Penske and Apartment Guide Announce Contest Winners

ATLANTA, Oct. 6, 2009 - Apartment Guide and Penske Truck Rental today announced the winners of its “Tweet to Win” contest.  Danyelle Little of St. Louis, Mo. won the Grand Prize of “Free Rent for a Year” ($15,000 in cash) and a credit of up to $1,000 to be used for a consumer Penske Truck Rental moving truck. 

The four runners-up in the contest are Grant Magnuson of San Diego, Calif.; Elizabeth DeHart of West Jordan, Utah; Alajuwon Hamlin of Charlotte, N.C.; and Dana Blue of Cary, N.C., who will each receive an 8GB iPod® touch.

To enter the sweepstakes, which began on July 15, 2009, people visited a landing page where they were instructed to use their Twitter account to follow Apartment Guide (@aptguide) and retweeted a message to let their followers know about the sweepstakes.

Little, a manager for a supply-company, entered the contest only once, after a friend encouraged her via Twitter to participate.  She recently upgraded her rental house in St. Louis and plans to use the contest winnings to pay for three months’ rent, make a down payment on a car and take her two children, ages 5 and 15, to Disney World over Thanksgiving.

“The first person I called about the great news was my grandmother,” Little said.  “I told her that I won $15,000 from Apartment Guide and Penske Truck Rental, which would allow me to make some important lifestyle changes for my family.  Since I was on the phone with her, it was hard to tell, but I think she was crying.  She realized how important this was to me and my kids since the timing couldn’t have been better.  We were about to move and my car kept breaking down. I’m really grateful for having this opportunity and encourage people to enter these types of social media contests.  You never know – it could happen to you too.”

Little also hopes to have her first novel published, which is about four women living in a subdivision.  Since she recently moved, she plans to use the Penske Truck Rental to deliver living room furniture to her new rental.

The sweepstakes was a marked success for Apartment Guide and Penske Truck Rental, as the contest landing page received more than 70,000 clicks and 3,500 entries during its month and a half run.  Apartment Guide also grew its Twitter follower base by nearly 560 percent during the contest.

“We are experimenting with various methods in how people find a place to live by providing apartment and property rental resources in a way that they need and want to receive that information,” said Arlene Mayfield, president, Apartment Guide.  “Utilizing social media tools such as Twitter allows us to reach consumers through their preferred media.  Our Twitter contest enhanced user experience, boosted our Web presence and allowed us to continue building brand awareness for Apartment Guide.”

“We congratulate all the contest winners,” said Penske’s Art Vallely, Senior Vice President – Rental.  “Moving into a new apartment can be a stressful time but Penske Truck Rental helps make it a bit easier.  Give Penske a try for your next apartment move and experience the difference of our personalized service and well-maintained rental trucks and moving vans we have to offer.”

About Penske Truck Rental
Penske Truck Leasing Co., L.P., headquartered in Reading, Pa., is a joint venture of Penske Corporation, Penske Automotive Group and General Electric.  A leading global transportation services provider, Penske operates more than 200,000 vehicles and serves customers from more than 1,000 locations in North America, South America, Europe and Asia.  Product lines include full-service truck leasing, contract maintenance, commercial and consumer truck rentals, transportation and warehousing management, and supply chain management solutions. Visit www.GoPenske.com to learn more about the company and its products and services.

About Apartment Guide
A 34-year apartment industry expert, Apartment Guide is the flagship product of Consumer Source Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of PRIMEDIA Inc. Apartment Guide helps millions of consumers nationwide find an apartment through innovative print, Internet and mobile solutions.  A trusted brand, it is a primary apartment search resource, offering potential renters content-rich apartment listings and information.  Apartments for rent are displayed and distributed in 77 publications in 74 markets and nationwide online.  For more information visit www.apartmentguide.com.

PRIMEDIA, Apartment Guide and ApartmentGuide.com are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of PRIMEDIA Inc. © PRIMEDIA Inc. 2009. All rights reserved. Apple and iPod touch are trademarks of Apple, Inc. Other company, product or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others.

Apple Inc., iPod touch and Twitter, Inc. are not sponsors of nor associated in any way with the Apartment Guide “Free Rent for a Year” sweepstakes.