You could win a chance to see your favorite baseball stars just by taking a picture of yourself enjoying any Pepsi or Diet Pepsi beverage.

One of the greatest baseball traditions is sitting at the ballpark and punching out the tiny holes on your All-Star ballot — most of the fun is debating with your friends which players deserve the honor the most.

Now, in addition to voting from your seats, you could possibly win a VIP trip for two to the 2013 MLB All-Star Game in New York — just for taking a picture of yourself enjoying a sip of Pepsi or just a pic of the Pepsi itself.

Send your pics to PepsiMLB@pongr.com and look for your response email confirming your entry.

That’s all you do — it’s that easy. Then you can start daydreaming of watching Albert Pujols, Robinson Cano, Miguel Cabrera and Bryce Harper do what they do best.

Cans. Bottles. Fountain Cups. Any Pepsi or Diet Pepsi will do as long as the logo is clearly visible in the picture. You can send one picture per day (one chance to win) through June 15.

Your direct response message will look like this:

Pongr is proud to partner with Pepsi for their latest MLB All-Star Game Promotion, providing the image recognition technology and direct response advertising platform for processing thousands of consumer photos and filtering correct and incorrect entries. Pongr has previously teamed up with PepsiCo for other sports and entertainment-themed promotions, including Pepsi’s “Rock Your Summer” contest offering VIP experiences at concerts and its “Match Snap Win” contest giving away Super Bowl tickets.

Citi Field, home of the New York Mets and the Pepsi Porch, will host the 2013 All-Star Game.

The Grand Prize winner and a guest will receive round-tip air transportation to New York City, arriving on July 13 and departing July 17 — allowing plenty of time for sightseeing before and after the July 16 game. Winner will also receive two tickets to the MLB Home Run Derby, a four-night stay at an area hotel and $250 in spending money. (Estimated Retail Value: Up to $5,250 depending on where the winner lives).

An additional 100 First Prize winners will receive $25 gift codes redeemable at the MLB.com Shop. All winners will be selected in a random drawing on June 24.

Be Creative — How many ways can you show your passion for Pepsi and baseball in the same pic? Any Yankees, Astros, Tigers or Indians fans out there?

Given that Pepsi beverages are not available at all 30 Major League ballparks — I’m blanking out on the name of that other brand — you need not be at a baseball game when you take your photos. Snap pics at the supermarket, at work, school or home and be creative.  Although any clear picture of Pepsi packaging is an eligible entry (you will receive an email or text confirming receipt), it’s much more fun to photograph your or your friends with Pepsi and your favorite baseball stuff.

VOTE FOR ME: When you get an All-Star Ballot, do you automatically vote for all the players on your favorite team? (Image Source: Detroit Tigers Facebook page)

Meanwhile, the campaign by individual teams to get out the vote for their hometown stars is now going full speed ahead. Major League Baseball is distributing 20 million paper ballots at ballparks this spring and summer, while the bulk of the voting will be done with the online ballot. Stuffing the ballot box is encouraged — and even expected — though Internet voting is limited to 25 ballots per person, with an additional 10 if you register with MLB.com.

But don’t forget to vote for yourself, too. Grab a Pepsi and send a pic to PepsiMLB@pongr right now!

Pongr Co-Founder and CEO Jamie Thompson believes that shopper marketing is one of the least appreciated aspects of retail advertising.

(“Ask The CEO” is a series of Q & A interviews with Pongr Co-Founder and CEO Jamie Thompson exploring how brands can best monetize consumer photos and turn any brand advertising or packaging into a direct response promotional campaign.)

Q: Pongr recently partnered with UNREAL Candy on a photo contest to celebrate its national distribution in Target Stores. What was the strategy?

JT: UNREAL is an all-natural candy company that aims to “Unjunk the World” by providing healthier candy options without sacrificing taste. To promote carrying the new line of products, Target put UNREAL end cap displays in each of its stores. In an effort to drive brand awareness and engagement with their end caps, UNREAL put together a photo campaign using Pongr as their platform to encourage consumers to share pictures while they are in the store.

Q: How can a photo contest help a new start-up brand?

JT: This is the classic challenge of a new product introduction. How do brands create co-branded promotions that bring innovation to their retail partner, but also drive specific interaction with their product and encourage their consumers to share that experience across their social networks?

With a Pongr-powered campaign, brands can connect consumer photos directly to their CRM database. Shopper marketing is one of the most important facets of brand advertising – and also one of the least appreciated. Brands are always vying for the best placement on shelves, the best placement in retail environments. And in a world where social matters, in a world where mobile matters, in a world where media is getting more integrated then ever before, shopper marketing needs to get pulled into the 21st century.

UNREAL Candy’s Pongr-powered Sweepstakes deployed image recognition to identify whether customers photographed the UNREAL logo on any of its packaging and on in-store endcap displays to celebrate national distribution at Target Stores. In addition to the Grand Prize winner, 10 runners up won a year’s supply of UNREAL Candy!

Q: What was the call to action?

JT: As part of a New Year’s Resolution for healthier eating, UNREAL asked its fans to “Unjunk Your January,” by sharing pics of themselves, family and friends enjoying the product. Pongr provided them with the photo platform for fans to email or picture text them to unreal@pongr.com in return for an automatic entry in their sweepstakes. The top prize was a $10,000 Target gift card, with ten second prize winners getting a year’s supply of UNREAL Candy.

Every photo entry received an instant direct response message encouraging participants to share their experiences across their social networks – including easy-click sharing on Facebook and Twitter.

Q: What do you think about UNREAL Candy’s execution of their photo marketing campaign?

JT: What impressed me about the UNREAL team and their agency was their very smart integration of shopper marketing with digital and traditional activation. So this program tightly integrated their spend on traditional media and their efforts and spend on digital, with shopper marketing. All with the end result of trying to drive sales across their retail partner’s stores.

UNREAL End caps at Target Stores — When customers get close enough to photograph a product, they are more likely to try the product.

Q: What do you think of UNREAL’s outreach strategy?

JT: UNREAL has been really successful with their partnerships with mommy bloggers, who happen to be one of the most energized and influential groups of brand ambassadors you could ever ask for. When these bloggers get organically excited, there’s no one better to spread the message. I think it’s a brilliant way of harnessing the energy of authentic brand ambassadors and combining it with shopper marketing, traditional media, and digital media. It’s all part of the future for every brand, tighter integration across all of these channels.

Shopper marketing is what makes the difference between whether a consumer buys your product or not. And if you can integrate your shopper marketing activity with social, you can amplify your reach, you can amplify your dollars spent — in a way that actually produces sales results. We’re excited to be a part of the shopper marketing conversations now, and we’re very excited to be building a part of that integration for the future of brands.

Q: Okay, so that describes how Pongr’s Photo Response Marketing helps emerging brands. What about mass scale campaigns for established national and global brands?

JT: Pongr’s image recognition and direct response tools are built to automate your campaigns at any scale. Stay tuned to this space for more details on our collaboration with agencies on shopper marketing campaigns for Nestle’s Skinny Cow, Circle K convenience stores, and Pepsi/Major League Baseball.

(Is there a topic you’d like to see Pongr’s Jamie Thompson tackle in a future Q & A? Please send your questions and suggestions to darren@pongr.com)

Monetize Your Customer Photos — Businesses of all sizes use Pongr for direct response marketing campaigns and to maximize the value of user-generated photos by connecting them to their CRM databases.

Inc. Magazine, best known for its focus on America’s fastest growing privately held companies and its coverage of entrepreneurs, explores the photo marketing landscape for brands and small businesses in its May issue — which is on the newsstands now.

The magazine examines the business value of four competing photo sharing platforms and their comparative marketing strengths. Highlighting both Pongr’s free photo marketing tools for small businesses and organizations, and its premium services for brands, the Inc. story names Pongr the “Best For Creating Loyalty Campaigns.”

You can read the full story, “4 Ways to Market With Online Photos,” here.

We’re honored to be recognized for our shopper marketing loyalty programs, which award points for taking and sharing pics and giving consumers opportunities to redeem their points for prizes.

For small businesses and organizations, having access to a sleek-looking software platform and a fan leaderboard is priceless — given how tight IT budgets are these days.

For local, regional and global brands, Pongr’s image recognition and direct response system allows campaigns to be automated at any scale. The natural consumer act of taking a picture is their entry into a contest, promotion or sweepstakes. Our computer vision “sees” when customers have interacted with the desired product, packaging or store display — and filters out incorrect images.

Pull out your camera phone and check it out for yourself. Snap a pic of your company/brand logo and send it to (brandname)@pongr.com. Check your inbox and see what happens!

(Pongr shopper marketing campaigns can be used for new or existing brand loyalty programs. Drop us a line here to learn more.)

Double Midnight Comics co-owner Chris Proulx is a die-hard Wolverine fan. How about you? Photo contests are a natural way to reach out to customers, who already see Free Comic Book Day as one of their favorite days to shoot pics of their friends in costume.

Will you be in the New England area tomorrow?

In my humble opinion, the best photo-ops within a 500 mile radius will be at Double Midnight Comics in Manchester, NH to celebrate Free Comic Book Day. Where else can you have your picture taken with the Ghostbusters, Superman, Batman, Spider-Man and an entire garrison of Darth Vader’s Storm Troopers — all in the same store or parking lot?

Trying to do this at Six Flags or Universal Studios would cost big bucks — but you still wouldn’t get any Storm Troopers.

Wanting to capture the fan excitement, Double Midnight is also giving away two $25 gift certificates in a “Channel Your Inner Hero” Photo Contest.  All you do is snap a pic of yourself or your friends/kids/pets/enemies in costume or holding a comic book or action figure to DMComics@pongr.com.

That’s it — It’s that simple. Double Midnight will be using their new Pongr gallery to automatically curate their photos and provide a platform for comments and voting.

Because instead of copying fan photos from their email and Facebook/Twitter feeds and placing them in a gallery, they have better things to do. And superheroes to meet.

You Try It, You Buy It — Free Comic Book Day is a savvy shopper marketing effort that attracts the participation of comic stores nationwide. Publishers offer tens of thousands of free copies in an effort to attract new kids (and adults) as readers. Stores are mobbed — generating the same excitement as opening night for a new superhero movie at the local theaters.

Stay tuned to this space next week for highlights of the photo sharing mania that takes place. But you don’t have to be there to participate.  Send your favorite hero poses to DMComics@pongr.com for a chance to win now.

Tell them that Bruce Wayne sent you.

Sports and marketing opinion leaders were just wooed with complimentary Stanley Cup Cupcakes featuring iconic trophy packaging and frosting decorated with NHL team logos. Double click to enlarge image. (Source: Fast Company via Facebook)

This is a yummy week to be a sports or business reporter or to work at any media organization for that matter. If you’re timing is right, you can sink your teeth into a cupcake decorated with the logo of your favorite NHL team — the ideal way to celebrate the start of Stanley Cup playoff action.

Logos and packaging are two of a brand’s most important assets and Stanley Cupcakes represent a stellar way to use them.

Crumbs Bake Shop teamed up with the NHL and the NBC Sports Group to create limited edition “iced” Stanley Cupcakes that will be sold in special branded mobile stores set up in NHL playoff cities as well as at Crumbs’ 69 locations in 13 states.

We never turn down an excuse to nibble on scrumptious cupcakes, but we salute the clever Crumbs packaging and delivery even more.

The Calm Before The Storm — The NBC/Crumbs pop up store to distribute Stanley Cup Cupcakes to hockey fans in playoff cities.

Who are YOU rooting for in the Stanley Cup?  And would your sweet tooth overrule your hockey loyalty — that is, would you bite into a logo of the “enemy” team?

(Pongr is an image recognition technology company that can turn any brand logo or brand packaging into an interactive direct response advertising opportunity. Learn more about our Photo Response Marketing tools for brands and agencies here.)

SCHOOL SPIRIT — Flex the Falcon joins students from the Bentley Marketing Association to kickoff their six-week Photo Contest promoting Bentley University’s new logo and rebranding efforts. (Double click to see Bentley’s live streaming photo gallery on Pongr.)

Do students care about their university’s logo?

You bet they do.

A few years back, there was almost another American Revolution when the University of Massachusetts proposed replacing its Minuteman mascot with the Gray Wolf. Even something as innocuous as the recent tweaking of the University of Georgia Bulldog sparked a tremendous stir.

“It wasn’t really broken, but they fixed it anyway,” lamented ESPN writer Paul Lukas, who obsesses over “athletics aesthetics” at his popular blog, Uni Watch. “Not awful, but it feels kinda generic, like they got it at Bulldogs R Us or something.”

Bentley University is more famous for producing business innovators and entrepreneurs than for its sports teams, but changing the official school letterhead can still cause an uproar.

In September 2012, Bentley University announced that its classic New England clock tower logo (#1 below), which was introduced in 2004, was being reconfigured onto a shield with lightning bolts and falcons (#2).  An immediate backlash followed, with students, faculty and alumni criticizing the new look, but not the overall concept of preparing students for their future lives and careers.

A common theme in the criticism: The new clock tower gave off an unintended Harry Potter vibe. Taking the feedback to heart, the university streamlined the logo by getting rid of the lightning and replacing the “Prepared” motto with its Latin translation, “Paratus.”

EVOLUTION OF A BRAND — The Bentley clock tower has anchored all three recent incarnations of the University’s logo. The Clocktower was introduced as part of the school’s official seal in 2004. Versions #2 and #3 were adopted in 2012. (Double click to read more about Bentley’s current brand messaging).

The Harry Potter jokes have disappeared and the second round of revisions seemed to have quieted (most of) the critics. “Our old logo was colorless, boring and plain,” wrote Moussa Hassoun, a columnist for the Bentley Vanguard student newspaper. “This new one is vibrant in school colors, points to our history and is more suitable for a growing university that seeks to be a stronger influencer in the world of education and beyond.”

The student-run Bentley Marketing Association just wrapped up a six-week photo contest aimed at promoting the University’s rebranding efforts within the Bentley community. Motivated by a generous pile of Bentley swag (five winners are awarded sweatshirts and t-shirts each week), students take pictures of their friends and classmates that capture the spirit of the following challenges:

1. Show How Bentley Prepares You for Your Career/Life (#BPrepared)
2. Your Favorite/Most Creative Place to Nap on Campus (#BNimble)
3. Pose With Your Favorite Faculty Member (#BCompassionate)
4. Capture Your Favorite View on Campus
5. Take a Pic at any Bentley Sporting Event (#BSpirit)
6. Bonus Prizes for Students With Highest Point Totals. (Points earned by submitting and sharing pics and receiving “Love” votes)

“We’re trying to generate a new spirit on campus,” says Karina Ripps, president of the Bentley Marketing Association. ”We’re giving students an opportunity to be creative and I think people are remembering that keywords like ‘Smart,’ ‘Nimble’ and ‘Compassionate’ are all part of the Bentley message.”

“Pongr has the ability to connect people in a new way,” she adds. “It’s a wonderful way to share photos.”

Based on the mobile pics being shared in Pongr’s live streaming Bentley photo gallery, students look like they are having fun pushing the limits of each challenge.

BENTLEY MULTI-TASKING: Luke Mason, a member of the Bentley Diving Team, shows his sense of humor with his winning entry in the photo contest’s #BNimble challenge, “Where is Your Favorite Place to Nap on Campus?”

Responding to a call for pictures of the Best Place to Nap on Campus, members of the school diving team put a pillow on their diving board and snoozed above the pool. Another student took a nosedive into his breakfast omelet, pretending to fall asleep in the dining hall. Yet another stretched out on a treadmill.

The faculty advisor for the student marketing club is Ian Cross, the director of Bentley’s Center for Marketing Technology, which regularly partners with global brands on product launch research and digital marketing strategy. Cross says that the peer-to-peer photo contest is an ideal way to reach students who might not pay attention to official campaigns from the university’s marketing department.

“To rebrand is a major undertaking, but to re-rebrand is an overwhelming enterprise,” he says. “The big challenge remains how to get people to care. Younger people are visual thinkers and learners. And we’ve moved into a world where the consumer is the co-creator of the visual world they want to be a part of, including the marketing world.”

“We’re always looking for new technologies to introduce to our students, who’ll be going out into the workplace soon and will want to demonstrate they are up to the minute with the latest digital marketing tools,” Cross says.

Bentley University CMO David Perry is embracing the student campaign as a potential recruitment tool to high school juniors and seniors touring the campus with their families.

“We don’t have a huge endowment so we’re very much tuition dependent,” Perry says. “Our most effective recruitment depends on our students being ambassadors. I hope they feel empowered with this campaign. This is by far, the most authentic way to brand. High school students look up to college students more than they pay attention to glossy brochures.”

“Our brand identity is important,” the CMO says. “Bentley needs to build awareness outside of New England and a lot of 17 and 18 year olds aren’t that excited about the idea of a business degree. They have no idea how many different career directions they can go with it.”

“Sharing pictures is a great way to show high school kids the real Bentley. These aren’t posed photos,” adds Ripps. “This is what the food looks like. This is what students do for activities. It’s a real snapshot of campus life. We definitely want to try another photo campaign after summer break.”

Take a Drink of Cuteness — The latest photo sharing craze is snapping a pic of your child or pet “inside” a coffee mug. (Image via MommyShorts.com)

So after seeing the Internet Paparazzi go crazy with Dogs in Pantyhose pics (yes, really), nothing really surprises us when a new photo sharing meme hits the radar.

But we continue to be amused.

Mashable is reporting that the latest picture sharing craze is “Baby Mugging,” a phrase that sounds like a horrific trend of thugs taking infants’ wallets.

The practice actually involves strategically lining up a coffee mug with a child or pet (teens, adults and senior citizens will work, too) and make it appear as if they are swimming or relaxing in the drink.

Hey, Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts, wouldn’t this just be the perfect photo contest?

Mashable credits Mommy Shorts blogger Illana Wiles for starting the mania with her daughter Harlow. We wonder if Harlow will one day fully appreciate her cameo role in Internet history.

How about you?  Have you had the pleasure of posing your loved ones in ceramic?  Please email or text your favorite poses to (brandname)@pongr.com.

Peaceful State of Mind — Yuko N., of Kamakura, Japan, shares some Lyndon State College pride from her recent travels.

Today is National Green and Gold Day, a celebration of alumni pride at Vermont’s Lyndon State College coinciding with the inauguration of their new president. The LSC Alumni Relations office launched a Green and Gold Photo Contest today to demonstrate the school’s global reach — and the pictures streaming in so far are an amazing testimony.

Alumni, students and faculty are sharing photos of themselves on vacation, doing social service projects, goofing around with the Hornet mascot and just hanging out on campus (We’re talking about you, 4th Floor Vail).

And then of course, there’s the celebration of future LSC students:

When I Grow Up, I Want to Go to Lyndon State College!

For National Green and Gold Day, Lyndon State College is using Pongr’s free Photo Contest management tools, which automatically feed submissions into a streaming gallery where alumni can comment and vote on their favorite pics.

The Hornets have a strong reputation of churning out top meteorologists, and tonight one of them — Reno News-4′s Brandon Wholey (Class of 2008) — will be wearing a green and gold necktie on the air to celebrate his ties to the school.

KRNV-4′s chief meteorologist, Brandon Whoiey, plans to show his Green and Gold pride on the air during a Nevada weathercast.

You can get a sneak preview of his Giorgio Armani tie right now.  The lighter colors are a bit more subdued than official Lyndon Green and Gold because Wholey understandably wants to avoid interfering with the green-sensitive chroma key. Too much green clothing and he would become invisible to viewers!

No matter which colors you’re wearing, Pongr’s free Photo Contest tools are perfect for schools, colleges and universities to generate student, parent and alumni pride.  (For more information on how LSC launched their contest, click here.)

As You Intended: With the Pongr App, pictures shared through Twitter show up as pictures within the feed, not as links.

Clicking over to Instagram from my Twitter feed is getting old. I don’t want to leave Twitter just to see one photo at a time – especially when I don’t know if the photo is worth the effort. I have better things to do, don’t you?

Twitpic doesn’t do it for me either. Filters are a must and cropping is key.  Adding a tan and a vintage feel is a necessity these days. Without these capabilities, my photos can’t compete.

The new Pongr app is the perfect solution. Photos can be filtered, cropped, and uploaded to Twitter seamlessly. The filters are on Instagram’s level and my photo doesn’t have to be a perfect square. I can crop it however I’d like.

The best part? Once photos are uploaded through Twitter, they are viewable perfectly right in the Twitter feed.  Photos that you share on Twitter appear as photos — as you intended — and not as links.

Go ahead, give it a try. Download the Pongr iPhone App now.  And stay tuned for the release of the Pongr Android App very soon.

(As always, we’d appreciate your feedback on the Pongr App and any suggestions for what features you’d love to see included in future updates.  Please drop us a line anytime at info@pongr.com.)

Pretty in Pink? The camera doesn’t always capture smiles — especially when there are none to capture. (via Seriously Ugly Race Pics)

It’s Boston Marathon day and be prepared for your Facebook and Twitter feeds to be flooded with race pics. Photo sharing from runners is actually a weekly happening, as it seems that every 5K and 10K these days is covered (by mobile photography) like it is the Olympic Games.

We’ve got running on the brain today because the Boston Marathon Finish Line is mere steps away from the Pongr office.

In the spirit of the Marathon, we’d like to give a shout out to Erica and Stacy, two New York running buddies who collect unflattering running photos for their hilarious blog, “Seriously Ugly Race Pics.”

They’re not making fun of people’s looks. Rather, they’re showing a more realistic portrait of their fellow runners in action. Their human peers who are more likely out of breath or grimacing instead of smiling for the photographer. Though they don’t outright say it, the popularity of their blog seems to be a backlash to the “Ridiculously Photogenic Guy” meme that captures New York runner Zeddie Little in a state of bliss.

Not a Hair Out of Place — The “Ridiculously Photogenic Guy” instantly became a meme. C’mon, you can find him! (Double click to enlarge).

“Used For Stock Photo in Picture Frames, No One Replaces It,” one Internet wiseguy wrote, capturing the reality that very few of us look attractive while exercising.

Meanwhile, if you happen to be in Boston today, you might find some runners and spectators a little too eager to be photographed — such as these exhibitionists wearing nothing but giant Solo cups.

Drinking and Running Don’t Mix: Boston Police have issued warnings to local colleges to keep their students in line while cheering on Boston Marathon runners. The world famous race route goes by several campuses. (Source: BostInno.com)

Our friends over at BostInno are reporting that area colleges have been warned by police to keep their students in line while celebrating the Marathon. The race route snakes through the campuses of Boston University, Boston College and Wellesley College, providing the most enthusiastic fans these runners could ever ask for.

BostInno has a creative suggestion for students to channel all that passion.

“The safest bet would be to pull a Wellesley College and kiss along the Boston Marathon route instead of drink.

Every year, the ladies of Wellesley go out to the 13th mile’s “Scream Tunnel” to cheer on the runners with signs that read things like, “Kiss me, I’m unemployed.” Who cares about getting a beer buzz when you could be receiving 50 sweaty smooches from a marathon runner instead?”

Hey, kissing makes for a great photo-op, too!