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Contingency Insurance for Insured Prizes – What It Is and Why You Need It

If you’re looking to wow your customers, incentivize your employees, or just generate some good marketing buzz, consider running an insured cash prize sweepstakes.

Insured Prize Sweepstakes Explained

Insured cash prizes allow sweepstakes sponsors to safely advertise high-dollar winnings without risking their bottom line. These promotions feature a minimum guaranteed prize as well as the opportunity to win a larger (usually cash) prize of a greater value.

Example: Capital Construction’s $50,000 Exterior Home Improvement Giveaway, which features one Grand Prize and five First Prizes.

Entering for “a chance to win XYZ” is the key differentiator of insured prizes compared to other sweepstakes promotions. By offering “a chance to win” a large sum of money, the sponsor doesn’t actually need to guarantee the payout; instead, they’re able to pass that risk along to the company that is insuring the prize. For this reason, it’s important for companies looking to sponsor a sweepstakes to work with a properly vetted and insured sweepstakes provider, that way the “risk” of offering a cash prize is absorbed via a flat rate the sponsor pays to the insuring body.

Why You Should Run An Insured Prize Sweepstakes

Companies often use insured prize sweepstakes to “dangle the carrot” in front of their target audience. By being able to advertise and promote a high-dollar payout, sponsors typically get greater participation in their promotion. After all, if Capital Construction is advertising a chance to win a $50,000 makeover, there are going to be a lot of folks interested in that opportunity. They’ll visit the website, read the rules, and ultimately provide their information to enter. Not only do they get the chance to win big, but Capital Construction now has a curated list of folks interested in an exterior home makeover – aka a big list of potential clients. This is a win-win for both parties.

Other times, employers can use “a chance to win” sweepstakes with an insured prize as a way to incentivize employees.

Example: Any Verizon employee who sells an additional insurance policy with each new phone purchase gets entered into a sweepstakes with a chance to win $1,000,000.

By entering employees into a chance to win sweepstakes, they’re going to focus their efforts on the task at hand. This helps Verizon, the employee, the insurance provider, and the customer – all with little to no risk on Verizon’s part. After all, they only need to cover the cost of the contingency insurance with their insurance provider to be able to offer a great incentive to their employees.

Why Insured Prizes Are More Lucrative Than Other Options

An insured prize sweepstakes is like a gift that keeps on giving. After all, it has a host of benefits over traditional sweepstakes or contests, namely:
1. The chances of winning are good – Unlike playing the lottery or other games of chance, the likelihood of winning is actually relatively high. For some insured prize sweepstakes, it could be as good as 1:500!
2. The media opportunities are amplified – Not only do you get the opportunity to actively promote your sweepstakes, and advertise a high-dollar winning, but you also get added buzz around the grand prize drawing. Because there is an element of chance, the “drawing” is a great opportunity to take promo pictures, get a quote/testimonial from the winner, and more.
3. The excitement of the game creates desire for other potential players – Once you start offering insured prize sweepstakes, you won’t want to go any other way. The chance of winning element creates lots of hype around the sweepstakes and sets the sponsor up for future successes offering the same types of programs. After all, insured prizes could include any type of game – from half-court shots to win big $$ to hole-in-one promos that offer trips or vacations.

American Sweeps For Contingency Insurance

Ready to launch your insured prize sweepstakes? Let American Sweeps handle the administrative support. Our seasoned experts ensure (and insure) all aspects of your promotion, so you can focus on running a successful campaign with our contingency insurance services.