Donna, Author at American Sweepstakes

Tips and best practices for running Facebook Sweepstakes and Contests

Now that Facebook has evolved more into an advertising platform for brands this means that the reasons for running a contest or sweepstakes promotion on Facebook have also changed. Businesses can’t reach their “fans” as easy or “free” as they used to. So a question being asked now is, do these types of promotions still work on Facebook? Yes, they can if you clearly define what you want to get out of them.

When brands first started out building their Facebook pages their main objective was to acquire fans. They wanted a way to drive people to their page and Like it to become a fan. I would tell clients that if they wanted to just grow their fans, along with their database, sweepstakes were the way to go. You could create a simple sweepstakes offer with a Like-gate attached to it so that visitors to your page would have to Like it first in order to access the entry form. So this was a great way to build up a fan base.

Once you had a fairly good number of Facebook fans, the next step was to post engaging and interesting content on a regular basis so that your brand posts would appear in all your fans news feeds. Well that has changed now that Facebook states that your posts will only reach a very tiny percentage of your fans. So what good is it to have all these fans? That has been a big topic of discussion with some brands stating they’re now going to stop using Facebook all together.

Today, if you want to use Facebook promotions, you first should decide what type of Facebook promotion will work for you. With a sweepstakes people are filing out an entry form, which means you can build up your database with their names, email addresses, and other information that you requested. This will allow you to send the participants emails when you have new product or promotional information to share.

Keep in mind that now more people are accessing their Facebook account from a mobile device vs a computer, so it may not be a good idea to use a Like-Gate anymore. When you require someone to Like the page to enter, they must first sign into Facebook from their mobile device so that the application knows if they are or are not a fan already. This adds an extra step and may deter some from entering altogether.

A contest, vs. a sweepstakes, may be the best choice for you since contests are a great way to create buzz and increase engagement from fans and key customers while building brand awareness. The most popular type of contests today require some type of user-generated content to be submitted such as a photo, video, essay, recipe, or design. Submissions are then judged or evaluated based on the contest theme and judging criteria and in some cases open for public voting. If you run a contest that invites participants to submit a photo or video you increase the chances that they will share their submission with their friends and family on Facebook.

With a contest you most likely will receive fewer entries then from just a random-draw sweepstakes since you are asking people to do some work. However, if your goal is to reinforce a brand or attributes of a product or service, contests are the better tactic since the content submitted usually includes your brand. It also encourages others to share and help spread the word for you.

Either way if you decide to run a sweepstakes or a contest on Facebook you should follow these best practices:

#1. Include a relevant prize. The best prizes help to showcase your own products or services which should be relevant to your audience. While iPads are still popular prizes, they don’t relate to most brands and they tend to get overlooked because they are too common. Make sure the prize is relevant to the amount of effort you’re asking of participants. A $100 value prize may be fine for a simple sweepstakes entry, but not if you’re asking someone to create a video submission. Keep in mind that our Federal government requires that anyone who receives a prize valued at $600 or more must receive a 1099 form and claim it when they file their taxes.

#2. Keep it simple. Don’t ask for more information then you need on the entry form. Include a “Login with Facebook” button that automatically fills in the name field for the user. This speeds up the registration process and helps to eliminate duplicate entries. When asking for contest submissions, keep in mind the technical level of your audience. It’s much easier to upload a photo of yourself that to create a video.

#3. Follow Facebook Promotion Guidelines. Facebook updated their guidelines last year to allow business pages to run promotions on their page vs. an application. However, you still can not administer a promotion on a personal Timeline. This means that you can’t collect entries, including additional entries, for having users post on a personal page. You will be in violation of the Facebook policy if you encourage sharing to gain entries. Also, Facebook has always insisted on clearly stating that Facebook is not sponsoring the promotion. The best way to do this is to include it in your official rules.

#4. Post Official Rules. Any contest or sweepstakes promotion that’s launched on Facebook must include a set of written rules specific to that promotion. Besides the Facebook promotion guidelines you need to have your own rules that basically is a contract between you, the Sponsor, and the general public. These can be especially useful for example in a contest that allows public voting when fraudulent votes are suspected, or when a winner questions what is and is not included in the prize they have won. Utilizing a company like ours that specializes in sweepstakes and contest administration to draft your rules so that they are compliant within all the U.S. states is recommended.

#5. Don’t forget to promote your promotion. You can plan and launch the best promotion in the history of your company, but if you don’t get the word out about it, then it will be set-up to fail. Promote it on all your social sites, not just Facebook, and include links back to your Facebook page or the Facebook application. Include these links on your website, in your newsletter, emails, Twitter, blog, Google+, etc., and on any printed materials such as ads, point of sale, direct mail and collateral. Just remember that you need to include abbreviated rules on all printed pieces and communicate where the full set of rules are posted. This may also be the time to consider running some ads on Facebook to highlight the promotion. Keep them simple and include an eye-catching image.

Once your promotion is over, review all the data you’ve collected and use it to plan for your next one. One of the recommended practices I tell clients is to make sure you follow up with the winners in a timely manner and let them know how and when they will receive their prize. You don’t want a winner posting negative comments all over their social networks about a lack of communication and not getting their prize. I’ve seen that happen in cases where the promotion was a huge success up till that point.

Let me know if you if you’d like any more information on running these promotions on Facebook or other social networks. It’s hard to keep up with the rules and regulations of each platform along with new ones. Feel free to share some of your experiences here as well. What has worked for you and what hasn’t?

Big Red Soda partners with Transformers: Age of Extinction

This weekend is Memorial Day, referred to as the unofficial start of summer, and with that many summer-themed promotions targeted to consumers of all types. Also it kicks off the summer movie season which normally includes many action-adventure type movies hitting the theaters.

“TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION”, the fourth film in director Michael Bay’s global blockbuster franchise, will hit theaters on June 27. It stars some of my favorite actors, Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci and Kelsey Grammer. The film’s PR release states that the movie “begins after an epic battle that left a great city torn, but with the world saved. The characters are swept up in a war of good and evil, ultimately leading to a climactic battle across the world.” Sounds like another classic adventure movie! You can watch the trailer here.

Big Red Soda has partnered with Paramount Pictures on this movie to launch a promotion offering fans a way to win big prizes and collect some Transformers swag. The Big Red $25,000 Transformers Sweepstakes just launched on May 19 . Fans can enter the sweepstakes at bigred.com/tf4 which is off of Big Red’s Facebook Page. Prizes include TRANSFORMERS collectable figures, Hasbro toys inspired by the movie, wearables, DVDs, posters and even a cooler that transforms into a picnic table. All in all, Big Red will be giving away over nine hundred prizes sure to create some excitement at all levels. Sweepstakes ends on August 15.

The promotion also includes Limited Edition TRANSFORMERS themed cans found only on Big Red Zero soda. The series of six cans will feature renderings of TRANSFORMERS figures Optimus Prime and Bumblebee. Fans will even be able to pick their side by choosing between Autobot and Decepticon themed cans.

“This is our opportunity to offer everyone a chance to receive something ‘Deliciously Different’ in anticipation of one of the biggest films of the summer,” says Thomas Oh, Big Red’s SVP of marketing. “We are thrilled to be part of bringing the explosive on-screen action of TRANSFORMERS to life with not only our Limited Edition TRANSFORMERS can series but also a sweepstakes offering fans the chance to win some unique TRANSFORMERS prizes.”

So get ready for an action-packed, hot summer. After the hard, cold winter that most of us experienced this year, we’re all so looking forward to it!

Omni-Channel Marketing, and Shoppers, are constantly evolving

Consumers are getting more comfortable using mobile devices to shop and not just for m-commerce sales, but for in-store shopping as well according, to some recent studies.

An April study from Deloitte highlighted in this article from eMarketer found that 22% of mobile users were more likely to visit a store after browsing on their devices, while 19% said they were less likely to do so. Deloitte also found that 19% of last year’s in-store purchases were influenced by the use of mobile devices. This research found that the use of mobile devices before or during in-store shopping trips influenced or helped to convert approximately $593 billion in US in-store retail sales in 2013—or 19% of total brick-and-mortar sales—compared with $159 billion in 2012.

Omni-Channel Marketing, or also referred to as Shopper Marketing, is not some new trend in marketing, but like consumers (shoppers) it is constantly evolving. Combine that with the increasing number of platforms businesses can utilize to connect with their consumers, it has become quite a challenge for marketers to send effective and meaningful messages. Therefore, it is more important than ever today for brands to communicate one simple message across all platforms in order to make their message more effective and influential.

Next month the Brand Activation Association (BAA) is hosting the Marketing to the Omni-Channel Shopper Marketing Conference which will include presentations from some top brands and retailers reviewing how they filter through all the digital clutter and prioritize the pieces that are most important them.

Laura Gordon, VP, Marketing and Brand Innovation for 7-Eleven products and services in the US and Canada is one of those presenters. She will be the Day 2 Opening Keynote Speaker at the Conference in New York on June 5th. In an preview interview Laura stated “Mobile is the channel that is most critical for the on-the-go 7-Eleven customer. We have begun to invest in mobile via smart phone but there are many mobile networks that our guests participate in today, including a few that are right in our store. We are actively working to test and learn in many mobile channels in order to better adapt our understanding of the new path to purchase”.

Another presenter, Mike Messersmith, Senior Director of Shopper and Experiential Marketing at Chobani, says “you can’t improve what you can’t measure.” Mike uses insights and analytics to drive his ideas and includes hard numbers in their marketing campaign, however he believes “it’s what you do differently with the data that will set you apart”. Linda Crowder, Senior Director of Peapod Interactive and a BAA Board Member will be speaking on Day 1 of the Conference, June 4th. Linda believes that “the best channel is the channel(s) that is the most relevant to the ultimate shoppers. The successful organization is going to have to develop the feedback loops that allow them to be as current with the shopper ‘s life as the shopper.”

If you’re interested in learning more on the Omni-Channel Shopper Marketing Conference taking place June 4-5 at the Highline Hotel in New York City you can check out this video promo the BAA created.

Makeover My Mom Contest from Lane Bryant celebrates Moms

Mother’s Day is this Sunday and while I appreciate a day that celebrates moms, I feel it has become a bit too commercial. Whatever form of media you may engage in right now you will see a “Mom” message in one form or another. Marketers have again come out in full force positioning their products as the perfect gift for mom. For me, what I really want this Mother’s Day is warm weather and, as tradition, some flowers to plant.

One of our company’s long-standing clients is Lane Bryant and each year they tend to run a Mother’s Day promotion. Last year I wrote about their Mom and Me Photo Contest. This year we are assisting them with running the Makeover My Mom Contest. Consumers were invited to visit the Lane Bryant Facebook page and click on the Contest app to participate. During the submission period, you could submit an essay (up to 250 words) describing why your mom deserves a makeover.

The Submission Period ended a few days ago and we’re now in the Voting Period of the Contest. All of the submissions are posted in the Contest app and the general public is invited to vote for the one that they find most deserving of the Grand Prize. The three submissions that receive the most votes by the end of Mother’s Day, May 11, will become contest finalists. The sponsor will then have their panel of judges review these three submissions and determine the winners based on the following criteria: Entrant’s genuine love for their mother (50%) and the Entrant’s creativity and uniqueness (50%).

The Grand Prize Winner will receive a trip for two to the Lane Bryant Corporate Office in Columbus, OH, which includes round-trip airfare, 2 nights hotel accommodations and a $500 Lane Bryant makeover for the Winner’s Mother or Mother-figure. The other two finalists will each receive a $250 Lane Bryant gift card. The winners will be contacted next week, around May 14.

We’ve been experiencing some issues with contests that include public voting, so we now make sure that the official rules include a clause that state that the Sponsor may disqualify any vote or voters who tamper or attempting to tamper with the voting process or who may submit more than the one vote per day allowed. The rules also states that the use of any voting board or voting forums are not allowed and anyone suspected of using them may be subject to disqualification. Including a judging component to determine the final winner also allows the Sponsor the ability to choose the submission that best meets the criteria and not just solely determined by votes. This is a recommendation that we consistently make to our clients when setting up a public voting contest.

There appears to be over 800 submissions in the contest and many of the submissions, from what I have read, include some heartwarming stories. So it appears the contest has been a success. Happy Mother’s Day to all those moms who’s stories are shared here as well as the rest of us moms. Mother’s Day is a bit depressing for those of us whose moms are no longer living, which some of the contest stories shared. The holiday now reminds me of how much I miss my mom and how I really miss saying the word “mom”. It is one of the first words we learn and one we tend to take for granted. Happy Mothers Day Mom.

FTC publically addresses compliance violation with Pinterest contest

If you think all your social media promotions have been legally compliant, you may need to think again. Even if you abide by all the rules and regulations pertaining to sweepstakes and contests, there is another federal government regulation that you need to keep in mind.

Recently the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) completed an investigation into a Pinterest-based contest conducted by Cole Haan. The contest rules instructed participants to create Pinterest boards titled “Wandering Sole” and pin five images of shoes from Cole Haan’s Pinterest board as well as five images of the participants “favorite places to wander”, all tagged #WanderingSole. Cole Haan would then judge all the entries and award one grand prize winner based on creativity a $1,000 shopping spree.

Sounds like a pretty simple Pinterest contest that is similar to many others. However, in a public letter from the FTC sent to Cole Haan’s counsel, the FTC expressed concern that the participants re-pinning of Cole Haan products were endorsements of the products and there was no clear indicator that the pins were incentivized by the opportunity to win the $1,000 shopping spree. The FTC claimed that by instructing participants to just use the hashtag #WanderingSole, Cole Haan did not adequately communicate that this was a contest entry with a financial incentive between the participant and the Sponsor, Cole Haan.

The letter stated that Cole Haan may have violated Section 5 of the FTC Act, which “requires the disclosure of a material connection between a marketer and an endorser when their relationship is not otherwise apparent from the context of the communication that contains the endorsement.” Under these circumstances, entry into a contest to receive a prize in exchange for endorsing a product through social media constitutes a material connection that would not reasonably be expected by viewers of this endorsement.

Upon further review, the FTC chose not to pursue any action against Cole Haan at this time. They stated the reasons being that they had not publicly addressed that entry into a contest is a form of material connection nor whether a “pin” on Pinterest may constitute an endorsement. So we now need to be aware that the FTC has “publicly addressed” this issue. They also stated that they chose not to pursue this because it drew a small amount of participants and that Cole Haan has since adopted a social media policy that meets the FTC’s concerns.

So you may now be wondering how the ruling impacts future plans for social media promotions, particularly those that encourage user-generated content to be created and shared not just on Pinterest, but other social media networks such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. One simple way is to clearly communicate that this is a promotion with the hashtag. You can do that by adding a second #hashtag such as #sweeps #contest or #giveaway to your promotion, or combine it into one i.e., #WanderingSoleContest. Since this does make the hashtag longer, you may want to keep the promotion name as short as possible.

Another thing to keep in mind when structuring your promotion is to ask the participants to create something more original, not just post or repin photos of your product from your website. For example, invite them to submit a photo of their recipe creation or in the case of this recent Instagram Contest from the folks at Kissimmee, FL, invite them to create a video describing how they would “Rock their Vacation” in Kissimmee.

I wrote about these new FTC endorsements guidelines when they were originally introduced back in 2009. At the time it was a warning to many bloggers who were writing posts for various brands and not disclosing that they were receiving payment or free product in return. At the time the FTC said that they had “no intention of shutting down the blogosphere” and to go after every little blogger (which we were all very concerned about). Instead it was more targeted to “those affiliate marketers who make exaggerated claims just to drive web traffic to make money”. We couldn’t agree with them more on this issue.

Now I don’t think the FTC intends to go after every little social media contest, but instead they want marketers to be aware that if they are requesting user-generated content tied to their brands, than they should make it more obvious why this content is being created in the first place. Makes overall perfect sense when you think about it. One of the first rules of social media that I learned and incorporated into all my presentations was transparency. That still rings as the #1 rule in my opinion.

Renew-It-All-Sweepstakes from Hallmark Channel offers chance to renew your home

The Renew-It-All-Sweepstakes from the Hallmark Channel is helping to celebrate Season 2 of their Home & Family series. The sweepstakes launched on March 31 and is offering one lucky winner a chance to have their home renewed.

The grand prize consists of $15,000 in cash to fix up a home along with a trip to Los Angeles for winner and guest to appear on the Home & Family set. Ace Hardware is a partner providing a $2,500 gift card in the grand prize package along with Lumber Liquidators who is also a partner providing a $2,500 gift card as well which brings the total value of the grand prize to $21,500!

Hallmark Channel’s Home & Family is a daily, two-hour lifestyle program currently hosted by Mark Steines and Cristina Ferrare. Mark was a long standing co-anchor on “Entertainment Tonight and also was named People Magazine’s “Sexiest Men of 2004”. Chistina started out as a model, has had many TV appearances including co-hosting Good Morning America. She is a NY Times best-selling author and most recently published a cook book titled “A Big Bowl of Love”.

The Home & Family series includes a lineup of celebrity guests, chefs, designers, and even audience members. The Grand Prize winner of the Renew-It-All Sweepstakes is expected to appear as a guest on the show during a taping scheduled to take place between July 14 – 25, 2014.

Yesterday’s episode featured actress Elizabeth Henstridge (“Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”) along with actor Lou Wegner who shared their advice and challenges of owning pet rabbits. Today’s episode features Actor Miguel Ferrer (“NCIS: Los Angeles”), Judge Cristina Perez along with yoga guru and raw food enthusiast Rainbeau Mars.

This is our first time working with the Hallmark Channel which is part of the Crowne Media Group. We were brought on board to be the Sweepstakes Administrators for this promotion through one of their agencies, The Promotional Edge. The Promotional Edge specializes in promotional marketing and they are based in the LA area. So we are hoping this is the first of many more promotions that we can assist them with. Check it out, you can enter the sweepstakes up until May 11.

Golf Pride/Golf Galaxy team up on sweepstakes to celebrate National Re-Gripping Month & the Masters

Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia has been the host of the Masters Tournament since 1934. The 2014 tournament is set to start tomorrow, the first PGA major of the year. This year the biggest talk of the tournament has been that Tiger Woods will not be playing in the Masters for the first time in 20 years because of a back injury. Tiger recently announced he had a successful surgery for a pinched nerve that has been hurting him for several months.

Phil Mickelson, a three-time Masters champion and the reigning Open Championship winner, is playing. He was quoted at the Practice Round on Tuesday that he misses having Tiger Woods in the field at the Masters this week. “He’s been such a mainstay in professional golf and the majors. It’s awkward to not have him here. I hope he gets back soon.” Shown here is a photo of Phil Mickelson hitting a stroke on No. 11 during Tuesday’s Practice Round taken by Charles Laberge/Augusta National.

Rory McIlroy is also a favorite player this year. This is McIlroy’s sixth Masters, and his best finish remains that disappointment from three years ago when he was the third-round leader and shot a final-round 80 and dropped to tie for 15th. However, he bounced back to win the U.S. Open that year and captured the 2012 PGA Championship as part of a player-of-the-year season that saw him go to No. 1 in the world. “It’s been six years since the first time I came here.” McIlroy stated at yesterday’s practice round. “Really looking forward to the week. It’s probably the most anticipated week of the year.”

To help celebrate the Masters this week I wanted to share with you a sweepstakes that we are administrating which is from the makers of Golf Pride, the #1 world leader in golf grip technology, and Golf Galaxy. They are promoting 2014 National Re-Gripping month by offering a chance to win a Stay and Play Golf Package at Brandon Dunes Golf Resort for one lucky winner and three of their friends. Entries are being accepted now up to April 23.

To enter the “Get a Grip on Your Game” Sweepstakes participates are invited to take a photo in any Golf Galaxy Store and share it by either 1)Visiting www.golfgalaxy.com and uploading their photo with their completed online entry form or 2) Sharing the photo on Twitter using the hashtag, #ReGripGolfGalaxy along with including @GolfGalaxy and @GolfGrips in the tweet.

The prize package includes a 3 night/4 day accommodations in a 4-bedroom unit at the Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Bandon, Oregon along with golf and cart fees to play on all five of the resort courses, plus meal vouchers good for use at any of the Resort’s restaurants and local transportation vouchers to and from the airport. The courses are famous for their links tradition that overlook the Pacific ocean.

Round One of the Masters starts tomorrow, Thursday, and it’s anyone’s guess who will take the green jacket home this year. My colleague, Matt, is there for today’s practice round. He’s been making an annual trip with a few golf buddies to first play a few rounds in Hilton Head, then head over to Augusta for the Wednesday Practice Round. He’s a big Tiger fan, so was very disappointed when he heard the news that Tiger would not be there. Let’s hope Tiger heals well and can get back to the game soon

Tourism Australia offers 52 chances to visit now, not Someday

G’Day America. Are you one of those people that wish to take a vacation to Australia someday? Well Tourism Australia is hoping that their new Australia Someday promotion will prompt many of us to act on that wish now.

Last week they launched the Someday campaign which is in partnership with Virgin Australia and Delta Airlines, their first joint U.S. marketing campaign, which offers a chance to win one of 52 amazing trips to Australia. “Someday” hopefuls can visit AustraliaSomeday.com to participate in the Australia Someday Challenge Sweepstakes and explore unforgettable experiences throughout Australia.

“I really want to go someday” is something Americans say a lot about Australia. Beyond the major landmarks, few realize the variety an Aussie vacation allows, where to start or truly how close Australia is – only 14 hours from Los Angeles to Sydney on Virgin Australia’s daily direct flights. Once on the promotion’s website, participants can choose from 52 signature week-long trips, one a week for a whole year, that feature the best experiences and events in Australia. Each trip comes complete with a week’s hotel, round-trip airfare for two and the featured Australian experience.

“Someday” participants are invited to go through a visual journey that includes videos and pictures related to each of the 52 experiences which act as clues to where in Australia the experience is located. Georgina from Virgin Australia Airlines provides instructions on how to win the “Someday” that they chose by guessing correctly where it is located. First they select the state from the map of Australia they think this Someday is located and then place a “pin” on the exact location on the map. If their guess is correct, within a 10 mile radius from the actual location, they will be entered into the drawing for a chance to win that “Someday” trip.

Participants can make a guess on each of the 52 experiences, but will only be eligible to win once. If an experience does not receive any correct guesses, then a second-chance drawings will be conducted at the end of the promotion from everyone who participated to award that experience.

Jane Whitehead, Tourism Australia’s Vice President, Americas, said “We created a contest that will test everyone’s Aussie geography, provide some great vacation inspiration and, importantly, show how accessible an Aussie vacation is – and how each of these experiences can be enjoyed within one week-long trip.” Tourism Australia has been working with the agency team at the Clemenger Group, BBDO, who are located in Sydney, to create this campaign. The agency contacted us to assist with the promotion administration and to make sure it complies with all U.S. rules and regulations.

The team tells me that the promotion has gotten off to a great start. Within the first 5 days they had received 114,865 entries with 28,944 unique entries, averaging out to be 3.9 entries per user. The promotion ends on April 21 and then the answers will be revealed for each experience. The website will continue to serve as a tool for Americans to build their ideal Australian trip, using the “Someday” trip itineraries that were created for each experience along with Virgin Australia’s Airpass. Special offers from Delta Vacations and Virgin Australia will be available for those who entered, but did not win and still may want to experience their Aussie “someday” now.

I myself may take them up on one of these offers. I’ve always dreamed of “Someday” snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef! 2015 may be a good year to experience “Down Under”.

A couple of Wedding Contests for two different types of couples

If you are planning or even thinking about getting married how would you like to win a contest that awards you with a wedding? Here are a couple of wedding contests that we’re assisting clients with that are targeting two totally different audiences.

The first one is the Bahamas 16 Islands Wedding Invitation. This contest is sponsored by the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism who have been promoting their Islands as a perfect wedding destination. Their website offers 16 different wedding packages from among their 16 islands.

The contest invites participants to enter the contest by visiting the Sponsor’s website, bahamas16islandsweddings.com or their Facebook page. To enter they must first pick their top 3 Bahama Islands in order of their preference and then explain why they should win their dream wedding. The submission may consist of a either a photo with a written essay or a link to a video and convey why they should win a wedding in The Bahamas. Both the photo and the video should include the entrant with their partner. The written essay should be no longer than 250 words and the video should be no longer that one minute.

The contest launched on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14th and submissions are being accepted up till June. 13. All the submissions can be reviewed here on the site which now has about 1,200 submissions. Justin Hancock, Digital Content Manager at the Zimmerman Agency, (Sponsor’s agency) stated that “So far we’ve seen great success in gaining entries through Facebook and our 16 Weddings landing page. From quality video and image content, to creating an email database from the users who have opted in to receive our targeted emails, we’re very excited with the results of the campaign at this point.”

Starting on June 14 through the 30 the public will be invited to vote for their favorite couples. At the end of the Voting Phase a panel of judges will review all the submissions and choose 16 grand prize winners, one winner per island who will each receive a wedding package to take place on one of the 16 different islands in The Bahamas. The judging criteria is based on the following: Public Appeal 30%, Creativity 40% and Quality of Submission 30%. Some stories are very heartwarming, so I invite you to take a read here.

The wedding packages range from The Royal Bliss on Paradise Island which is the most elaborate valued at $5,645, to Colour Me with Love on the Island Nassau with a value of $2,210, to the smallest package such as Seashell Beauty on Crooked Island valued at $1,300. All wedding packages come with a Marriage Officiant, Processing of Legal Documents, Transfers to and from Registrar General’s or Commissioner’s Office, Bridal Bouquet, Groom’s Boutonniere, Ceremony Site and a Wedding Coordinator. Even if you aren’t planning on getting married, may be worth a story to help celebrate your anniversary.

The second contest is sponsored by the folks at VisitDenmark which is called Validate Your Love in Copenhagen. Denmark is celebrating 25 years of same-sex civil unions. They are inviting same-sex couples to enter the contest for a chance to win a trip to Copenhagen to get married during the outrageously fun and extravagant Eurovision Song Contest festivities. Denmark is known for hosting many gay and lesbian events during the year, including the annual Copenhagen Pride Week festival that takes place in August each year.

Participants are invited to the VisitDenmark website and instructed to upload an inspirational and creative photo or video explaining why they want to get married in Copenhagen. Or they can post their video or photo on YouTube, Vine, Vmeo, or Instagram and include the link to it in the designated field on the entry form. If they use Instagram they must provide their Instagram handle.

One grand prize winner will win a trip for two people to Copenhagen to get married on May 9, 2014. The wedding will take place on the cobble stoned square of Højbro Plads which is located on the Eurovision Fan Mile in the city center of Copenhagen in vicinity of the Danish Parliament, Christiansborg, the first place in the world to acknowledge and legalize same-sex civil partnerships. The wedding ceremony will be performed with other aspiring wedding couples from around the world, and is not a personalized wedding ceremony.

Submissions for the Validate Your Love contest will be accepted up till April 6. No voting is is included in this contest. A panel of judges will review all the submissions and choose the winner based on this criteria; Originality and Creativity 35% and Relation to the theme sixty-five 65%.

So there you have it. Two different wedding contests, both with weddings taking place on two different specific dates, in two different places in the world, targeted to two different audiences.

NCAA March Madness is here and so finally is Spring!

After experiencing the coldest winter that most of in here in the Northeast can recall in our lifetime, we are all finally welcoming Spring which officially arrives tomorrow at 12:57 pm ET. But they say we won’t really feel it since this cold pattern here is expected to last through the end of March. With the arrival of Spring, tomorrow also kicks off this year’s NCAA March Madness tourney. Have you got your brackets done yet? Better hurry.

It happens every year this time. The productivity in the office goes way down as people discuss their bracket choices and who’s in and who’s out as the games go on. This year every game will be streamed live online, so there will be many monitors in the office focused here. NCAA fans will be visiting Buffalo who is host to the tournament through the weekend. Our local favorite team, Syracuse Orange (3rd seed), kick off there tomorrow afternoon against the Western Michigan Bronco’s (14th seed). I have to admit, I still don’t understand the whole seed thing and I’ve read many predictions of who’s going to win based on past seed placement, but really who knows!

LG Electronics USA is in its fifth year as an NCAA corporate sponsor and this year they are inviting fans to “Do Game Day Right.” Fans can explore the LG Locker Room from the LG Facebook page where they can enter the Locker Room Sweepstakes for a chance to win a trip to the 2014 NCAA® Final Four™ tournament happening in Northern Texas. Fans can also enter any where online that they see this ‘Sweeps’ pennant graphic that is located on over 50 different retail websites that carry LG products. Other great prizes include chances to win LG products such as a LG Washer and Dryer pair, a 55″ and a 47″ LG Smart TV, a LG G Pad and a LG Countertop Microwave. Entries are being accepted daily through 3/28/14.

LG is also giving fans another way to win a trip for 2 to the 2015 NCAA® Division 1 Men’s Basketball championship with a contest inviting them to post in Vine and show their game day passion. Fans now have only up till March 21 to create a video showing how they “Do GameDay Right” using the Vine mobile app. Fans must also follow @LGUS on Twitter and tweet their Vine with the hashtag #LGGameday where you can view many of these videos.

Once the Submission period has ended, 50 Semi-Finalists will be randomly selected and from those a panel of judges will choose the top 10 Finalists based on the following judging criteria: Passion and excitement conveyed with relation to the contest theme – 50%; Originality and creativity – 25%; Clarity and quality of video – 25%. The public will then be able to vote on their favorite from the 10 Finalists the judges have picked. The grand prize winner will be determined by the video that receives the most votes.

For those of you still looking for a Brackets challenge to submit, here’s one from Quicken Loans that’s on Yahoo offering a chance to win a Billion Dollars! Good Luck everyone and go CUSE!