For decades, starry-eyed DIYers have dreamed of winning the famous Dream Home, the sweeps where HGTV gives away one expertly-designed, fully-furnished house. After years and years of this giveaway, how could the network make 2017 the biggest year yet? It would take a boost in unique entries–and a truly unique approach.

To win more entrants, we knew we had to look outside the traditional home and DIY space. To build excitement around sweeps in new circles, we planned an intimate experience for bloggers at the location of the latest dream home, on St. Simons Island, Georgia. The influencers were invited to get a little taste of “living the dream,” which included curated local fare, a cruise and, of course, a tour of the dream home given by home designer Patrick Flynn himself.

By tapping into different influencer niches, like food, lifestyle, parenting, family and fitness, we were able to reach new sets of followers, and ultimately, increase unique entries. With a total of 23 blog posts and 313 social media posts by our influencers–which translated to 16,000 site referrals–the sweepstakes experienced a total reach of 32,425,645+ earned impressions. HGTV Dream Home entries spiked by double digits. Better yet, Empower laid the groundwork for HGTV to build strong influencer relationships that will drive entries for dream homes to come.