way to show off the locations. So they tapped Washington Square Films, NYC, to produce the around the world project. SHOOT caught up with Julie Merson, a freelance producer for Washington Square Films, as she headed out to the third destination, which could not be revealed at press time. She acts as the overall field producer for each team. The teams also have a camera operator, field producer and a local PA who acts as a translator.
“We prepared really carefully. Knock on wood, two of the four trips have all gone really well,” Merson said with a laugh. She added that one of the biggest challenges was figuring out how to efficiently post the videos. After everyone returns from a location, the production team only has a week to post them. Merson said five editors and five overnight assistants are working on the project, using a “giant” Avid Unity system.
She said the teams were going to shoot on MiniDV24p, but it would have taken too long to digitize the footage. Instead the camera operators all used the Panasonic HVX 200, recording to 16 GB P2 cards. (The Panasonic P2 series was primarily developed for the news gathering industry to acquire and distribute quickly and efficiently without the limitations associated with videotape and the video capture process.)
“It only takes approximately 15 minutes to download 69 minutes of footage. It cut our load time in half. And P2 is so cool too because every time you stop the camera, it creates a new clip. It transfers that so it’s much easier for assistants to log. I don’t know what we would have done without it,” Merson said.
Despite any challenges, the project seems to be well worth the effort already. Merson said 13,500 people voted in the first round. “They had to watch 11 minutes of online video because they had to watch all five to vote. For that many people to stay on the site that long is unheard of. People are also participating in the blogs. They are talking about this all the time.”
A Closer Look At Proposed Measures Designed To Curb Google’s Search Monopoly
U.S. regulators are proposing aggressive measures to restore competition to the online search market after a federal judge ruled Google maintained an illegal monopoly for the last decade.
The sweeping set of recommendations filed late Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Justice could radically alter Google's business, including possibly spinning off the Chrome web browser and syndicating its search data to competitors. Even if the courts adopt the blueprint, Google isn't likely to make any significant changes until 2026 at the earliest, because of the legal system's slow-moving wheels.
Here's what it all means:
What is the Justice Department's goal?
Federal prosecutors are cracking down on Google in a case originally filed during near the end of then-President Donald Trump's first term. Officials say the main goal of these proposals is to get Google to stop leveraging its dominant search engine to illegally squelch competition and stifle innovation.
"The playing field is not level because of Google's conduct, and Google's quality reflects the ill-gotten gains of an advantage illegally acquired," the Justice Department asserted in its recommendations. "The remedy must close this gap and deprive Google of these advantages."
Not surprisingly, Google sees things much differently. The Justice Department's "wildly overbroad proposal goes miles beyond the Court's decision," Kent Walker, Google's chief legal officer, asserted in a blog post. "It would break a range of Google products — even beyond search — that people love and find helpful in their everyday lives."
It's still possible that the Justice Department could ease off on its attempts to break up Google, especially if President-elect Donald Trump... Read More