Category: Blog

The Waterfowlers Dream Boat Giveaway

The team at Banded Holdings kicked off earlier this month a new sweepstakes that we’re again assisting them with called The Waterfowlers Dream Boat Giveaway. Last month I wrote about another very unique sweepstakes we’ve been working with them on, The Bring Avery Home Sweepstakes, in which the main highlight is the prize, Avery, the hunting dog. The Waterfowlers Dream Boat Giveaway is also unique because one grand prize winner will take it all…a prize package valued at almost $19,000.

The prize package consists of  a special,custom Banded Edition “Gladiator” War Eagle Boat, finished in Mossy Oak camo, that comes with a trailer and a GatorTail GTRXD 37HP-EFI Motor. Plus the winner receives a whole bunch of Banded, Avery and GHG Decoy Systems hunting gear. All participants need to do is visit the promotional website and fill out and submit the entry form.

Now if you’re like me your thinking, what would I do with this prize package? If so then you, like me, are not part of Banded’s community. BANDED was originally formed by a group of avid outdoorsmen, innovators, and product designers that joined forces after years of working in the outdoor industry. Their goal has been to create superior products to enhance the outdoor experience with a special focus on duck hunters.

Banded.com offers over 600 items representing a diverse line of product categories which include outerwear, waders, boots, hunting accessories, blinds, decoys, calls and more. It not only includes outdoor merchandise for sale, but also some informative content targeted specifically for the Banded community. Users can find hunting tips, recent news items along with a couple of video series.

Last year I wrote about another big prize package that they offered which included not only the boat and trailer, but also the truck to tow it with in their Greatest Outdoor Giveaway Sweepstakes. They are a true testament that sweepstakes really work for them which has helped to grow their community. This year’s Waterfowlers Dream Boat Giveaway runs till November 7 and the winner should be announced on November 25.

The Ultimate Summer BBQ Sweepstakes from Seagram’s

The summer season of promotions is now in full swing. Last month I wrote this post regarding a Father’s Day promotion we were working on which was the first of several for Infinium Spirits who has many different alcohol beverage brands. That sweepstakes was for their Templeton Rye brand and now the current sweepstakes is for their Seagram’s Vodka brand.

The Ultimate Summer BBQ Sweepstakes kicked off on July 1 and runs till the end of August. Participants are invited to enter for a chance to win one of four grand prizes which are a $250 Visa Gift Card that they may use for the all the fixings to throw their own ultimate Summer BBQ.

The sweepstakes is being promoted on neck hangers on the Seagram’s bottle in store where participants are instructed to text “Seagrams” to the shortcode 6507 to be entered. 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. The Seagram’s marketing team not only collects their mobile phone number but also their name and email address, and in this case, Seagram’s also collects their birth date in order to confirm they are 21 years of age or older. Some marketeers may also ask for participant’s mailing address which makes it easy to ship out prizes directly to the winners.

Text-to-win sweepstakes promotions are being used more and more this year. 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). Besides the ease of entry for consumers, Seagram’s Vodka also receives extra awareness at the retail locations. 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.

We’ve been partnering with the Sweeppea mobile platform on several text to win sweepstakes now for the past couple of years. We have another sweepstakes scheduled for the fall for Infinium Spirits that we’ll be working with the team from Sweeppea on as well. So stay tuned and hope you have some great BBQ’s in the meantime.

Sweepstakes offers chance to win the ultimate hunting companion

During the many years we’ve been doing sweepstakes and contests we have been involved with awarding all kinds of prizes. The majority include cash, trips, meet & greets with celebrities and sports figures, tickets to popular events and branded merchandise. Occasionally we come across a very unique and rare prize package opportunity which with this sweepstakes it will be the first time that we will be awarding a live animal.

The main highlight of this sweepstakes prize is Avery, the hunting dog. The Bring Avery Home Sweepstakes just kicked off this week which is mainly sponsored by Banded Holdings and includes several prize partners. Banded.com offers over 600 items representing a diverse line of different product categories. Some of these include outerwear, waders, boot, hunting accessories, blinds, decoys and calls. BANDED was originally formed by a group of avid outdoorsmen, innovators, and product designers that joined forces after years of working in the outdoor industry. Their goal in the beginning was to create superior products to enhance the outdoor experience and that remains to be the foundation of BANDED today.

The Bring Avery Home Sweepstakes will award one lucky winner the chance to fulfill their dream of owning the perfect hunting companion. Avery is an experienced hunting companion trained by Brad Arington at Mossy Pond Retrievers. Also included in the prize package is a hunt of a lifetime for the winner and three friends at Honey Brake Lodge, a Benelli Super Black Eagle III shotgun, a year supply of Loyall dog food, a dog kennel from Gunner Kennels, a SportDOG training collar, various training supplies from Avery Sporting Dog, and hunting outfits from Banded. They’ve even included a travel stipend of $1,300 to cover the costs involved for the winner to travel to pick up Avery.

Participants can enter online at www.BringAveryHome.com. The sweepstakes will be running until November 29. At that time we will conduct a drawing of all the entrants to determine the Grand Prize winner. The team at Banded, Mossy Pond Retrievers and the rest of the prize providers are very concerned about awarding Avery to a winner that’s going to provide him with a good home as well as let Avery experience the life that he’s been trained for and loves. In order to be eligible to receive the prize the winner must validate that they are experienced in the sport of hunting. They will need to provide a copy of a valid hunting license and agree to sign an adoption agreement and waiver forms authorizing the confidential release of a personal and background information check. If they cannot provide this information, then an alternate winner will be selected.

Banded.com not only includes outdoor merchandise, but also some informative content targeted specifically for their community. You can find hunting tips, recent news items and a couple of video series. I wrote about another big prize package that they offered last year in their Greatest Outdoor Giveaway Sweepstakes.

So even if you’re not a hunter, hopefully with the long, holiday weekend coming up you can get out and enjoy some of the great outdoors. I hope everyone has a great Fourth of July and don’t forget to celebrate our country’s freedom!

Here’s the Stitch Fix Stylin’ Summer Sweepstakes. Happy Summer!

The first day of summer is finally, officially here for us to celebrate! It’s the longest day of the year and today’s a beautiful day in western New York. After a brief shower last night that the gardens just loved. we now have blue skies with big, white puffy clouds. It’s a short season for us New Yorkers, so we definitely try and make the most of it.

So now that summer is here, it’s a good time to spruce up your summer wardrobe. I told you back in December about a fairly new company called Stitch Fix that I was introduced to then when we helped them run this promotion. I have since became a customer and have referred several of my friends and family as well. It’s worked well for me since I don’t enjoy shopping and I don’t really keep up with the latest fashion trends.  Here’s how Stitch Fix works.

You first create an account online in which you go through a series of questions to help your “personal stylist” get to know you a little, what your style, size and price preferences are. Once that is done you request a “Fix” which is five hand-selected pieces of clothing delivered to you. You buy what you like in your Fix and you can send any items back at no charge or shipping fees. If you keep all five items you get an 25% discount off the total price which is a great way to encourage customers to keep all the items. They started out just for women, but have added men now as well.

Stitch Fix is currently running their Stylin’ Summer Sweepstakes which is their second promotion. They have strictly been promoting it to their current customers and inviting them to purchase their next Fix during the month of June and by the Fourth of July. All those that do will automatically earn an entry into the sweepstakes. We have to allow for “no purchase necessary”, so we have a mail-in option included in the rules for those to enter without purchase.

We’ll do a random drawing in July from all those that entered to determine the winners. One Grand Prize winner will receive a $2,000 Stitch Fix credit. 50 First Prize winners will each receive a $100 Stitch Fix credit. So Stitch Fix is giving away a total of $7,000 worth of merchandise.

May next Fix is scheduled for July 14. I’m not eligible to win, so there’s no sense in moving mine up. They normally are scheduled every other month, but you can change the date any time and skip a month or a Fix. I received my last Fix in May, just in time for my trip to Miami to attend our daughter’s graduation ceremony. I told my stylist about it and she sent me two dresses in that Fix for my trip, which I kept both.

So if anyone decides they want to try it out, here’s my referral code. Just use this link to get to the website and create you’re account. I’d appreciate it. Happy Summer!

Here’s a couple more Father’s Day Giveaways

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.

Sweepstakes offers seat at final table at the World Series of Poker. Chinet and Meijer offer the Ultimate Backyard Party

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.

June is the time to celebrate dads and grads

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 help Home Depot increase customer survey participation

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.

My Birth Plan & Americord Sweepstakes aims to educate expectant parents

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.

Instagram Mother’s Day Giveaway and a Celebrate Mum contest

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.