As promised. First, you may wish to read my post-contest malediction, which also usefully includes links to the most relevant pages regarding the contest and my efforts to win a Nissan Cube. Done?
The best marketer-side analysis is by Jesse Hirsh, and in particular his post-awards note explains that (quite sensibly) Nissan and its marketers saw Tuesday night as the beginning of their campaign, not the culmination.
My essay here is mostly contestant-side, and I'll explain what I did and why, what I think I should have done, and how I felt about the contest. Note of course that you're getting a perspective that is personal, possibly naïve, and that of a loser, not a winner.