With the wedding category becoming increasingly cluttered, Weddingbells is using its 30th anniversary to engage readers with contests and giveaways throughout the year.

In a highly competitive bridal market, the St. Joseph Media title saw ad revenue drop 8% from 2013 to 2014. However, Lilia Lozinski, SVP, St. Joseph Media, says key wedding categories like venues, bridal gowns, registries and travel still perform well.

So to catch some of the attention of brides looking for inspiration from other weddings, Weddingbells has increased the amount of “real wedding” content in the bi-annually published book, and bringing readers into its environments via the anniversary-themed promotions.

The campaign includes The Big Giveaway contest, where one entrant will win a $30,000 prize package, including the cover dress from its anniversary issue.

In addition, on Valentine’s Day it will run a contest to find Canada’s Cutest Couple, calling for engaged couples to enter video clips explaining why they deserve the title. Those videos will be streamed on Weddingbells.ca and visitors to the site will be able to vote. The winning couple will get a Charm Diamond Centres diamond valued at $10,000, a $5,000 gift certificate to Delilah Accessories and a trip for two from Air Transat.

The strategy builds on Weddingbells’ digital presence, which is a strong suit for the brand, Lozinski says. For example, she notes, its Pinterest page has grown from 20,000 fans at the start of 2013 to 122,0000 now.

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