Troutfitters Photo Contest

I have always wanted to enter the Troutfiters photo contest, but never got around to staging photos with  my Troutfitters gear. I just looked at the 2013 winners photos and something caught my attention. Many of these photos look very staged with the gear just as I was thinking of doing. These are not pictures of people fishing, they are an attempt to win a prize by putting the logo in a photograph. it seems there are a large number of people who enter these contests and only a few win. I wonder how much effort people put in to try to win one of the main prizes. The consumers seem to have more than a normal relationship with the company. They look forward to the contest each year and plan out their photos to try to win the contest. While thinking of ways to win the contest myself I couldn't help but notice the same things. I have tried to stage a few photos with my hat and now i always take one of my Troutfitters hats fishing just in case a great opportunity comes up.  it seems the contest has actually made me a more loyal customer. At first I thought it was a simple way to get pictures to use in advertisements, but now I realize it may be more than that. It is a way to connect with customers and gain their loyalty. The prizes they give away are no small trinkets, they are things such as an $800 rod, $500 rod/line combos, $300 waders and others. These prizes have created followers as they are pretty much the same each year. I too, admit to being one of these followers waiting for the perfect opportunity to win one of these amazing prizes.