Category: Blog

RushCard’s Back to School Sweepstakes Helps Kids Get in the School Zone

This time of the summer kids will soon be heading back to school. Mid-August is when retailers will see a second round of back-to-school shopping which normally amounts to the largest volume. Parents and kids will sometimes wait to the last minute to see what mark-downs retailers have made or they may just have put it off to the last minute, which is human nature.

We’ve been running one back-to-school promotoin for a long-time client, RushCard. They offer the RushCard Pre-Paid Visa card which is offered throughout the U.S. to anyone with a social security number. The RushCard Back To School Sweepstakes started back on July 5 and has been awarding weekly winners and well as five grand prize winners who will each receive $5,000 for back to school shopping. RushCard’s objective is to help everyone get ready for the new school year and to apply and activate a new RushCard. Anyone who does within the sweepstakes period and direct deposits at least $500 into the card earns a chance to win.

Each week until September 9/12 we are giving away backpacks filled with school supplies. Ninety first prize weekly winners receive their backpack filled with notebooks, crayons, pencils, folders, a calculator and more. Ten other first prize winners will receive a golden backpack with the same supplies but it will also include a Samsung Chromebook with a total prize value of $580 each.

We’ve already drawn winners for five of the weeks and we have five more weeks to go. At the end of the sweepstakes we’ll draw the five grand prize winners from everyone who has entered. We are offering a alternate means of entry for those that don’t have a RushCard which is a mail-in option. If the five grand prize winners all have RushCards, their prize will be deposited on their RushCard and if they don’t they will receive a check instead.

This is also one of those sweepstakes where we are assisting with fulfilling the prizes. We have a local supplier who is embroidering the backpacks with the RushCard brand and filling them with all the supplies and the Chomebook. We actually sourced a “golden” backpack to use for the 10 lucky weekly winners who receive the Chromebook. The total sweepstakes prize value is $41,600. So best of  luck to all entrants. Hope everyone gets their school shopping done soon.

Eggland’s Best and Pup Star are back with Tiny and the We’re Better Together Sweepstakes

Eggland’s Best, one of our clients, teamed up with Air Bud Entertainment last summer to help promote Air Bud Entertainment’s newest family film, PUP STAR. Eggland’s Best launched the ‘Ultimate EB PUP STAR’ sweepstakes which was a success for both parties, so they’re at it again this summer to help promote this year’s musical sequel, PUP STAR 2: BETTER 2GETHER.

Last year’s movie followed Tiny, an adorable Yorkie pup, who found herself on an cross-country journey to compete in a singing competition for dogs, Pup Star. Tiny won the Pup Star competition and became an international pup sensation. So now her story continues in this year’s musical sequel which includes a huge cast of talking and singing dogs! What’s not to love here?

Now through September 17th participants can enter the “We’re Better Together” Sweepstakes by visiting Eggland Best’s promotional web page and registering for a chance to win numerous prizes that human and pet members of their family can enjoy together. Participant’s can also earn extra entries by completing several different tasks. Some of these tasks include watching the EB/Pup Star YouTube video, subscribing to Air Bud TV, visiting Air Bud’s website, signing up for the EB newsletter, visiting Eggland’s Best on their Instagram, Facebook and/or Twitter page and visiting the Visit St. Pete/Clearwater website and/or their Facebook page. Entrants can receive up to 38 additional entries which will increase their chances of winning a prize.

One Grand Prize winner will win a pet-friendly family vacation for up to four people to St. Pete Clearwater, Florida, that includes round-trip airfare, hotel accommodations and a $250 gift card. Two First Prize Winners will receive a Kurgo Summer Travel Package for their dog, ten Second Prize Winners will receive a Schwinn SmartStart bicycle, six Third Prize Winners will receive a St. Pete Clearwater Tote Bag that includes beach bag, visor, beach towel, dolphin plush toy, water proof bag, sun screen, lip balm screen, koozie, rubber bracelet and 50 Fourth Prize Winners will receive an Eggland’s Best & Pup Star Goodie Bag that includes a EB plush egg, a EB spatula, a EB phone pillow, EB egg coupons, a EB eco bag, a bag of OMH Dog Treats, a Fandango Gift Card for a free Pup Star rental and a Pup Star T-Shirt. Total Prize Pool is worth $7,250.

Check out this video and Tiny will tell you all about the sweepstakes. The movie is out on digital HD August 29th.

Hello Kitty teams up with PAC-MAN on a limited-time game and sweepstakes

Remember your favorite classic arcade game, PAC-MAN, and the countless hours & quarters spent avoiding pesky ghosts while chompin’ on dots. Well PAC-MAN has returned for your consoles, PC, iPhone & mobile devices and we recently started working with their mobile marketing team. They just introduced a partnership with Hello Kitty and for a limited time, until August 20, you can play exclusive Hello Kitty mazes and specially designed tournaments in PAC-MAN mobile.

To help celebrate this partnership they also just launched the Hello Kitty and Pac-MAN Sweepstakes offering chances to win a swag-pack full of fun stuff. Now until August 13 participants can enter the sweepstakes on either the PAC-MAN Facebook page or on Twitter @officialpacman. They need to comment to the sweepstakes post on either page and post a photo that illustrates how Hello Kitty and/or PAC-MAN are a part of their daily life. On Twitter they need to also follow @officialpacman.

Here’s a photo recently posted from Mindy showing off her Hello Kitty tattoo. A random drawing will take place at the end of the sweepstakes from all the eligible entries to award five winners. Here’s a list of what’s in each Hello Kitty and PAC-MAN swag pack: a Hello Kitty Petite Mascot Plush: Soft Mame (Pink), a Hello Kitty x PAC-MAN Keychain, a Hello Kitty Short Sleeved Ringer Tee (Red), a Hello Kitty Ballpoint Pen (Slider), a Hello Kitty Canvas Tote Bag (Cuddly), a Paladone Pac-Man 4″ Plush with Sound, a Funko POP Games: Pac-Man Action Figure and a Pac-Man Heat Change Mug.

PAC-MAN is just one of the many games that is owned by BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America, Inc., which is based out of Japan. The US group is who we are working with and the official sponsor of this sweepstakes. They have many other games that you might also recognize such as Dark Souls, DragonBall, Tekken and Naruto.

So if you haven’t played PAC-MAN in awhile here’s your chance to start again.

The Upgrade Contest from Paul Stuart invites people to visit their NYC store

Paul Stuart is a men’s and women’s clothing brand which we recently started working with. It was founded in 1938 in New York City by Ralph Ostrove, who named the company after his son, Paul Stuart Ostrove. The original New York City store is still located at the corner of Madison Avenue and 45th Street. It has grown to 60,000 square feet and remains the company’s largest store. However, this summer it is undergoing a major renovation. So the team there thought that while the store was getting an upgrade that it was a great opportunity to run a contest and invite people to get an upgrade as well.

The Paul Stuart Upgrade Contest invites participants to visit their NYC store on Madison Avenue and chose their favorite clothing, footwear and/or accessories that best depicts what their “upgrade” would consist of. They need to take a photo of their product selection and may elect to try it on for their photo. Once done they should post it to their Instagram account using the promotional hashtags #PaulStuartUpgrade and #Contest and also tag @paulstuartny to receive an entry.

The Upgrade Contest runs from now till August 9. One Grand Prize winner will receive a $2,000 Paul Stuart gift card. Once the contest has ended a panel of judges will choose the winner based on the following criteria; 50% Look Cohesiveness; How well the selected products go together according to Paul Stuart style as showcased in the Sponsor’s catalogs, windows, and in their website; 50% quality of the composition of the photo, lighting and visibility of the featured products. Here are a couple of photos that have already appeared on Instagram.

This is the first time we’re working with Paul Stuart. They have a few other locations, two in Chicago, one in Washington D.C. and one in Clarksburg, Maryland. So hopefully this contest will be a success and their other locations may give it a try.

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.