Race balloons across the internet over real web pages.
Step by step instructions for racers - how to race
Race balloons across the internet!
Balloon races are fantastic fundraisers and loved by everyone, but the traditional race is limited to the summer months and can be a lot of work.
Balloonrace.com is delighted to announce the launch of The Online Balloon Race, an environmentally-friendly ‘virtual’ balloon race which takes out all the stress and hard work, puts you in control and gives the internet generation a fully interactive experience.
How it works
Unique web address for your race where participants buy virtual balloons
You set the start date, and the balloons are released
Virtual balloons travel across real websites – you can track their progress
Boost a balloon’s progress with further donations
Includes quizzes and puzzles
Raise funds, or let people participate for free. The choice is yours!
Prices start at just £50 for 100 balloons but order before December 2009 and we will double your balloons at no extra cost. You can add more balloons at any time. The Online Balloon Race can grow as big as you like without the need for extra work. Get ready, get racing, go!
balloon.com has been supplying real balloon races to Schools and Charities for 20 years. On most occasions we simply supply the helium and balloons as a DIY package. For larger events such as football matches we manage the event, inflate and release the balloons. See our balloon releases page for more details.
The main part of our business is balloon printing and helium gas hire which we do via our websites balloon.co.uk & balloon.com.
In recent years balloon releases have received bad press from environmentalists even though the balloons are 100% biodegradable. We began to see a reduction in the amounts of balloon races we were selling so we looked at new ideas, that's when we decided to build balloonrace.com - the virtual balloon race.
I originally came across the idea for a virtual balloon race when Orange (mobile phone network) did their own race to launch their new mobile phone networks. In the Orange balloon race all the balloons were free. The race was built by a company called Poke London.
I thought it would be a great product if Schools and Charities could build their own race page on the internet, attach a Paypal account and sell the balloons to anybody who visits the page. The balloons can be boosted by donations or playing game of the day - by having a daily game it will keep balloonists returning to the site everyday until the race ends.
It's also a great way for charities to cash in on the internet revolution.
I approached Poke London with the idea and they thought it was great. I contacted them twice and they never got back to me so as I was convinced it was such a great idea I decided to build the race myself.
As the site is quite complicated with flash animation and complex coding original quotes came it at £50,000. After shopping around we eventually nailed down a deal with a Birmingham company esterling. They thought they could deliver the product in 4 months and we decided to go for it.
After fixing a few issues with the race we sourced Solihull School for the next test. We set their race on free vend (all the virtual balloons were free and the pupils could gain a boost from 1 friend per day). The race was a great success, there were over 250 balloons flying across the internet, the pupils and their parents got very competitive and were flying their balloons morning noon and night - on one day the site hit 10,000 hits which included all the boosting.
We then set about selling the product. As we had been selling balloon race packages in sizes dictated by the cylinders (250 package, 500 package, 1000 package) we decided to sell virtual races in a similar way. As each balloon can potentially raise more than a real balloon we thought we could charge the same as our package deals - 45p for each balloon. Alternatively we could just build traffic to the site by offering races for free and try to cash in later with advertising revenue from the websites the balloons fly over (the track).
We encountered other problems - with every virtual balloon that was sold Paypal would take a 27p transaction charge, we needed to bolt on a gift aid facility but felt we couldn't justify the expense.
The product is fantastic and we've had positive feedback from small charities who have used the race.
We have also had interest from Peta UK and Sands, they think it's brilliant - but they really need the gift aid facility.
I also approached Comic Relief - I wanted to changed the balloons into Virtual Red Noses. Users could logon and buy a virtual nose and stand the chance of winning a prize. Its easier for those who want to donate, it's more fun and it's better for the environment than all those plastic noses.
I think the future for the race is to supply free races and infinite free virtual balloons - revenue will be made by charging companies to be part of the track - http://www.balloonrace.com/landscape/default.asp
