Donna, Author at American Sweepstakes

Trip to Space offered as grand prize in the Interstellar Sweepstakes

The TV talk shows this week have been featuring Mathew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway promoting the movie release of Interstellar which hits theaters this Friday. They both star in the movie, directed by Christopher Nolan, who play astronauts that journey to a distant galaxy on a desperate mission to save humanity from a decaying Earth in search of habitable planets across the universe. McConaughey is Coop, a Midwestern corn farmer and widowed dad who’s retired from the space program. He makes the decision to leave his daughter, Murph, and her brother behind for a decades-long trip into space.

Paramount Pictures has partnered up with Fandango who is the official sponsor of the Interstellar Sweepstakes. Each person who purchases a ticket to the movie on Fandango will be automatically entered into the sweepstakes. Vice Media, LLC, via their Motherboard Channel, is listed as the Prize Provider who is working with XCOR Aerospace, Inc. to award this amazing prize. One Grand Prize winner will win an XCOR trip into space! The trip consists of one seat onboard an XCOR spacecraft, the LYNX Mark II, which is currently being assembled, on a date to be determined by XCOR sometime in 2017. The Lynk Flight will take the winner up to an altitude of approximately 100 kilometers (62 miles).

Now I have to admit I’ve never given away a prize like this! Besides the Lynk Flight the prize package also includes round trip air transportation and transfers from the Winner’s home residence to the spaceport, which is still TBD, along with hotel accommodations near the spaceport. The winner has to complete a medical exam to be cleared for travel onboard the Lynk Flight and once approved will receive a check for $50,000. The winner must also complete and sign an XCOR Informed Consent Liability Waiver Agreement and other XCOR Clearance obligations provided by XCOR that include on-site training, along with a notarized Affidavit of Eligibility/Liability/Publicity Release. The total prize package is valued at $150,000.

The Official Rules do state that the winner may choose a cash option instead which is half the value of the prize package, $75,000. In my experience the winner 95% of the time takes the cash. But this prize is not something that anyone can purchase themselves, so who know. Also, the rules do state that there is an alternate means of entry to enter the Sweepstakes without purchasing a movie ticket by filling out an online sweepstakes entry form at www.fandango.com/sweepstakes/interstellar. A maximum of 10 entries per person is allowed regardless of the method of entry.

The Sweepstakes runs till December 1, 2014. The movie has already received some good reviews, both for it’s emotional heart-warming story between a father and daughter, and for it’s visionary effects. We’ll see if Mathew McConaughey is up for another Oscar this year.

Annual BAA/PMA Marketing Law Conference is next week in Chicago

I will be headed back to Chicago next week to attend the Annual BAA/PMA Marketing Law Conference which has been taking place there each November since I can remember. This year’s conference is titled Navigating the Marketing Law Maze and runs November 5-7. The conference includes over 50 sessions and 120 different speakers who will share their knowledge and provide a unique educational experience on marketing law not found any where else.

This year’s agenda will again bring major brand marketers, senior inside and outside counsel along with top government regulators together to present legal guidance and give their practical advice. The conference will address a broad array of legal regulations and guidelines facing the industry today on subjects such as: social media, digital media, online behavior advertising, domestic and international promotion, sweepstakes, contests and games, BIG DATA, data security/breach, privacy, intellectual property and litigation. It makes your head start to spin just by mentioning all those subjects in one sentence!

The conference kicks off with a pre-conference networking reception on Nov. 5th that includes a welcome cocktail party not to be missed, along with another party the following evening. They are both great networking opportunities like nowhere else to meet with hundreds of legal experts and those in similar businesses as myself. The first general session on Thursday morning will again feature Linda Goldstein from Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, who will cover Key Legal Developments in Marketing/Advertising Law Affecting Sweepstakes, Contests, Privacy, Disclosure & Digital/Social Media. Linda’s presentation is always extremely informative and highly entertaining as well. What she shares in this session is thought of as the bible that we in the industry will follow till the next time she presents.

Here is a video that the BAA created that includes some footage from last year’s conference and features some words from Linda Goldstein.

A special keynote presentation on Friday morning will include Carine Roman who is Head of Global Advertising at LinkedIn. Carine’s presentation is titled Demystifying the Advertising Landscape: Programmatic Buying, Data/Privacy, Targeting and the “Fortune Cookie” World of On-Line & Mobile Space. So that should be a highly interesting session as well.

We’ll all be at the Downtown Chicago Marriott right on Michigan Ave. It is located right next to Nordstrom so I will just have to make my annual shopping visit to their shoe department on the first floor! Hope to see some of you in Chicago. You can register here.

The LET’S FIX IT Challenge offers a chance to win $64,000

On November 4th Americans will be going to the polls to vote for the 2014 midterm elections. This is where we get to make our choices for members of the Senate, House of Representatives, governors and other elected positions around the country, accept for the office of the President. All 435 House members are up for re-election, while there are 36 Senate races and 36 governors’ races.

The past few weeks we’ve been working with the team that represents Why Tuesday?, a non-partisan, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2005 with a goal to help find solutions to increase voter turnout and participation in elections. In hopes of getting the word out that our voting system is broken and to increase this year’s voter turnout they have just launched the Let’s Fix It Challenge for a chance at winning $64,000!

Voter turnout for midterm elections are always lower than during a Presidential election. How low will they be this year is the $64,000 question. The Why Tuesday? 2014 Challenge invites participants to predict what percentage of the voting eligible population will vote this Election Day. The promotional website includes these hints from past years: 2002, 39.5%, 2006, 40.4% and 2010. 41.0%. As a tie-breaker, participants are also required to predict the number of Americans who will vote (Hint: 2002 – 80,295,249; 2006 – 85,769,132; 2010 – 90,745,3989. The source for these numbers can be found at www.electproject.org.

Once participants make their predictions they also have to fill in their name and contact information and submit all the required information. They are encouraged to share the Let’s Fix It Challenge on their social platforms and to spread the word about our broken election system. Participants can then also visit fixit.whytuesday.org and sign up to help do something about it!

If by chance that there is still a tie as to both the Turnout Prediction and the Total Vote, then the $64,000 Grand Prize will be divided among the tying eligible Participants. So take the challenge, include your best prediction and help get the word out. Don’t forget to vote on November 4th!. Maybe we can get more people to the polls this year than in 2010.

Masquerade Sweepstakes from Dos Equis gets us in the Halloween Spirit

Many brands have been launching promotions this time of year tied into the Halloween season. Usually I would feature a candy brand, or as in the past, Halloween pet treat promotions. But this season I found it interesting that a beer brand has hopped on the band wagon.

Dos Equis is getting into the spirit this year with their Masquerade Sweepstakes. They are inviting participants to enter for a chance to win a trip to New Orleans on November 22 to attend the Dos Equis Masquerade featuring music artist Q-Tip and a chance to meet the Dos Equis Most Interesting Man. Participants can either upload a photo of their favorite Halloween celebration to XXMasquerade.com, the promotional website, or post the photo to Instagram using the Hashtag #XXMasquerade.com to enter.

Dos Equis is also offering a third way for participants to enter that requires purchase. Participants can text or email a photo of their receipt showing the purchase of Dos Equis Lager Especial or Ambar beer in either 6, 12, 18 or 24-pack configurations to [email protected]. I’m starting to see more of this type of entry using SMS with a photo as a means of entry. We currently are assisting a client with rules for a local promotion in a Florida supermarket where texting a photo of a receipt as proof of purchase is an option. In that case there is a mail-in request option as well to participate without purchase.

The Dos Equis Masquerade Sweepstakes ends on Halloween night. Six grand prizes will then be awarded which includes airfare for two to New Orleans, LA, hotel accommodations and $300 spending money. Approximate retail value (ARV) of each grand prize: $2,820. 25 second prize winners will each receive a life size standing image of the Dos Equis Most Interesting Man.

This 15-second TV spot is running through October featuring the Dos Equis Most Interesting Man offering his take on Masquerade Parties: “Sometimes it’s best to be yourself. This is not one of those times.” The promotion also includes events nationwide, digital experiences along with limited edition label designs for its Lager and Ambar brews. Each pack and bottle will feature new branding with its own mask. Dos Equis will also sponsor several Halloween-themed events nationwide, including Music Midtown, Life is Beautiful, Pacific Beachfest, ALONE, Monster Bash and HARD Day of the Dead.

You can view some of the photos in the XXMasquerade gallery. Even though the Official Rules contain photo guidelines that are quite extensive, there are still definitely some interesting photos posted as you can well image. This one of the woman and the parrot I thought was one of the better quality photos that has been uploaded. But it is a random drawing, so we’ll have to wait and see who wins.

#CheckYourself, new music video from Avon honoring Breast Cancer Awareness month

The pink ribbon symbols can be seen in many promotions during October since it is breast cancer awareness month when many marketers and brands tie their products and services to the cause. I usually dedicate a least one “PINK” post to highlight some of the brands and organizations that have been supporting the cause. So this year I have a special program to share with you.

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month the Avon Foundation for Women recently launched a powerful PSA featuring an exciting new music video created with and by Paula Abdul. The daughter of Gene Cairo, the President of American Sweepstakes Company, was heavily involved in the production of this music video. Alex Cairo, who is a young and up and coming copywriter at an agency working with Avon, wrote the lyrics which were chosen for the song Check Yourself, part of the Avon Foundation Breast Cancer Crusade.

The Avon #CheckYourself campaign focuses on these four ways that women can participate:

1. Watch the video and support the global movement by sharing on Facebook and Twitter and here on their Facebook page.

2. Educate friends about breast cancer by creating your own dance video, sharing it on Facebook with the #CheckYourself hashtag, and challenging three friends! Women can learn some dance moves from Paul Abdul here on this Pinterest board created to help them copy the movies in the video.

3. Donate to the Avon Foundation or purchase an Avon Pink Ribbon product here.

4. Get active and register as an Avon Walker, Crew member, or Volunteer. Sign up for the 2015 Avon Walk today at AvonWalk.org.

Congratulations to Alex for a great job of writing the lyrics for this song. It must have been such an exciting experience to work alongside Paula Abdul and the production team along with the Avon crew.

I personally check myself very often and support the cause. My mother died of breast cancer over four years ago, so my risk factor is higher than average. Annual screenings are a must for me, but all women need to be educated and understand their own risk factor. It can save your life. Protect Yourself!

Dunkin’ launches video contest inviting fans to Dance for Dark Roast

Dunkin’ Donuts is celebrating National Coffee Day which kicked off earlier this week, September 29, with the launch of a video contest. The DDance for Dark Roast contest is tied to the launch of their new Dark Roast Coffee.

When you invite participants to submit a video of themselves dancing, then you obviously are going to receive videos with music in them. What I really like about this contest is that Dunkin Donuts actually went and licensed a song “Clap Your Hands” by Richey Lam for this contest. Participants first must visit the contest website DDanceForDarkRoast and download the song. Then they must record themselves dancing to the song.

The contest website features a introduction video from Maria Menounos, host of E!’s “Untold” and “Live from E!”who also states that she’s a former DD employee. She instructs participants to submit a video with their dance moves as “bold and smooth” as Dunkin’s new dark roast coffee. If so they have a chance to win one of 10 first prizes which is a year’s supply of Dunkin’s new dark roast coffee as well as a $5,000 grand prize. The first place prizes will be awarded in the form of five $100 DD gift cards. The grand prize winner will also have their video broadcast on the billboard in Times Square.

What I also like about this contest is that they are asking all participants to post their videos on their own social profiles. They must use the hashtag #DDanceforDarkRoast, make sure their post can be seen by the public and post it on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Vine. Some of the eligible videos will be pulled into a gallery for viewing on the contest website.

All video submissions must be no longer than 30 seconds and must include the song playing in the background. The judges will review all submissions and give each a score based on this criteria: Overall Appeal (50%), Adherence to Contest (25%) and Originality (25%). The contest entry period is open now through October 12, 2014.

I’ll be interested to see who the winners are of this contest. Dunkin’ is also offering a cup of their new dark roast coffee for $99 now till Oct. 5. I’m a dark roast coffee lover, so I’ve got to try it.

Instagram Sweepstakes Celebrates the return of Scandal

Some of our favorite shows are back this week with the new fall TV season. I stayed up to watch the Good Wife on Sunday which was pushed back as usual because of the earlier football game. Then Monday James Spader, Red, from the Blacklist kept me up again. Last night I watched the sad season premiere of Chicago Fire (no spoiler). Next on the list is tonight’s season premier episode of SUV (love Mariska Hargitay who plays Olivia Benson) and then on Thursday Kerrie Washington and the cast of Scandal is back!

I’ve seen Kerrie Washington on quite a few talk shows this week promoting the new Scandal season. She looks amazing as usual, but especially after recently having a baby! She is always so stylish and she spoke of some of the people who help make her style. The folks at Platinum Guild Jewelry are launching a new promotion this week to help celebrate the return of Kerrie (Olivia Pope) and Scandal. They have teamed up with Lyn Paolo who is the Costume Designer for Scandal and a two time Emmy Award winner for Costume Design.

The Show Us Your Platinum Style Instagram Sweepstakes invites fans to upload a photo on Instagram showing your favorite platinum look. Participants must first follow @platinum_jewelry on Instagram and use the hashtag #BePlatinumSweeps. We will randomly draw one lucky winner at the end of the sweepstakes who will win a pair of platinum diamond earrings by Simon G. Jewelry valued at $1,650.

Lyn Paola is quoted in the promotional materials as saying “I love all things Platinum: from my own personal jewelry, from the pieces I chose for my private clientele, films and television shows that I design. Platinum for me is about glamour, style and enduring quality. You really can’t beat those three qualities in one amazing product.”

This is the second promotion we have assisted with the sweepstakes administration services for the Platinum Jewelry Guild. The first was a Pinterest promotion earlier this year. We have been working with their agency, The Shand Group. They asked our advice about what hashtag to use and we suggested adding “Sweeps” to it in light of the FTC endorsement guidelines. The FTC recently came out with some new guidelines that I wrote about here that were sparked by a Pinterest promotion.

So the big question that hopefully will be answered Thursday night is “Where on earth is Olivia Pope?”.

Rules, Guidelines and Etiquette of Business Social Media

I was in New York City last week attending the 3rd Annual Summit on Digital Advertising Compliance for Social Media, Sweepstakes & Promotions hosted by the American Conference Institute. I was in a room mostly filled with legal counsel from many of the top brands as well as those from law firms who specialize in advertising and promotion.

What I mostly came away with is that there are so many grey areas when it comes to social media. Yes, there are laws regarding sweepstakes and contests that we follow. But when it comes to the various guidelines from all the social media platforms as well as the FTC, there are many cases when it is open to interpretation. Recently Facebook updated it’s promotion guidelines that I wrote about here. Also the FTC came out with new endorsement guidelines that was sparked by a Pinterest promotion that I posted here. It is hard to keep up with them all.

In my last post I wrote about the issues businesses face when trying to include a NFL team or the Super Bowl in their promotions without having an official sponsorship. At the conference we discussed this as well as the use of celebrities and sports figures in tweets, photos, status updates, etc. without their permission. We just had a client come to us with a sweepstakes where they are giving away as the grand prize tickets to a concert. They wanted to use not only the artist’s name in the official name of the sweepstakes, but also wanted participants to retweet the promotion with the artist’s name in the tweet. This is not a good idea to,first off, use the artist’s name without their permission, and then go broadcast it on Twitter that you’re using it.

While at the conference I came across this article on SmartBlog for Social Media written by Ivan Serrano which is titled “How to Mind Your Manners on Social Media”. Ivan created this infographic that I think is perfect so I wanted to share it here. It doesn’t include any laws or guidelines, just the simple etiquette that we businesses sometimes forget when posting on our social media sites. I think it’s mainly because we’re not face-to-face with our audience. Thanks Ivan for sharing this. Yes, I totally agree about the too many hashtags!

attending the 3rd Annual Summit on Digital Advertising Compliance for Social Media, Sweepstakes & Promotions hosted by the American Conference Institute. I was in a room mostly filled with legal counsel from many of the top brands as well as those from law firms who specialize in advertising and promotion.

New NFL Season kicks off this week along with new promotions

The return of a new NFL season start tomorrow. The Green Bay Packers will kick it off in Seattle against the Seahawks at 8:30 pm ET. NBC will be covering the Thursday night game this week, however it returns to CBS the following Thursday for a seven week run with some games also on the NFL Network. Thursday night football has become a big television event over the past few years and it seems strange that the different networks have partnered up like this. But that doesn’t stop all us fans from anticipating a new season, even when you team is up for sale!

We still get many inquiries from companies that want to run a sweepstakes around an NFL team or the Super Bowl and we try to explain that you have to be a sponsor of the team or the NFL in order to legally do this. The NFL and the individual teams have been getting tougher on enforcing this and if they find a promotion from a non-sponsor they can enforce a cease and dismiss order which states you must end the promotion immediately or you run the risk of being taken to court. Recently a client came to us wanting to launch a sweepstakes that offers a chance to win tickets to a specific NFL game this season. Even though they are not not planning to use the teams’ names in any of the communications, it still runs the risk of copyright infringement.

Anheuser-Busch is one of the NFL’s largest sponsors who pay big money for their Bud Light brand to be the Official Beer of the NFL. They recently launched their Ultimate NFL Weekend Sweepstakes where each week one winner along with three friends wins a trip to any NFL game they choose for the following week. The Sweepstakes started on Sept. 1 and already the Week 1 entry period is over and today is the start of Week 2. Just visit the Bud Light website and click on NFL Sweepstakes tab to find the entry form. I picked the game I would like to attend, the Minnesota Vikings at the New Orleans Saints on Sept. 21 and entered. Participants can enter the sweepstakes each week which goes till the end of the year.

The prize consists of the 4 tickets to the game of the winner’s choice along with round-trip coach air transportation, hotel accommodations for two nights in two rooms, ground transportation to/from airport, hotel, and to game, a $400.00 gift card to the NFL Team’s Pro Shop at the stadium, $400.00 in Stadium Cash, and $1,000.00 spending money. Total value of the prize is $15,000. The value of the total prize pool for the sweepstakes is over a million dollars.

After I submitted my entry I was invited to play the “Uprights for Whatever” game for a second chance entry. It allows you to try and kick the ball through the uprights, which I was really bad at and didn’t get even one. I guess the more you play the better you get at it. But I did get my second chance entry and had to finish this post, so perhaps next week I’ll try again.

For now I wish everyone a great NFL season and let the best teams win. I’m not betting on the Bills this year to finally make the playoffs, but you never know!

As smartphone usage grows, so does text-to-win sweepstakes

All over the world people are now part of the growing smartphone market. By the end of 2014, figures released from eMarketer on mobile usage worldwide states that we expect 1.76 billion people to own and use smartphones monthly, up more than 25% over 2013. According to this same report it states that the U.S. will reach majority-smartphone penetration among its population this year along with the U.K. and the Netherlands. Canada and most of Eastern Europe, the EU-5, will make the majority smartphone jump in 2015. So as a marketer, what are you doing to jump on the mobile bandwagon?

On my recent visit in Europe I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to hop on a Wi-Fi or a mobile hotspot. We traveled mostly on a Rail Europe pass and all the trains had Internet access, even the local trains in Ireland that weren’t high-speed. Many of the restaurants, bars and cafes we stopped at also were more than happy to give us their Wi-Fi password. Yes, even at the famous Hofbrauhaus Beer Garden in Munich where I took advantage of their Wi-Fi so I could upload this photo to my Facebook page of me enjoying a “Pint”.

I’ve always stated that the #1 reason for a marketer to run a sweepstakes promotion has been to grow their database by collecting personal data from the entry forms. The data has mostly included emails so that companies and brands could start to communicate with these consumers through email marketing. This dialog has enabled them to share their newsletters, product announcements, events, offers, etc. Sweepstakes have also been a good way to grow Facebook fans, and still is.

But now some marketers are using this same promotional tactic to create and build a database of opt-in (SMS) mobile subscribers who may be current or prospective customers. This allows the marketer to initiate an ongoing dialog with these customers via text messages that engage with them directly on their phone, not in their email folder. Studies now show that most consumers, today, want to receive text messages that are relevant and provide them with value. It is not just large brands who can benefit from this, but small businesses as well who are missing the opportunity to grow by not engaging in SMS marketing. The consumers welcome it so it may be the right time to now get on the text message bandwagon.

I have posted here on this blog about a number of mobile, text-to-win sweepstakes promotions that we have run such as the Busy Dog Live Nation Summer Souvenir Sweepstakes or the National Pork Board Grill Grill Giveaway summer program. One of my blog readers, Marcos Menendez, just sent me information on a mobile text messaging sweepstakes that their company recently launched for a client. Marcos is the Founder and CEO of MOMARES which runs mobile sweepstakes and SMS programs for clients off their SOLAK Platform. Marcos invited me to enter the “Release Your Inner Wild: Win the Florida Keys Fantasy Fest Getaway to Key West & Marathon”. You need to text WILDKEYS to the shortcode 65047 to enter.”

The MOMARES SOLAK platform however doesn’t just allow an entry from the text message. Once a participant sends their initial text they receive a text message back that contains this link, www.floridakeyswin.com. asking them to complete an entry form. This is a very easy and simple way to direct someone to a mobile-enabled online form. The form already has the participant’s mobile phone number and the participant needs to complete the other required fields so it can gather their name plus their email and mailing address along with a birth date if required. So if you are running a sweepstakes that has many small prizes, such as gift cards, coupons, etc. you will need mailing addresses. If the sweepstakes has an age requirement such as for any alcohol beverage brand, then this is needed. We can also accomplish getting this extra data with just text messages, however, it requires a little more back and forth with the participant to complete the entry.

In this case of this sweepstakes, when the participant completes the form they receive another text message confirming they have entered and that they are now subscribed. The official rules state they can opt-out at any time, but that they must stay opted-in during the promotion period in order to be eligible to win. So here is an example of how the sponsor, The Monroe County Tourist Development Council, is creating and building their SMS database. Their goal is to run a couple more of these sweepstakes promotions during the next few months. By doing so they will be able to invite the participants of this first sweepstakes who have stayed opt-ed to enter the new promotions via a text message as well as gain new participants through their other forms of marketing communications.

So this Sponsor has definitely hopped on the mobile bandwagon. If you’re interested in doing the same please feel free to contact me and I will be glad to help get you started.