May 2015 - American Sweepstakes

Headed down to Nashville to speak at the annual Blog Paws Social Media Conference

I’m headed down to Nashville, TN, on Thursday of this week to attend the world’s most unique social media conference, BlogPaws. Anyone who’s been following my blog knows that I’m a huge fan on this annual conference. This will be my fifth time attending. I’ve only missed one so far which was last year in Lake Las Vegas. I have been asked to speak again at this year’s conference which I am looking forward to.

This three-day, pet-friendly event is taking place May 28-30 at the Sheraton Music City Hotel. My favorite part of the BlogPaws Pet Blogging and Social Media Conference each year is seeing all the pets, some celebrities with their own blogs and shows. In a recent press release by the BlogPaws team they listed what this year’s pet attendance looks like:

Over 100 dogs
11 cats — plus a variety of service cats and adoptables
2 celebrity mini pet pigs
3 ferrets
1 hamster
1 possible capybara
1 diapered duck
2 rats
3 ducklings — Huey, Dewey, Louie!!!

Two of my good friends and fellow blogging colleagues, Yvonne DiVita and her partner, Tom Collins, were co-founders who introduced BlogPaws in 2009 and held the first conference in Columbus, OH, in 2010. In less than six years, BlogPaws has become the go-to resource for pet bloggers and social media enthusiasts looking to build their online presence to enhance their social networks and support animal shelters and rescues around the world. Brands also consider BlogPaws the go-to resource when looking for social media attention and contacts.

Many pet bloggers, as well as the teams that run the online websites for animal shelters and the brands themselves, regularly run sweepstakes, giveaways and contests. So my conference session titled “Key Legal Developments Affecting Sweepstakes, Contests, Disclosure & Digital/Social Media” will address a broad array of legal regulations and guidelines facing us all today. Being able to effectively engage with customers and key audiences is a top objective today. However, there are many risks that need to be considered when doing this.

I’ll first review what is an “Illegal Lottery” and explain what ‘NO PURCHASE NECESSARY’ really means. I’ll define “consideration”, which here refers to the entrant’s time, effort or money. Besides making a purchase or payment it also means requiring a considerable amount of time, like filling out an in-depth survey, making multiple store visits or requiring too many social media tasks. Is sending a text message “Consideration”? Does posting a photo of a food item that you just took a bite of “Consideration”? Is watching a video to find the answers “Consideration”? It’s a very fine line and some have a higher risk then others.

The conference is capped at 500 attendees and this year they recently announced that it has again sold-out. There will be over 40 different sessions offered including advanced SEO Techniques, WordPress Tips, How to Build your Brand, Creating Engaging Content, Getting Noticed by the Media, Utilizing Video, Facebook and Twitter Tips, Making Money Online, Effective Fundraising and many more. Mary Engle from the FTC will be back to review more details on the FTC Guidelines for bloggers. Friday morning’s keynote speaker that I’m really looking forward to seeing again is Peter Shankman whose talk it titled “Ain’t No Loyalist Like A Zombie Loyalist”. I saw Peter Shankman years ago when I was first starting out in the new world of social media and he said something that I still use today as the #1 guideline we all need to follow…Transparency.

I will be posting my presentation online after the conference, so you’ll be able to find it here on and on our Linked In Company Page as well as my Personal Page . Or, just email us and we can send you a copy. I’m also really looking forward to visiting the city of Nashville for the first time. Hopefully I’ll get to enjoy some live music, taste some good southern cooking and experience what makes this city so special. Any tips please pass along.

ReNew It All Sweepstakes

Free Groceries for a Year Sweepstakes

Meet the Legends Sweepstakes

Meet the Legends Sweepstakes from Sugarlands Distilling Co.’s offers chances to attend a unique weekend event

Here’s a chance to “Meet the Legends”? For the first time we’re working with the Sugarlands Distilling Company, producers of craft quality moonshine and whiskey. Their distillery is located in downtown Gatlinburg, Tenn. and is a popular tourist attraction where guests are invited to taste free samples of authentic Sugarlands Shine, take a tour and purchase a variety of moonshine flavors, merchandise and apparel.

The distillery also offers live music, Appalachian storytelling, and outdoor adventure tours in the Sugarlands, an area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park historically referred to as “moonshiners’ paradise.” Their famous Sugarlands Shine recipes were originally created by three different skilled moonshiners. The “Meet the Legends” Sweepstakes is offering up to 10 winners, each with a guest, to visit Gatlinburg for a fun-filled weekend to meet with Moonshine Legends, Jim Tom Hedrick, Mark Rogers, Tickle and the Sugarlands Distilling Co. gang.

Marvin “Jim Tom” Hedrick is a legendary moonshiner, master storyteller and still maker. Nearly sixty years ago he learned to make moonshine in the Great Smoky Mountains. Over the years, Jim Tom became one of the most skilled moonshiners in Appalachia, and his original hand-crafted spirits were in high demand throughout the South.

Mark Rogers is usually cloaked in camouflage, like a well hidden moonshine. He’s a true American hunter, fisherman and woodsman. Rogers has been moonshining most of his life, learning the trade at the young age of 8 years old from his twelve uncles. “Once you’ve had some good liquor, you’ll know it,” Rogers said. American Peach moonshine is the best you’ll ever taste.

From an early age in Danville, Virginia, Steven Ray Tickle gained a wealth of distilling knowledge from older relatives. He experimented with recipes on his own ten-gallon still using a turkey fryer, jelly jars for double-thump kegs, and a shotgun condenser. Tickle often states, “It gets in your blood. I’ll moonshine ‘til the day I die.” Tickle’s Dynamite Cinnamon Moonshine is potent proof of his legendary, wildfire spirit.

From now until July 31 participants are invited to visit the promotional website at www.moonshinelegends.com and fill out an entry form. If selected, the winner and their guest are invited to attend this special Smoky Mountain Moonshiner Weekend that will take place October 23 – 25. The travel prize package includes 2- night hotel accommodations in a hotel in Gatlinburg along with a $1,000 Prepaid Debit Card to cover travel expenses. Meals and weekend activities including a chance to “Meet the Legends” will all be provided by Sugarlands Distilling Co.

This is a great example of a sweepstakes offering an experiential prize that a person could not obtain on their own. Sugarlands Distilling has put together a unique weekend event that only the winners of the sweepstakes can attend. I’m sure that there are many fans that will be signing up for a chance to win and will be thrilled if they’re selected. I know I would love to visit this beautiful area of the Smoky Mountains, especially in October, and of course taste some of those moonshine flavors!

Several sweepstakes offer free groceries for a year, $25K in home renovations and more

Three supermarket chains are giving away chances to win Free Groceries for a Year! We are working with Bi-Lo Holdings, the parent company of Winn-Dixie, Bi-Lo and Harvey’s Supermarkets, who are sponsoring the Great Grocery Giveaway Sweepstakes which each chain launched today.

Winn-Dixie is giving away 30 $5,000 gift cards, for a total of $150,000. Bi-Lo is giving away 15 $5,000 gift cards for a total of $75,000 and Harvey’s is giving away 5 $5,000 gift cards, for a total of $25,000. That’s a total of $250,000 in free groceries from the parent company.

Participants are invited to visit each chain’s website and register their customer rewards card in an online form to obtain one entry. Once entered, a coupon for $10 off their next $100 purchase is loaded to their card. If participants don’t have a card they can sign up for one as well. The overall objective of the promotion is to obtain email addresses for current shopper card holders as well as obtain new card holders. Those that don’t want to sign up for a card have the obtain to enter by mail providing they supply an email address. These sweepstakes run till June 16.

Another sweepstakes that we’re working on that recently launched is for the Hallmark Channel. The ReNew-It-All Sweepstakes is offering one lucky grand prize winner a chance to receive a $25,000 ultimate home renovation plus a trip for two to Los Angeles and an opportunity for the winner to appear on the Hallmark Channel’s Home and Family Show. The prize package includes $15,000 in cash along with a $5,000 Lumber Liquidators gift card and a $5,000 Mattress Firm Gift Card. The trip package includes round trip airfare for two, hotel accommodations, a rental car, one day passes to Universal Studios in Los Angeles and a $650 spending allowance for food and expenses during the trip, Total value of this grand prize is $30,000.

All participants need to do is enter online. This sweepstakes ran last year as well with similar prize providers. It provides the Hallmark Channel an opportunity to promote their Home and Family Show, hosted by Mark Steines and Christina Ferrare, which in now running on weekdays at 9am ET/10 am CT. This sweepstakes runs till June 12.

This is just a sampling of the many sweepstakes promotions that brands are using this spring season to engage with their customers and fans. Offering prizes like these that fit with your brand and are relevant to your customers is key to a successful promotion. If you’re interested in learning more about how a sweepstakes or contest promotion may fit with your marketing objectives, please feel free to contact us.

Dove celebrates moms with a new study, video and social campaign

We will be celebrating moms this Sunday as we observe another Mother’s Day. A new study by Dove revealed just in time for Mother’s Day states that mothers are more likely to influence their daughter’s beauty habits than celebrities. This is such a relief to hear that real relationships in a woman’s life leave the strongest lasting beauty impressions, more so than from what they learn from most female celebrities who are posting their advice on to their social media sites.

According to the study, three times as many women said their mothers influenced their beauty routines than say celebrities have, and as many as 84% of women trust the women in their lives over celebrities for beauty tips and advice.

In light of this study, Dove recently launched the Dove Beauty Stories: Four Generations campaign and video, which encourages women to honor the women in their lives that have taught them how to live beautifully. In celebration of the Dove Beauty Bar, a product that has been passed down among women for nearly 60 years, the campaign’s goal is to inspire the next generation with the lessons, tips and advice they have learned through the power of storytelling.

Documented in the video is the story of one real family that wrote a letter to Dove thanking the brand for the message they stand for and the products they offer. The Dove Beauty Bar has become their family beauty secret that has been passed down through four generations of women along with lessons of beauty and confidence. Dove captured their story recruiting three generations of moms in a new video which is meant to inspire other women to pass down their personal beauty stories and celebrate the women who have influenced them. View the video here:

Included in the campaign is a social invitation from Dove encouraging women to share their own #BeautyStory and celebrate the real women that have inspired them. Throughout this week, leading up to Mother’s Day, followers and fans of the brand’s social channels will be prompted to celebrate the different women in their life from their aunts to their sisters to their best friends. The socially driven campaign will culminate on Mother’s Day where women will have the opportunity to pay homage to their mothers and the beautiful lessons they taught them.

At the same time Dove is running the “Dove Love at First Swipe” Sweepstakes which invites people to create a custom Dove Love Note, then share it on Facebook, Twitter, and/or Pinterest to receive a Sweepstakes entry. Participants can earn up to 3 entries a day by sharing for a chance to win a trip to Paris with the love of their life. Plus 10 First Prize Winners will receive a $150 gift card and 190 Second Prize Winners will receive $25 flower gift cards. This sweepstakes helps to promote Dove Advanced Care Deodorant in which a $2.00 coupon is offered on the site.

So happy Mother’s Day to all moms, new and old. It’s now been five years this spring since my mom passed away and I so wish I could give her a hug and wish her a happy mother’s day. So please give your mom one for me, if you can.

Month: May 2015