Author: Donna DeClemente

Father’s Day is this Sunday, June 18. It appears that this holiday has become almost as huge as Mother’s Day for marketers to get their products and services out if front of consumers. I wrote this post a couple of weeks ago about “Grads and Dads” that included the Templeton Rye Whiskey Sweepstakes as well as a shout out about my daughter’s graduation from veterinary school. So here’s a couple more Father’s Day Sweepstakes from our client, American International Industries (AII Beauty), that we’re assisting with.

AII Beauty also did run a couple of Mother’s Day sweepstakes that I featured in this post, which makes sense because the majority of their brands are beauty products targeted to women. But they do have a few brands for men. The first sweepstakes was for their CLUBMAN Pinaud brand which just ended on June 12. The brand was originally founded in France in 1810, and today its CLUBMAN line of men’s toiletries can be found in virtually every barber shop and men’s club across the United States. These products include colognes, after shave lotions, skin and hair tonics, talcs, deodorants, hair-care products and shave creams.

The current sweepstakes if for their Woody’s For Men brand which is running just till Saturday, June 17. This brand includes men’s grooming products that are directed at the man who is looking for a simple, comfortable daily regimen that offers basic, no-frill products that smell good and get the job done. These include various hair, shaving, body and styling products. They state that these products combine the cool, laid back attitude of surf culture with the style and quality desired by Hollywood’s finest.

A post announcing each sweepstakes ran on each brands Facebook and Instagram sites. The CLUBMAN Pinaud Father’s Day Giveaway asked people to like the post and add a comment that described their memory of their first barbershop experience with their dad. They drew a total of 10 prize winners, 5 from all those that participated on their Facebook page and five from their Instagam page . Each winner received a 9 piece Beard & Shave Kit, a Shave Brush, Hair Tonic and three 6 oz. After Shaves all valued at $235. One Facebook winner posted “Wow thank you. This will be a great gift for my dad.”

The Woody’s For Men  Father’s Day Giveaway also asked people to like the post and the comment they needed to add was to describe a best memory with their dad, or as a dad. 10 prize winners will again be drawn, 5 from all those that participated on their Facebook page and five from their Instagam page. These winners will each receive a 3 piece Body Care Kit, a Woody’s Barber Cape, 1 Love Grenade, 1 Woody’s Cologne and 1 Beard Stuff Kit all valued at $155. Check out some good dad memories shared here already on their Facebook page and on their Instagram page.

My daughters will have to wait till the end of July to celebrate Father’s Day with their dad, which will be the next time we all get together. In the meantime I’m taking him out to dinner on Sunday. Happy Father’s Day to all.

Here’s a new sweepstakes targeted to poker players, or wannabe poker players. We recently started working with the team that runs the Shop. WSOP.com website. Here you can purchase all types of official licensed products of the World Series of Poker such as apparel, hats, poker chips and more.

They recently stared running the WSOP Final Table Giveaway Sweepstakes. All people need to do is join their email mailing list by filling out a few fields on their online entry form. The sweepstakes only runs till June 30 when one lucky winner will win two tickets to the final table of the World Series of Poker. The winner and their guest will have the opportunity to sit at the table when the best poker players in the world go head to head to win the Grand Prize. The Series will be featured on ESPN which is being held at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas July 20, 21 and 22! The prize package also includes $1,000 travel stipend to use for the trip to Las Vegas.

Another sweepstakes that recently launched that we’re assisting with is for a company called Huhtamaki, Inc. You may not recognize their name, but you probably would their largest consumer brand, Chinet. They are running this mobile promotion specifically for Meijer stores. Participants are invited to text the word “Movie” to the short code 65047 to be entered in the Ultimate Backyard Movie Night Sweepstakes. Once they text they will receive a text message back with a link to a mobile optimized entry form that they need to submit in order to complete their entry.

The prize package includes products to help the winners host their dream summer party. The Grand prize includes a voucher for a 65″ TV valued up to $1,399.99 good at any Meijer store. Also included is Charbroil Gas2Coal grill, 2 Lake N Trail chairs, Chinet party product supplies, 4 $100 Meijer Gift Cards and various OFF! products. Two first prize winners will also win a similar package, but not with the TV.

They are utilizing the mobile platform Sweeppea that collects the text entries and all the data from the online form. This is the same mobile platform that we utilize for all our mobile text to win sweepstakes as well.

This is the beginning of the summer promotion season. We’ll be covering more summer sweepstakes and contests here, so stay tuned.

Yesterday was the first of June which officially kicks of the month of grads, dads and weddings, at least that’s what most marketers what us to think. However during the month of May I was honored to attend my daughter’s graduation ceremony which was held at the University of Miami (see photo of her and I). She graduated from Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine which is actually located in St. Kitts. Miami was a little easier for many of us in the U.S. to get to. Congratulations to Alex and to all the college grads of the class of 2017. Now we move on to the high school seniors.

Father’s day is also in June, Sunday the 18th this year. We are currently working on several sweepstakes promotions with a company called Infinium Spirits who has many different alcohol beverage brands. They are promoting their Templeton Rye Whiskey brand with their first sweepstakes which is celebrating Father’s Day. The Templeton Rye Whiskey Dad Sweepstakes recently launched and runs till June 30 offering four people a chance to each win a Templeton Rye Gift pack valued at $250.

People are invited to submit a photo of themselves with their dad, or the father figure in their life, by posting it to either Twitter or Instagram and including the promotional hashtag #TRWHISKEYDADSWEEPSTAKES. We are again utilizing the SEEN hashtag campaign management platform since this type of promotion just uses a hashtag as a means of entry. This ease of entry is one of the biggest benefits of using a hashtag only entry, plus it provides additional social sharing that can help increase the reach of the promotion. The platform pulls in all the posts from Twitter and Instagram that use the promotion-specific hashtag and allows for those posts to be shown in the gallery page as you see here. It allows you to moderate the posts so that you may approve or disapprove them before they are posted to the gallery.

One additional benefit of using this hashtag management tool is that it provides a place to post the official rules that are needed for any sweepstakes or contest. The team at Infinium is promoting the sweepstakes at point-of-sale at various retail locations that carry the brand as well as on their social media sites. It appears that they’re off to a good start with participation on the page since I’ve approved a few posts that are now visible in the gallery. I even posted one of myself with my dad that was taken a few years ago the week of his birthday.

Hope all you dads have a very happy Father’s Day. Make sure to give your dad a big hug and kiss, or a phone call if you can’t be with him, and at the very least, give him a toast. I lost my dad this past March so I will just have to settle for a toast this year.

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.

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.

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 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!

Text-to-win sweepstakes promotions are now being utilized by more and more companies in their marketing mix. It’s an easy way for consumers to enter, especially when they are at an event or at a store location. When they do this you gain their mobile phone number and they are then automatically subscribed to your text messaging list (which they can opt-out at any time).

One of our clients that has been using this promotional method is Deschutes Brewery, a craft beer company headquartered in Oregon. Their beer is available in 29 states throughout the U.S. and in D.C. They had different text-to-win sweepstakes running for 11 months last year, and that is the plan for this year as well.

The way these sweepstakes work is that the participant texts a different keyword for each sweepstakes to the shortcode that we provide. They then receive a message back with a link to a brief, mobile-friendly entry form that they need to fill out and submit to receive an entry into the sweepstakes. So in the case, Deschutes Brewery not only collects their mobile phone number, but their name and email address, and in some cases their mailing address, which makes it easy to ship out the prizes directly to the winners.

We helped them kick off the Stanley Sweepstakes in February that will be running till the end of the year. Participants text “stanley” to the shortcode 65047 for a chance to win one of the 10 Stanley camping kits that they are giving away each month. The camping kit includes a steel growler pack and is valued at $60. Each month we draw the 10 winners for them and participants are welcome to come back and enter daily, although they can only win once.

Now this month we helped them launch the Hobo Hammock Sweepstakes that runs now till the end of August. Participants text “hammock” to 65047 for a chance to win one of 10 Hobo Hammocks each month. We will also draw the 10 winners at the end of each month for this sweepstakes and, as in the Stanley Sweepstakes, participants can enter daily.

Besides the ease of entry for consumers, Deschutes Brewery receives extra awareness at the retail and bar locations. In fact many alcohol beverage brands are now utilizing text to win and other types of sweepstakes promotions in order to gain the extra display and point of sale that promote the sweepstakes. I wrote this post last week about a couple of sweepstakes we helped Rutherford Ranch run that has gained them this extra awareness for two of their brands. We have a few spirit brands that we’re also assisting them with that will be running during the next few months.

In the heart of Napa Valley is the Rutherford Ranch Winery, a family-owned and family farmed winery. They were named ‘Napa Winery of the Year’ at the 2013 New York International Wine Competition. The Rutherford Wine portfolio includes Rutherford Ranch, Scott Family Estate, Predator Wines, Lander-Jenkins Wines, Rhiannon, Silver Buckle, Round Hill and extensive Private Label offerings.

Last year through our sister company, Alliance Sweepstakes Services, we ran a promotion for their Lander-Jenkins Wines called Support the Next Generation of Farmers Sweepstakes. They had partnered up with the National Young Farmers Coalition to help increase awareness that farming is a public service. So for each bottle of Lander-Jenkins wines purchased, they made a donation to help support the next generation of farmers.

For the sweepstakes two grand prize winners received a gardening kit valued at $200 and 100 first prize winners received a t-shirt supporting the cause. They printed neck ringers, case cards and shelf talkers to display at point-of-sale in retail locations and featured the promotion on their Facebook page and website.

This year a promotion for their Rutherford Ranch Two Range Napa Valley Red Wine brand is currently running . The Ride the Range Sweepstakes started in March and continues till May 31. Three Grand Prize winners will each receive a custom-made Ride the Range bicycle by Detroit Bikes which is valued at $900. Plus six First Prize winners will each receive a custom bike helmet and riding jersey.

For this sweepstakes they also printed neck ringers, case cards and shelf talkers to display at point-of-sale in retail locations and featured the promotion on their Facebook page and website. Both of these sweepstakes promotions helped them to engage their fans on Facebook and to gain awareness at point-of-sale.

We set up the sweepstakes entry pages for both of these sweepstakes again using the Shortstack Application. Shortstack first started out as a Facebook application. They have broaden the capabilities of their platform and you can now install the app on a Facebook page and also embed the entry form on any webpage or host online as a separate promotional micro-site which we are doing for Rutherford Wine. Both entry forms are utilizing the same graphics and all entries go into one database. This allows for only one entry per day, per email regardless of what method they entered from.

All of Shortstack’s entry pages are mobile friendly from the start with Shortstack’s “One Campaign for any screen” design philosophy. Recently they have added some new features to the platform that make adding CSS coding very easy for those of us that don’t have much programming experience. If you would like more details on how to set up a promotion utilizing the Shortstack platform, please feel free to contact me. It’s a great tool and it also includes a great team of support people.

I haven’t had a chance to visit Napa Valley yet, but it hopefully will be in my plans sometime during the next couple of years. I will definitely visit the Rutherford Ranch Winery then, but in the meantime I will be sampling some more of their wines. Give them a taste.