See:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum20/HTML/003152.html

And:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum20/HTML/003143.html

Continental does seem to have some targeted promotions/challenges but I don't know anyone who's gotten a challenge for the asking like you can on AA.

Do you have status w/ another airline? Continental will comp similar status (including their top tier).

One thing to do would always be to take a challenge on another airline (such as AA or US) and then get Continental to comp status...