Month: May 2017

Sweepstakes help Home Depot increase customer survey participation

Sweepstakes are a great way to encourage people to fill out and submit a customer survey. We run many sweepstakes that are tied to a survey which help to provide the sponsor with feedback and customer insights. Many of these types of sweepstakes that we help administer are for retail locations that run these on a monthly or quarterly basis.

We are now in our second year assisting Home Depot with their sweepstakes. They have been utilizing the services of Lieberman Research Worldwide (LRW), one of the largest privately-held marketing research consultancies in the world. They help run customer satisfaction surveys for many different clients and we’ve been assisting them with various sweepstakes that are tied into some of these surveys.

I recently wrapped up confirming the winners for the Home Depot Quarter 1 Customer Survey Sweepstakes which ended on April 30. When someone makes a purchase at a Home Depot store they receive information on their receipt that includes a web address and an invitation to fill out a survey for a chance to win. In order to access the sweepstakes, each customer needs to submit the unique User ID and Password that is printed on each receipt which is only valid for 14 days from the date of the transaction. There is a limit of 45 entries per person per sweepstakes period. There is also a mail-in option where people can send in their information to be entered into the sweepstakes without making a purchase in which we manage.

In the U.S. there are two winners each quarter, one is for the “Consumer Category” and the other for the “Professional Category”. What category the customer enters is determined by how they answer their employment question. Each winner receives a $5,000 Home Depot Gift Card. Home Depot is also running a separate quarterly sweepstakes in Canada for a chance to win one $3,000 Gift Card. Also Home Depot Puerto Rico is offering five lucky winners per quarter a chance to each win a $1,000 Home Depot Gift Card.

The second quarter sweepstakes for all surveys just recently started on May 1 and runs till July 30. So next time you visit a Home Depot location and make a purchase, check the receipt for your unique user ID and password to enter for a chance to win.

My Birth Plan & Americord Sweepstakes aims to educate expectant parents

We have been involved in many different types of sweepstakes and contests that offer chances to win. These have included various ways to enter and others that have offered unusual and uncommon prize packages. However, this new sweepstakes that we have been assisting with is one of the oddest that we have been involved in.

The  “My Birth Plan & Americord” Sweepstakes just launched today which is sponsored by Ferring Pharmaceuticals. My Birth Plan is what the name says, an online guide to developing a birth plan which is offered by Ferring Pharmaceuticals. Americord is a leader in the advancement of umbilical cord blood, cord tissue, and placenta tissue banking who is a private bank that collects, processes and stores stem cells for future use by the family that saves them.  They have teamed up to give away a free Cord Blood Banking to one lucky expectant mother.

To be eligible to participate an entrant must be a pregnant women with a due date after July 14, 2017, and whose healthcare costs are not eligible to be reimbursed, in whole or in part, by Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, or any other federal or state-funded healthcare benefit program. The sweepstakes runs until June 29. The prize winner will receive an Americord Cord Blood 2.0 Kit which includes up to 20 years of storage and is valued at $2,999.

Cord Blood banking was not around when I was pregnant with either of my two daughters. It is a confusing topic which today many expectant parents get bombarded with information about the subject. Cord blood banking preserves newborn umbilical cord blood stem cells. Right after the baby is born, the process collects blood after the umbilical cord is cut. The OBGYN or midwife collects the blood after the baby is born. The blood ships to a laboratory that separates the stem cells from the plasma and platelets. The lab prepares the stem cells for cryopreservation and stores them in specially designed cryobags and protective cartridges at subzero temperature in tanks using liquid nitrogen. The cord blood bank provides the kit, arranges for bedside pick-up at the hospital, and handles all the testing, processing, and storage.

They tell me that cord blood banking has now become an essential part of birth planning. Since you only have one chance to save cord blood, it’s important for young parents to understand the potential benefits, the process, and the alternatives. Clinical trials of these stem cells (HSCs) from newborn umbilical cord blood are currently exploring the safety and efficacy of using HSCs to treat incurable blood cancers, cerebral palsy, type 1 diabetes, and other diseases. Research continues to find more and more ways to utilize stem cells for treating diseases which the next generation, my daughters, hopefully will see become a reality.

This did seem at first to be a very odd sweepstakes. As I learned more about the process I agree that it is a very good way, although still very unique, to educate people and create awareness for expectant parents. So hopefully it should meet it’s objective.

Instagram Mother’s Day Giveaway and a Celebrate Mum contest

This Sunday, May 14, is Mother’s Day. The Internet has been full of ads and emails with many gift suggestions for mom. Seems like everyone, retailers, brands, restaurants, all have a way on how best to celebrate the moms in our lives. It appears that they are using every media channel available, and social media has been playing a bigger role each year.

We’re assisting with the sweepstakes administration for a Mother’s Day sweepstakes that is available on Instagram. This year we started working with a company called American International Industries (AII Beauty). You probably wouldn’t recognize their name because they are more commonly known by their over 60 different beauty and skin care brands. These brands include Andrea, Ardell, Body Drench, Checi, China Glaze, Clean + Easy, Clubman, EzFlow, Fright Night, Gena, GiGi, ibd, ‘N Rage, ProLinc, SuperNail, Surgi-Care, Tres Flores, and Youthair to name a few. They run many sweepstakes each month for their brands, most all of them on the different Instagram pages of each brand.

Yesterday the Tan Gorgeous Mother’s Day Giveaway Sweepstakes started with promotes both their Ardell Lashes and their Body Drench brands. Fans are invited to enter via the Instagram pages of either @ardell_lashes or @bodydrench. They must follow both @ardell lalshes and @bodydrench and like the Sweepstakes promotional post on each page. They must also share the post on @bodydrench and comment on the post on @ardell_lashes in response to the question: What’s your favorite memory with your mom? Each completed task on each page will receive one entry into the Sweepstakes.

One winner from each Instagram page will each receive one Tan Gorgeous Collection valued at $75 and a $100 worth of Ardell Lashes.

The team at ShortStack sent us a copy of this Mother’s Day promotion that was done for a company called The Good Guys. Shortstack is the platform that we use to create online entry pages for some of our client’s sweepstakes and contests. This #CelebrateMum contest asks participants to nominate their mom or a mother-figure who inspires them to win a grand prize worth over $1,500.

The contest also asks them to chose one of three charities – Miracle Babies Foundation, McGrath Foundation, and Ngala – to win a cash prize. The charity who gets the most votes will receive $1,000, and the other two will each receive $500. They feature a ‘Learn More’ button below each charity to help participants decide which one to vote for.

Four years ago on Mother’s Day I spent the day with both my daughters attending the graduation of our youngest daughter, Alex, from the University of Buffalo. This year I will spend the weekend after Mother’s Day with both of them again and we’ll be attending the graduation ceremony for Alex who has now graduated from the Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine which is located in St. Kitts. The ceremony will be held at the University of Miami. We are all so proud of her. She is now working as a Veterinarian at Ruth Helen Wolf Animal Hospital in Libertyville, IL, just outside of Chicago.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms.

The PGA returns to Oak Hill for the 2019 KitchenAid Senior Championship

The PGA was in town last week and they announced that the 2019 KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship was going to be held back at Oak Hill Country Club, here in Pittsford, NY. It was announced a couple years ago that the PGA Championship was returning to Oak Hill Country Club in 2023. So the announcement that the Senior Tournament would be back before then does help to keep golf fans here happy.

This year’s KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship will be hosted by the Trump National Club in Washington, D.C., May 25-28.

Last year, Rocco Mediate won the 77th KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship which was played at Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor, Michigan and will return there in 2018.

Paul Levy, PGA of America President said “We’re thrilled to return the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship to Oak Hill Country Club. The support we receive from Oak Hill’s membership and the Rochester community’s collective enthusiasm for golf are remarkable. As for the East Course, it provides a historical context that is rivaled by few in our sport.”  It’s clear that the East Course is one of the organization’s favorite venues. Between 1995 and through 2023, Oak Hill will have hosted one Ryder Cup (1995), two Senior PGAs (2008, 2019) and three PGA Championships (2003, 2013, 2023). Oak Hill also hosted the 1980 PGA Championship.

I’m looking forward to my women’s golf league which  starts on Tuesday. Hopefully it will warm up a bit around here!