Last weekend, the Minnesota Vikings pulled off a last second, amazing win against the New Orleans Saints with an unbelievable touchdown by Stefon Diggs. The Jacksonville Jaguars pulled off a big upset against the Pittsburgh Steelers, who most thought would be the team playing the New England Patriots this coming weekend after the Patriots beat the Tennessee Titans. And the Philadelphia Eagles did win against the Atlanta Falcons. So the NFL Playoffs continue and the road to the Super Bowl LII now looks like this:
Some information about this year’s Super Bowl ads are starting to come out. Pepsi is bring back Cindy Crawford in an update of their classic 1992’s spot. The new 30-second ad is named “This Is the Pepsi,” and also features Crawford’s 18-year-old son, Presley Walker Gerber. Parent company, PepsiCo, will also be running two consecutive 30-second ads for its two of it’s products, Doritos Blaze and Mtn Dew Ice, in one single 60-second slot during this year’s Super Bowl.A teaser video (below) promises a face-off between actors Peter Dinklage and Morgan Freeman, representing Doritos Blaze and Mtn Dew Ice.
Last Super Bowl was the first year that Doritos hadn’t advertised during the Super Bowl. They ended their 10-year run of their “Crash the Super Bowl” contest that invited consumers to create ads. I started writing about this promotion back in 2009 with this post. Mountain Dew’s last Super Bowl ad was 2016’s “Puppymonkeybaby” — a spot that ranked high in performance of the game’s ads.
Skittles is also back this year, but in a different way. They won’t be running a commercial during the Super Bowl, but instead they are creating a “real, multimillion-dollar Super Bowl ad,” featuring a celebrity that they haven’t revealed yet. However, this ad will be viewed by just one Skittles fan, Marcos Menendez, a 17 year old from Canoga Park, Calif., who, according to the brand, was chosen because he’s a real Skittles fan. Facebook viewers will get to see Menendez’s reaction as he views the 60-second ad for the first time which will be livestreamed on Skittles’ Facebook channel on Super Bowl Sunday.
They have also partnered up with the Snickers brand in running the Super Bowl LII Rivalry 2018 Sweepstakes and Instant Win Game Promotion. This promotion started in December and runs till February 28. People can enter by texting the word “SNICKERS” or “SKITTLES” to 87654 to receive one entry into the Grand Prize Sweepstakes Drawing, and have one opportunity to win an Instant Win prize that is based on their time of entry. People can also enter online at www.teamskittles.com or www.teamsnickers.com . Two grand prize winners will each win 2018 season tickets to an NFL team of their choice valued at $5,000 each. The Instant Win prizes consists of 100 Electronic Arts/Madden NFL Game, 250 Team SNICKERS® and Team SKITTLES® Tailgating Kits, which include a Knit Hat and a Coffee Tumble, and 25,000 coupons good for a free pack of Skittles and a free Snickers bar. Total value of these instant win prizes comes to $100,000!
Stay tuned next week for more coverage as the road to Super Bowl LII continues.
I started writing about the NFL playoffs last week with this post that featured one sweepstakes we’re assisting with that is tying into the football season. Us Buffalo Bills fans got a huge New Year’s present when the Bills finally ended their playoff drought by winning a Wild Card spot in the AFC, which was their first time in 17 years. They played the Jacksonville Jaguars last Sunday and lost 10-3. Us Bills fans would have loved to see the Bills win this game, but after a year with a brand new coach and general manager along with losing some key players, we’re pretty amazed that they got this far.
So the road to Super Bowl LII now continues without the Bills. I will be covering some of the ads and promotional campaigns associated with Super Bowl LII here on my blog, which has been one of my yearly traditions. This year the game will be hosted on February 4, in the U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, the new home of the Minnesota Vikings. There now are only eight teams left in the postseason hunt. Here’s what the NFL playoff picture looks like.
Some are saying the Patriots are the favorites to win again. Others say that the Vikings have an edge since they’d be playing in their home stadium. Others think the Steelers have a great chance of beating the Patriots to make it to the championship game. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Pepsi is again the sponsor of this year’s Halftime Show. The Pepsi Super Bowl LII Halftime Show will include Justin Timberlake this year. It’s his second time as a halftime show performer, back from the now infamous wardrobe malfunction with Janet Jackson in 2004. It was recently announced that Pink will sing the National Anthem this year which we hope that during this she will be the center of attention and not who’s kneeling or not kneeling.
Pepsi was running the Super Bowl LII Trip Sweepstakes which was offering a chance to win a trip to Minneapolis including end zone tickets for the Big Game, admission to a Super Bowl party, transportation, and more valued at $7,800. This sweepstakes is now ended. They now are running a promotion where if you purchase $20 of any PEPSICO products, which includes all their brands such as Pepsi, Doritos, Tostitos and Mountain Dew, you can get $20 back in product coupons by mail.
Another big NFL sponsor, Bud Light, is also awarding tickets to the Super Bowl and is back with their Super Bowl Tickets for Life Sweepstakes. Participants have a chance to win a trip to this year’s Super Bowl Game along with three guests and also receive four tickets to every Super Bowl game during their lifetime, up to 30 years. The Grand Prize is valued at $195,300. Participants have to look inside specially- marked packages of Bud Light for a code and then visit budlight.com/sbtix4lifethe and enter the code into the entry form. They can also enter without the code online or they can text SBTIX4LIFE to shortcode 50563 to receive an entry.The chance to enter to win the Grand Prize ends soon, 1/14. First prize winners have up til 1/22 to enter for a chance to win one of 2,000 Bud Light Super Bowl LII hats.
The sweepstakes will be promoted in a TV spot that will continue to utilize it’s “Dilly Dilly” phrase with its “Game of Thrones”spoofing creative. The entry form states “Live Like A King. Entereth here for thy chance to winneth Super Bowl tickets for life.” The “Dilly Dilly” phrase was first used by Bud Light in August, in a “Banquet” ad under the brand’s “Famous Among Friends” marketing platform. That spot has been viewed more than 1.64 million times on Bud Light’s YouTube page. The brand has used the catch phrase in other creative several times since. Back in November, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger gave “Dilly Dilly” the kind of free publicity brands love when he shouted it out during a game against the Tennessee Titans.
Stay tuned for more coverage as the road to Super Bowl LII continues.
We welcome the New Year with sub-zero temperatures in Western New York. So hopefully it’s only going to get better from here.
Now that we’re into January it also means that we’re into NFL Playoffs and a countdown to Super Bowl LII. Last weekend us Buffalo Bills fans got a huge New Year’s present. The Bills won a Wild Card spot in the AFC by beating the Miami Dolphins in the last game of the season. However, they needed the Cincinnati Bengals to beat the Baltimore Ravens in their last game as well. The Ravens had come back to lead the game and the Bengals where driving down the field in the last minutes. It was 4th down with 12 yards to the goal and the Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton threw an amazing pass to the receiver who scored with no time left in the game. Buffalo Bills and their fans all went crazy.
For those that may not be aware, this win by the Bengals helped propel the Bills into the playoffs for the first time in 17 years which was the longest drought on record of any major sports team. The Bills sent the Bengals buffalo wings provided by Duff’s to thank them. One hardcore fan made a $30 online donation to the Andy & Jordan Dalton Foundation. He then tweeted about it challenging fellow Bills fans to “show Andy Dalton some love.” They sure did. The total amount of donations to the Daltons’ charity, which helps children and families in need in the Cincinnati area, is now over $315,000 reported by the Buffalo News.
Now the Bills play the Jacksonville Jaguars this Sunday in Jacksonville to see who moves on. We’d love to see the Bills win this game as well, but either way they made it this far in a year with a brand new coach and general manager. And they finally ended the playoff drought!
We’ve started working with a new client, NatureSweet Tomatoes, and we’ve just kicked off their first sweepstakes with us that went live January 1. The Snacking for the Big Game Sweepstakes is offering a chance to win a 65″ smart TV while promoting their Sunbursts and Glorys. We created their online form which participants can enter here at www.NatureSweetSweeps.com.
We are again using the Shortstack Application to build the entry form and collect all the entrant’s data. All of Shortstack’s entry pages are mobile friendly from the start with Shortstack’s “One Campaign for any screen” design philosophy. They added some new features to the platform last year 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.
NatureSweet is promoting this sweepstakes in various grocery stores with point of sale pieces that match the graphic seen here and online. The sweepstakes runs till February 10. By then we should know who has won this year’s Super Bowl Championship. The predictions are that the New England Patriots will face off against the Minnesota Vikings which will take place in Minnesota’s new stadium. The Patriots are the favorites to win. We’ll see!
Interest in running text-to-win sweepstakes is continuing to grow. Not only is it very popular with alcohol beverage brands, it is gaining popularity with other consumer brands sold at major retailers.
We’ve been working with the Republic National Distributing Company who is the second largest alcohol beverage distributor in the U.S. We worked with them earlier this year that I wrote about here when they were assisting Pernod Ricard with their Absolut Vodka and Martell Cognac Brands, each with a text-to-win sweepstakes. We’re working with them again on another text to win sweepstakes as they are now assisting Edrington Americas with their Macallen Scotch Whiskey Brand. The Macallan Distillers Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Edrington Group.
The Macallen DoubleCask Sweepstakes invites residents of Texas, 21 and older, to text DoubleCask to 65047 for a chance to win a trip for two to Edinburgh, Scotland. The prize includes round-trip airline tickets to Edinburgh, 5 day/4 night hotel accommodations in Edinburgh and a tour of the Famous Grouse Experience, Scotland’s oldest working distillery. The prize package is valued at $4,000. The sweepstakes runs till January 31, 2018. Pictured above is a copy of their shelf talker and to the left is their shelf blade, both point-of-sale pieces they have created to gain awareness of the sweepstakes at various retailers in Texas.
We need to make sure that entrants are 21 years of age or older since this sweepstakes is for an alcohol beverage brand. So we’ve set it up that each entrant receives a message back when they text in with a link to a very brief mobile form in which they have to enter their date of birth along with their name and email address. Once completed they receive another message confirming their entry which also has a link to the official rules. By collecting mobile phone numbers, all entrants are automatically subscribed to a text messaging list in which they can receive future text messages from the sponsor and opt-out at any time.
We also have a new client that we are working with on their first text-to-win sweepstakes through our sister company, Alliance Sweepstakes, which is Fiji Water. They have decided to test the waters with text-to-win in Canada for the first time. This sweepstakes is only open to legal residents of the provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, 18 or older. This recently started on December 6 and runs till February 6.
They are also giving away a trip, this one to Fiji. The prize includes 2 round-trip tickets from Canada to Nadi, Fiji Islands, 7 nights’ hotel accommodations at a hotel that includes daily breakfast, lunch and dinner along with 2 excursions or activities in Fiji. The prize package is valued at $10,000 Canadian. Fiji Water is working with Mac’s Convenience Stores in Western Canada to promote the sweepstakes at many of their retail locations.
We’ve been working with a mobile platform in the U.S. for the past couple of years called Sweeppea. Their platform doesn’t work with the Canadian Carriers, so I had to find a new company for the Fiji Water promotion. I found this company, MODI$club, who have been giving me great customer service on this first promotion. So hopefully we’ll do more business in Canada with them.
I’ve just received approval on another text-to-win promotion for a new client that will start January 1. They have expressed interest in doing 3 text-to-win sweepstakes in 2018. We also have an existing client that has signed up for five more text-to-win sweepstakes in 2018. So it certainly seems like 2018 we’ll see an significant increase in these types of promotions.
I attended the 39th Annual Marketing Law Conference hosted by the ANA/BAA that took place right before the Thanksgiving Holiday . The ANA (Association of National Advertisers) acquired the BAA (Brand Activation Association) back in 2014 and they have continued to host this annual event. I’ve been attending this event now for over 10 years and have met some of the new team members, but many of the presenting sponsors have remained the same and the content has always been very informative.
They had another great year in attendance with over 750 professionals ranging from leading regulators, legislators, corporate counsel, marketers and technology innovators who gathered again at the Marriott Hotel on Michigan Ave. This year’s conference was titled “BREAK THROUGH: Legal Strategies for Dynamic Businesses”.
I arrived in Chicago the afternoon of the first day of the conference, so I missed the morning sessions. One that they hold each year is the Basics of Promotion, Sweepstakes and Contests, so I usually don’t mind skipping that. I was able to make the afternoon session on “The Latest Hot Button Issues in Real-Time Marketing and Social Media”. This was a panel session that included legal Counsel from Coca-Cola, Intel, MasterCard with the moderator from the firm Davis & Gilbert. They reviewed some of the key issues that can arise when your social media team wants to post something online in real-time. The now famous Oreo cookie tweet that was posted when the lights went out in the New Orleans Super Dome during the Ravens v. 49ers Super Bowl game was brought up as a successful example. But several others noted have not been.
One of the highlights of the conference each year comes from Linda Goldstein, a Partner and Head of the Advertising, Marketing and Media practice at BalkerHostetler in New York who delivered her annual industry review on the morning of Day 2. Linda’s presentation focused on Sweepstakes, Contests, Privacy, Digital and Social Media. She opened up stating that “mobile now has become the glue to our digital world” and she associated the phone to an adult pacifier. Linda stated that there are now 4.1 billion users of mobile messaging apps and that by 2020 there will be 10x’s the number of devices as there are people in the world.
Influencer marketing was the term that we heard the most about at this year’s conference and Linda stated that 2018 will be the year of the micro-influencer. These are some of the same people that started out blogging and posting videos on YouTube. They have now become more important to brands then celebrities and the FTC has been closely watching this trend. The FTC sent 90 influencer warning letters this past April after reviewing numerous Instagram posts by celebrities, athletes, and other influencers, in response to complaints by consumer watchdog groups. These letters were to remind influencers and marketers that influencers should clearly and conspicuously disclose their relationships to brands when promoting or endorsing products through social media. The FTC provided further endorsement guidelines on how to do this. As this relates to sweepstakes and contests, we have been informing our clients to always include in their hashtag the word sweepstakes or contest as part of the promotional hashtag or as a second hashtag that should be used in all tweets that gain a participant an entry in order to stay compliant with these FTC guidelines.
Linda entertained us through her presentation with video clips that showcased how a brand might soon be able to change their marketing in real time. She showed a male who was making an in-store purchasing decision on perfume for his girlfriend’s birthday present. His girlfriend bought her favorite perfume before and he was trying to figure out the right brand. These marketers where able to make changes to the packaging in store in order to help him remember and persuaded his purchase.
She also reviewed again this year how we need to be careful with sweepstakes and contests that ask the participant to post a photo. The Oreo Dunk Sweepstakes asked participants to take a photo or video with their favorite Oreo. That is very hard to do in a store without purchase, so they included an AMOE. Contests must involve a a genuine level of skill and include objective criteria with qualified judges that can apply that criteria. Beware of public judging, using votes, and take steps to preserve the skill level. It is recommended to limit impact of pubic judging which also minimizes risk of brand embarrassment. You want to avoid a popularity contest, so put rules in place and don’t incentivize extra votes.
As far as consideration in mobile promotions, data charges may apply if having to use only a mobile app. Each entry that is made via a mobile device will result in a message or data charge or debit to the user’s account. While there is some debate as to whether standard text message data charges “should” be deemed to constitute consideration, the prudent approach is to treat these charges as consideration and provide an AMOE. You should also always disclose that text messaging charges may apply. Again there still has not been any lawsuits in text-to-win sweepstakes that don’t include the AMOE, but it’s a risk that your company may not want to take.
On the morning of Day 3 we were treated to another highly entertaining presentation from Ron Urbach, Chairman/Davis & Gilbert LLP, which was titled “Transformation Sweeping Advertising and Marketing: Key Trends and Legal Developments”. Ron not only discussed what some of these trends are, but also how lawyers are responding to keep up with them and the demands of their clients. He brought up the term “Fake News” which he referred to as the “dark underbelly of social media” referencing the ads that were bought by so called Russian companies and not properly disclosed as such. Because of this, and other issues, consumers aren’t sure of who they can trust and are placing more of their trust in digital social media influencers. He also mentioned how these influencers are replacing celebrities and are changing the way advertising is created.
Influcencer Marketing is not only the latest trend, it is also one of the most cost-effective. Ron cited that studies have shown that working with influencers on a multi-channel campaign can drive up to 16 times more engagement than paid or owned media. Brands are working with these “micro”, lesser known influencers, who have smaller amount of followers, but their followers are more loyal. They must be true to their followers and also to the brand. Many are now working through multi-channel networks, turning these influencers into virtual content studios. The agencies may still be developing the overall creative concept, but the actual content is now created by all. Ron also cited the FTC letters that were sent to many influceners this past year and the updates to the endorsement guidelines that they posted.
All in all it was another great, full 3 days in Chicago and I’m looking forward to coming back again next year. I stayed an extra night and day this year to meet up with my daughter, Alex, who now is living outside of Chicago working as a veterinarian in an animal hospital in Libertyville, IL. I had dinner with her and her boyfriend, Tyler, Wednesday evening. Then Alex and I got to do some shopping up and down Michigan Ave. the next day before she took me to the airport to fly back home. We bought each other Christmas presents, though she kept hers and I won’t get mine till Christmas Day when she’ll be coming home.
Robbins Brothers has just launched one of the first holiday promotions that we are assisting with that includes a pretty large prize pool, $100,000! Their Epic Holiday Adventure Giveaway is offering a chance to win one of three amazing adventure prizes; a Dream Wedding, a Fiji Vacation or a Indian Motorcycle.
Robbins Brothers is known as the Engagement Ring Store. They claim to have more ring designers than anywhere else. Their locations are mostly in California and Texas, with one also in the Phoenix/ Scottsdale area and two stores in the state of Washington. So therefore the sweepstakes is only open to residents of Arizona, California, Texas and Washington. Robbins Brothers goal is to drive people to their stores and their website during the holiday season. Facebook compiled data from more than 2.5 million users and found that one-third of people get engaged between November and December with Christmas Eve being the most popular day, followed by Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.
Now through December 22, people are invited to visit a Robbins Brothers store, speak with a store representative, provide them with their name and contact information along with their choice of one of the three prizes offered to receive an entry into the sweepstakes for the prize they selected. People can also visit the website to enter the sweepstakes by submitting the same information. Robbins Brothers is using TV, radio, newspaper and online ads to advertise the sweepstakes as well as in-store signage.
The first prize is a 2015 Indian® motorcycle which has been fully customized from a partnership between Robbins Brothers and the Gas Monkey Garage®. Since 1901 Indian® Motorcycles has been creating iconic bikes for the discerning rider. Now, this legend is reborn and given a subtle dose of romantic identity. They took comfort into consideration and added unique leather trim and Dirty Bird Concepts seating that features comfort for two for the short or long haul. This is no ordinary machine – it’s an emotionally inspired piece of art which is valued at $75,000.
The next prize is a Fiji Island Getaway all-inclusive trip for two which Robbins Brothers has partnered with Fiji Vacations to offer. The winner and their guest will fly to Savasi Island Resort, a private island where they will spend 7 nights in one of the only seven residences on the resort. These are luxury accommodations which include their own private pool, a luxurious spa-like bathroom and beautiful Fijiian arts and crafts style décor. The package also includes two excursions, one is a Vuodomo Waterfall and village visit, and the other is a Salt Lake River kayaking trip. Breakfast, lunch and dinner is also served daily for both guests. This package if valued at $15,000.
Lastly the third prize is $10,000 that may be applied to a wedding reception, anniversary celebration or to spruce up their home.
Each entrant can choose one of these great prizes that they wish to be entered in that drawing. We will be doing the drawings right after Christmas and before the New Year. So 3 lucky winners will have a great start into 2018!
Here is again another truly unique sweepstakes prize experience being offered by Exotic Estates in their new sweepstakes Maui Villa Vacation Sweepstakes.
This is the third sweepstakes we’ve assisted Exotic Estates with our administration services. They are a luxury vacation rental and real estate agency dealing mostly with properties throughout the US including Hawaii and Alaska, the Caribbean and Mexico. Their first sweepstakes was on the big island of Hawaii and their second was to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. This time Exotic Estates has partnered with four other companies to offer an amazing experience valued at over $11,000.
The sweepstakes recently launched on October 18 and runs till December 10. One lucky winner will receive a 5 night stay for up to 6 guests at a stunning Exotic Estates luxury Maui Villa near Lahaina. The villa has a lagoon-style pool and breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean and the outer island of Lanai. Exotic Estates is also including two round-trip airline tickets from the US Mainland to Maui, Hawaii for the winner and one guest.
The winner and all their guests can also enjoy the gorgeous beauty of the Valley Isle from the air in a custom helicopter tour of Maui provided by Maverick Helicopters Maui, one of the partners.
Also included is a four-course in-villa meal for up to six people provided by Maui’s favorite private chefs, The Beast and Spoon. They use all Hawaiian ingredients and aim to be the best food experiences on Maui!
It wouldn’t be a full Hawaiian experience without these two partners. Waves Hawaii, a small family run surf school, is offering a private surf lesson for all guests that will truly be a 5-star surfing experience! A staple on Ka’anapali beach, Sea Maui is providing a West Maui snorkel trip where guests can get up close and personal with some of Maui’s sea life.
As with the other two sweepstakes, Exotic Estates goals are to increase brand awareness for them and their partners. They also want to grow their email databases and increase their social fan bases. Exotic Estates is running online campaigns that target their client demographic. John Di Rienzo, Director of Marketing & Business Development for Exotic Estates, stated “It’s our hope that this sweepstakes will also grow our fan base and email database with new leads that will ultimately convert to future clients and new revenue”. Their first Hawaii sweepstakes pulled in just over 9,500 entries and their Cabo San Lucas sweepstakes had almost 7,000 entries.
The Grand Prize winner and their guests must agree to filming and/or photo shoot requests which may take place during the in-villa dinning and/or during other activities listed as part of the prize package. These may be used by Exotic Estates for future publicity and marketing communications. So be sure to check it out along with some of the amazing luxury accommodations Exotic Estates offers.
The 2017 MLB World Series got under way at last evening at Dodgers Stadium with the Los Angeles Dodgers hosting the Houston Astros. It turned out to be the hottest game ever played in the World Series with 103 degrees at the start of the game. It also was the shortest game played since 1992 which only took 2 hours, 28. Chris Taylor of the Dodgers hit a home run on the first pitch by Dallas Keuchel’s first pitch which went well over the left field wall for a 1-0 lead. Dodgers won the game 3-1 with a lot of help from their ace pitcher Clayton Kershaw who had 11 strikeouts which certainly helped speed things along.
Once again Taco Bell is running their “Steal a Base, Steal a Taco” campaign, like that they did last year. Taco Bell is offering free tacos to all if a player steals a base in any World Series game this year. Here’s how the promotion works: If a player steals a base in either Game 1 or Game 2, Taco Bell will be dishing out a free Doritos Locos Taco to each customer at participating locations from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 1.
There were no stolen based in Game 1 last night, so we didn’t see a repeat from the first inning of Game 1 of the 2016 World Series where the Cleveland Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor scored free tacos for all after he stole second base against the Chicago Cubs. So we’ll be watching tonight to see if Game 2 comes through for all those Taco Bell lovers. If not Taco Bell is still offering the promotion for Game 3 through Game 7. Any stolen base in the latter games Taco Bell will be doing the giveaway on Nov. 7 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Customers are limited to one Locos Taco while supplies last, a $1.69 value.
With tickets last night going for over $1,200, most fans would have liked the game to have been longer. But with the heat, most players were glad it was short. It’s been 29 years since the Dodgers won their sixth world championship in franchise history. Though they’ve made 11 trips to the postseason since 1988 and advanced to the National League Championship Series five times, the Dodgers hadn’t made it back to the World Series until this year. They had the best standing in the whole league with 104 wins beating out 102 from the Indians and 101 from the Astros. This World Series should be fun with it being the first since 1970 with two 100-plus win teams.
This is the Astros’ first pennant as an American League team. They switched over from the National League in time for the 2013 season. So they are going for their first World Series title in franchise history. Last season the Cubs broke that longest drought in the league’s history with 108 years. They did so against the Cleveland Indians, who haven’t won it all since 1948. So this maybe the Astros will make some new history this this year. Tonight will give us a good clue.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette recently launched a new app that allows it’s readers to experience the news through a new digital communications medium the company has developed called PG NewsSlide. The company executives believe this new technology will reinvent the business model for newspapers. They claim that NewsSlide will take the daily newspaper audience beyond what is possible with the print edition by providing a deeper, more immersive relationship that includes text, video, animation, photographs and interactive elements including charts, graphs and maps.
The platform runs on both iPhone or Android mobile devices including tablets and can be downloaded for free from the iTunes or Google Play Store. The app is described as a platform that delivers a visually powerful, immersive experience. NewsSlide goes beyond words and pictures. It’s a completely reimagined multimedia experience delivering award-winning coverage of Pittsburgh sports and news with a depth and breadth second to none.
To encourage their readers to download the app and give it a try the Post-Gazette launched a sweepstakes called the “Slide Into a Grand” Sweepstakes. The sweepstakes is awarding one person a week $1,000 for a total of 6 weeks. Entrants must first download the Post-Gazette NewsSlide app to their personal mobile device. Once they have the app they need to navigate to the sweepstakes entry form within the app to register for the sweepstakes by filling out and submitting the required fields to gain an entry into the sweepstakes. They also need to be a resident of Pennsylvania to be eligible.
Like the print newspaper that arrives each morning, an electronic edition of NewsSlide will be sent each morning by 5 a.m. to users’ tablets, and mobile devices. “The future for the newspaper industry is digital,” said Allan Block, chairman of Toledo, Ohio-based Block Communications, which owns the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “That doesn’t mean we won’t continue to print for a while. But digital is the future. NewsSlide is an attempt to break out of the current business model and create a new business model for the future.”
NewsSlide is also expected to be a game-changer for advertisers. Allan Block stated that it would “engage users at a new level.” He described NewsSlide as ”a sales platform to facilitate e-commerce,” adding “We envision a brick-and-mortar business will utilize NewsSlide to improve the e-commerce experience. An ad in this medium can lead customers to a seamless transition to an e-commerce transaction.”
We’ve been working with one of the Post-Gazette’s agencies, Garrison Hughes, who is based in Pittsburgh. They sent us the sweepstakes entries for the first week which was almost 400 people who downloaded the app and entered. The first winner of $1,000 has been notified who is Joseph Schmotze from Pittsburgh. We have five more lucky winners of $1,000 each to still award.
Last weekend, the Minnesota Vikings pulled off a last second, amazing win against the New Orleans Saints with an unbelievable touchdown by Stefon Diggs. The Jacksonville Jaguars pulled off a big upset against the Pittsburgh Steelers, who most thought would be the team playing the New England Patriots this coming weekend after the Patriots beat the Tennessee Titans. And the Philadelphia Eagles did win against the Atlanta Falcons. So the NFL Playoffs continue and the road to the Super Bowl LII now looks like this:
Some information about this year’s Super Bowl ads are starting to come out. Pepsi is bring back Cindy Crawford in an update of their classic 1992’s spot. The new 30-second ad is named “This Is the Pepsi,” and also features Crawford’s 18-year-old son, Presley Walker Gerber. Parent company, PepsiCo, will also be running two consecutive 30-second ads for its two of it’s products, Doritos Blaze and Mtn Dew Ice, in one single 60-second slot during this year’s Super Bowl.A teaser video (below) promises a face-off between actors Peter Dinklage and Morgan Freeman, representing Doritos Blaze and Mtn Dew Ice.
Last Super Bowl was the first year that Doritos hadn’t advertised during the Super Bowl. They ended their 10-year run of their “Crash the Super Bowl” contest that invited consumers to create ads. I started writing about this promotion back in 2009 with this post. Mountain Dew’s last Super Bowl ad was 2016’s “Puppymonkeybaby” — a spot that ranked high in performance of the game’s ads.
Skittles is also back this year, but in a different way. They won’t be running a commercial during the Super Bowl, but instead they are creating a “real, multimillion-dollar Super Bowl ad,” featuring a celebrity that they haven’t revealed yet. However, this ad will be viewed by just one Skittles fan, Marcos Menendez, a 17 year old from Canoga Park, Calif., who, according to the brand, was chosen because he’s a real Skittles fan. Facebook viewers will get to see Menendez’s reaction as he views the 60-second ad for the first time which will be livestreamed on Skittles’ Facebook channel on Super Bowl Sunday.
They have also partnered up with the Snickers brand in running the Super Bowl LII Rivalry 2018 Sweepstakes and Instant Win Game Promotion. This promotion started in December and runs till February 28. People can enter by texting the word “SNICKERS” or “SKITTLES” to 87654 to receive one entry into the Grand Prize Sweepstakes Drawing, and have one opportunity to win an Instant Win prize that is based on their time of entry. People can also enter online at www.teamskittles.com or www.teamsnickers.com . Two grand prize winners will each win 2018 season tickets to an NFL team of their choice valued at $5,000 each. The Instant Win prizes consists of 100 Electronic Arts/Madden NFL Game, 250 Team SNICKERS® and Team SKITTLES® Tailgating Kits, which include a Knit Hat and a Coffee Tumble, and 25,000 coupons good for a free pack of Skittles and a free Snickers bar. Total value of these instant win prizes comes to $100,000!
