August 2015 - American Sweepstakes

This contest from Honest Kitchen is looking for honest pets

I have two dogs, and two cats, I’ve spoken at or attended most all of the BlogPaws Social Media Conferences and one of my daughters is in veterinary school. Therefore, those that know me and/or follow this blog are aware that I’m a big pet lover. So I came across this pet-related promotion this week that I thought I’d share. I’m going to work on entering for the fun of it.

The promotion is from pet food company, The Honest Kitchen, who is looking for the year’s “most honest pets.” Their Honest Pet Contest is inviting people to upload a photo of their pet with a confession caption from now till September 14. Participant’s can enter on their promotional website, honestpetcalendar.com , on Twitter or Instagram using the #HonestPetsContest hashtag or on Facebook by uploading it to the promotional comment on the Honest Kitchen’s Facebook page.

There are no limit to the amount of entries, so there will most likely be many. I’ve posted a couple of my favorite entries. The public is invited to vote for their favorite on the website and can only vote on a submission once during the entire contest.

At the end of the contest five finalists will be selected as “Fan Favorites” based on which entries received the most votes. Out of the five finalists, the Sponsor will select one Grand Prize winner who will receive a pet friendly weekend getaway and be featured in The Honest Kitchen’s 2016 Pet Calendar. All five (5) finalists will receive Honest Kitchen products.

This Grand Prize winner will be based upon the quality of the content submitted and how well it fits the brand. The Grand Prize winner’s trip package to a getaway pet resort for two people and their pet includes round trip airfare to San Diego (including a pet fee) along with 3 day/2 night hotel accommodations at the superior, pet-friendly US Grant Hotel, up to $600 in spending cash and drinks with The Honest Kitchen team at Mission Brewery in downtown San Diego and an a tour of the Honest Kitchen office. The Grand Prize if valued at $3,500.

Also each entrant will receive free food samples and coupons from the Honest Kitchen, so even more reasons to enter. Plus I just learned that today, August 26, is National Dog Day! So treat your dog(s) to something special today. They bring so much love and joy into our lives!

Sweepstakes delivers a mobile, educational game and chances to win free Chipotle for a year!

A new mobile-optimized game and sweepstakes from the folks at Chipotle Mexican Grill is currently running called the “Friend or Faux Sweepstakes”. It not only provides entrants with a chance to win free Chipotle for a year, but also gives each entrant a Buy-One-Get-One (“BOGO”) coupon for a free Chipotle item value up to $10. This coupon is being delivered to the mobile number that the entrant provided when they initially registered for the Sweepstakes.

So here’s how it works. From now till August 31, people are in the contiguous 48 states, 13 years of age or older are asked to visit the Chipotle Friend or Faux website at: http://chipotle.com/friendorfaux.

There they are invited to participate in the Friend or Faux comparison quiz. The quiz is an educational game that highlights the differences between Chipotle’s ingredients and those commonly used by other fast food brands. Entrants must compare and match 20 ingredients by pinpointing which item contains each ingredient.

“There’s been a lot of talk recently about fast food companies removing artificial ingredients from their food, but most of these announcements cover only a portion of the thousands of additives used in processed foods,” explained Mark Crumpacker, Chief Creative and Development Officer at Chipotle. “Through ‘Friend or Faux,’ we are giving consumers an entertaining way to contrast the collective beauty of Chipotle’s food with the complex ingredient lists that make up many fast food and packaged food items.”

After playing the game, the Entrants are then asked to provide their name and mobile phone number. They will then also have the opportunity to opt-in to receive further mobile text communications from the Sponsor.

Chipotle is also offering an online alternate method of entry for those that wish to enter without taking the comparison quiz. They have provided this additional link http://chipotlesweeps.hit2c.com/friendorfaux that takes them to a standard online entry form.

All Entrants have the opportunity to receive an additional entry into the Sweepstakes if they Tweet about the Sweepstakes via Twitter by using the hashtag #friendorfauxsweepstakes or by sharing the Sweepstakes link via Facebook. A maximum total of 2 entries per person is allowed.

At the end of the sweepstakes 50 Grand Prize winners will receive one year of “Free Burritos for You and a Friend” and 100 first prize winners with a “Catering Party for 20″. Total value of all prizes $91,000.

The mobile game including the BOGO coupon offer is being handled by a company called Vibes Media, LLC. They are also in charge of doing the random drawings for the 50 grand prize and 100 first prize winners. We are currently discussing ways to partner up with Vibes Media in order to offer our clients these types of mobile gaming options to add to our capabilities. Studies have shown that people enjoy playing games on their mobile phones, so it is a trend that we expect to see much more of in the coming year.

Texans are invited to take a selfie with a new Hyundai for chance to win

More and more companies today are asking people to take a “selfie” and post it to their social media accounts in order to enter a sweepstakes or contest for a chance to win. The word “Selfie” and the art of taking a photo of yourself has become extremely popular all over the world and across every generation.

I just came back from a trip visiting several European cities and I never saw so many people taking selfies. It was quite annoying at times with many people blocking views of what you may have been trying to take a photo of. Of course, many marketers have been getting involved.

Here’s a local sweepstakes we currently are administering for the Rio Grande Valley Hyundai Dealers in Texas titled “Take Me Away”. If you are a current resident of Texas, 18 years of age or older, you are invited to take a selfie of yourself with a new Hyundai vehicle at one of the local dealerships and post it to your Instagram account. Participants are instructed to using both of these promotional hashtags, #Hyundaivaca and #Sweepstakes, along with the dealership name.

One lucky Grand Prize winner will be selected in a random drawing at the conclusion of the sweepstakes which ends on August 23. The winner will receive an Orlando Theme Park Vacation package for themselves and up to 3 guests that includes round trip airfare to Orlando, FL, 3-night hotel accommodations, a food allowance and tickets to Walt Disney World Orlando theme parks. The trip is valued at $5,000.

So if you’re in Texas, you better get your selfie taken in front of a Hyundai soon to enter. Please don’t risk your own safety by taking a selfie in the middle of the street. No one wants to admit that they were taking a selfie when they ended up in the hospital. After some of the selfies that I saw being taken while in Europe, I wouldn’t doubt that this could actually happen.

COTA inspires Columbus with the #WhatMovesYou Photo Contest

We’re helping the Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) run a fun, regional summer contest right now. COTA helps move central Ohio residents, workers and visitors throughout Central Ohio and in return the people move them. So they recently launched the “What Moves You” Photo Contest to engage with their customers and get insights into what moves them.

The contest is only open to residents of the Greater Columbus, Ohio metropolitan area. They are invited to post a photo of “What Moves You” that includes inspiring experiences and sites around the city of Columbus. They can post their photo to either their Twitter or Instagram account and include the promotion hashtags, #WhatMovesYou and #Contest. They must also follow COTA on Instagram @COTABus, if that is their method of entry, or Twitter @COTABus, if that is their method of entry.

Submissions will be accepted up until August 31 and then a panel of judges will use the following judging criteria to select the two grand prize winners: Connection to theme (50%), Photo Quality (25%), Originality and Creativity (25%).

Each winner will then receive a prize package that includes unique experiences from some of the Columbus area’s favorite venues, shops, sports teams, and attractions such as PromoWest (tickets to Passion Pit and Alabama Shakes), Wolf’s Ridge Brewing, The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, Franklin Park Conservatory, Homage, The Blowout Bar and more.

Here’s a 30 second video that COTA created to the What Moves You campaign.

I just returned from a trip to Europe where my husband and I did most of all of travels using local transportation. We road on the local and high speed trains as well as the metros, subways, buses and trams and really enjoyed getting a taste of how the local residents move. It’s much more common in European cities to use mass transit then in the majority of cities here in the U.S.

So I applaud COTA for encouraging people to use mass transit in a very creative way. Looks like they are getting a great response so far.