We had a bit of NFL history in last weekend’s wild-card round. For the first time all four road teams won in the same playoff weekend. All those hometown fans in Washington D.C., Minneapolis, Cincinnati and Houston were disappointed to see their team’s season end. The fans of the Cincinnati Bengals and the Minnesota Vikings thought they had the game in the bag, but fans of both teams had a heartbreaking loss and Vikings fans sat through a bitter cold, minus degrees, game.
So this weekend the Road to Super Bowl 50 continues with 8 teams moving on. Saturday we have the Chiefs at the Patriots first and then the Packers at the Cardinals. On Sunday we get to watch the Seahawks at the Panthers and then the Steelers at the Broncos. So I highly doubt we’ll see a repeat of all road teams winning in the same weekend.
PepsiCo, the parent company of Doritos, is back again for their Annual Crash the Super Bowl Video Contest which is their 10th season. They announced that this will be the last edition of the contest and now my last time writing about it on this blog which I’ve done since 2008.
This year just three finalists videos were chosen which are now posted on the contest website. The public is invited to vote once per day, per device up till Jan. 28.
This year’s contestants have the chance to win $1 million and the opportunity to work with Zack Snyder, director of 300 and Man of Steel, whose latest film, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, will be released next March. The winner will work with Snyder as well as Warner Brothers and DC Comics on an undisclosed future project.
“We’re giving consumers one last shot to make their mark and see their homemade ads air during the Super Bowl broadcast,” Jeff Klein, vice president of marketing at Frito-Lay, said in a statement. “This is truly last call for all of those who not only want a shot at $1 million—but want a chance to jump-start their career in Hollywood.” The winning ad will air during CBS’ Super Bowl 50 telecast on Feb. 7. One Grand Prize winner and the two First Prize winners will all receive a trip to attend Super Bowl 50 and view the game from the Doritos suite.
May the best ad win. I’m always a sucker for any video with dogs. Here on the contest website you can view all the fan ads that have won and aired during the Super Bowl.
I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays and Happy New Year. Now that we are into January, as my blogging tradition conditions, I’m going to focus on the football playoff season and the Super Bowl. I will be covering some of the ads and promotional campaigns associated with Super Bowl 50. This year Super Bowl 50 will be hosted on February 7, in the City of Santa Clara at the state-of-the-art Levi’s Stadium, which the bay area hosts claim is the greenest and most technologically advanced professional football stadium in the United States.
Here’s what this year’s playoff picture looks like this year:
If you have been a reader of this blog, you would know that I’m a Buffalo Bills fan and writing about another playoff season that they didn’t make. It was the first year with Rex Ryan as the coach, who promised that we’d make it and then had to eat his words. But on the bright side, it appears we have found a quarterback in Tyrod Taylor and he and Sammy Watkins really connected in the last game of the season in which they ended the Jets playoff hopes.
The Super Bowl has been one of the most watched sporting events and continues to have an enormous amount of marketing associated with it. NBC’s broadcast of last year’s Super Bowl was the most watched program in American television history, surpassing the previous year’s game. So we’ll see if we break that record again.
Last year most of the advertisers followed the trend of the previous year and released their TV spots prior to the actual broadcast of the game. So we expect to see more of that this year. For now here are a few of promotions that are currently still offering a chance to win ticket packages to the game.
SiriusXM’s Super Bowl 50 Sweepstakes is giving their current subscribers a chance to win an opportunity to go to Super Bowl 50. One Grand prize winner will receive round-trip airfare for two to San Francisco, CA, three nights hotel stay and two tickets to Super Bowl 50. This sweepstakes ends on January 25.
Campbell’s Chunky Super Bowl 50 Instant Win Game is giving away ten Grand Prizes that include a 3 night trip for each winner and guest to Super Bowl 50, round trip air transportation, hotel accommodations, a travel stipend for ground transportation, 2 tickets to the game, 2 Super Bowl 50 Gift Bags and $250 spending money. Participants are invited to purchase specialty-marked cans of Campbell’s Chunky soups and look under the lid to see if they are a winner. A no purchase entry is also included on the promotional website.
We are assisting a client with The Shocase Special Teams Sweepstakes which is offering participants a chance to win 2 tickets to Super Bowl 50 along with hotel accommodations. We again are using the Shortstack platform to host the promotional entry form. Shocase’s objective is to create awareness of their professional network for marketers and gain new members.
So what teams will make it to this year’s Super Bowl? Will we see the return of the New England Patriots, or will it be the Denver Broncos who will battle it out with Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers? Or will one of the wild card teams, such as Seattle or Pittsburgh, continue their recent hot streaks and win a division title. We’ll know more after this weekend. Stay tuned for more coverage as the road to the Super Bowl continues.
New Year’s Eve is tomorrow. I hope 2015 was good to you and that you’ve been enjoying this holiday season. My end-of-the-year tradition is to write my last post as a review of what I’ve written during the past year. So here’s a look back at some of the top posts from this blog that I felt reflected either a major shift in the promotional marketing industry, a new trend or a personal or business highlight. I have written 49 blog posts this past year, including this one, almost one a week which I published mostly on Wednesdays.
Pepsi Hyped for Halftime Contest Comes to Rochester
Our hometown, Rochester, NY, was selected as the hometown winner in the Pepsi Hyped for Halftime, Hype Your Hometown Contest. This national contest invited people to bring halftime to their hometown and also win tickets to the Pepsi Super Bowl XLIX Halftime show featuring Katy Perry. Haley Biemiller, a 19 year old from Irondequoit (a Rochester suburb) calls herself Katy Perry’s biggest fan. She organized her family and friends to enter the contest more than 500 times. Pepsi’s judges chose Haley and 17 other grand prize winners from Rochester.
Sweepstakes invites us to text WARM to Kiss the Cold Goodbye Kiss the Cold Good-Bye Already!
The month of February brought sub-zero temperatures across the U.S. along with snow. Those of us in New York and New England saw the the worst of it with Boston breaking historical records. Experience Kissimmee’s “Kiss the Cold Good-bye” Sweepstakes was perfect timing targeting Boston and New York for chances to win a sunny Florida getaway.
Welcome to spring and March Madness. Have you filled out your bracket yet?
I got caught up with this three-week event this year and was one of the many fans placing their bets and filling out brackets. My daily read, #theSkimm, gave me a pretty good overview of the tournament and invited me to join the #SkimMadness bracket, which is actually part of the Yahoo Sports Tourney Pick’em brackets promotion. Our client, Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt, teamed up with Hershey’s, to run the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Slam Dunk Sweepstakes which offered a chance to win tickets to the 2016 Final Four games in Houston, TX.
New updates to Facebook’s Messenger App unveiled at last week’s F8 Conference
Facebook hosted their annual 2-day conference for developers known as F8. I have never attended but was able to this year online via a live streaming invite. Messenger was a big focus of the event in which Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told attendees “By opening up Messenger as a platform, we’re going to help people express themselves in new ways”. During 2015 messaging apps have grown into their own social networks and are predicted to be even bigger in 2016.
Headed down to Nashville to speak at the annual Blog Paws Social Media Conference
My first visit to Nashville, TN, was to attend this very unique social media conference. This was my fifth time attending and my forth time speaking. My session this year was titled “Key Legal Developments Affecting Sweepstakes, Contests, Disclosure & Digital/Social Media” which addressed a broad array of legal regulations and guidelines. What makes this event so unique is the 100 plus pets that were in attendance. You can see some of my pet photos here along with a recap of keynote session by Peter Shankman.
Here’s a summary of the various social media promotion guidelines
Part of what I presented in my session at the BlogPaws Conference covered a broad array of the guidelines for promotions from the various social media platforms. It is hard to keep up with these and they do change regularly, but I believe these still stand. We’ll have to see what changes are in store for 2016.
New photo contest from MSC Cruises adds to the summer promotions
This MSC Cruises contest was one of the many summer promotions that we worked on. However, while I was on a brief summer vacation in Myrtle Beach visiting family, there was much happening in the news and on social media. The Supreme Court came out with their final rulings which they legalized gay marriage in all 50 states and #SCOTUS was everywhere! According to Facebook 26 million users changed their Facebook profile photo to show a rainbow flag to celebrate the historic decision and many brands also got in on the big moment with social media posts in support of the ruling.
Rio Grande Valley Hyundai dealers invite Texans to take a selfie with a new Hyundai
2015 was the year that the word “Selfie” and the art of taking a photo of yourself really exploded all over the world and across every generation. More and more companies are asking people to take a “selfie” and post it to their social media accounts in order to enter a sweepstakes or contest for a chance to win. This post is about one of these types of sweepstakes we were involved with.
What types of user data are being collected the most from sweepstakes & contests
This was one of my most read and shared posts of the year. The team at Shortstack published these findings from the many sweepstakes and contests that have been created utilizing their application regarding the types of data that is collected. We utilize their application when we create a promotional micro-site or a Facebook tab page for our clients. I found their findings interesting and pretty much in line with the data collection we recommend.
YSC We Can Survive Concert Sweepstakes
In honor of my mom and National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I write at least one blog post a year about a promotion supporting the cause. This year we worked with the YSC, Young Survival Coalition, a national organization that supports young women facing breast cancer. They launched the YSC “We Can Survive Concert” Sweepstakes that awarded a trip to attend the “We Can Survive” concert which took place in the Hollywood Bowl on October 24.
Sweepstakes, Contests, Social Media, Real-Time Marketing, FTC, all focus at BAA’s 37th Marketing Law Conference
I again was invited to attend the BAA’s 37th Annual Marketing Law Conference which wrapped up on Nov 11th in Chicago. This year it was titled “Walking the Line: Between Innovation and Regulation”. There were two prominent themes: Real-Time Marketing and the FTC’s Endorsement &Testimonial Guidelines. To quote one speaker, Ron Urbach, “Today we need Live Lawyering, along with training and best practices to provide the right info at the right time in the right way.”
Honda is first to use Twitter’s new Instant Win feature for their holiday promo
Each December I write about holiday promotions, many that we work on. However, I included this one that we were not involved in because it really caught my attention. Honda ‘s “Happy Honda Days” end-of-year marketing campaign used Twitter’s new Instant Win feature. The Honda “Open The Cheer” Instant Win Game and Sweepstakes offered instant win prizes for retweets, which were Amazon gift cards and Apple Watches, with a grand prize drawing for a 2016 Honda Accord.
I hope you enjoyed the review. Thanks again for reading! I wish you a very Happy New Year and here’s to a wonderful, healthy and prosperous 2016!
We’re helping our friends over at Experience Kissimmee run another holiday promotion right now. Their “Snowy Holiday” Sweepstakes is bringing a winter wonderland to Florida. Funny, because we have no signs of snow here in the northeastern part of the country and it looks like we won’t be having a white Christmas.
From now till December 27 participates are invited to enter the sweepstakes by either visiting the promotional website, www.snowyholiday.com, and filling out an entry form, or just by texting the keyword “SNOW” to the shortcode 313131 to gain an entry. People can enter once per day for a chance to be a weekly winner of tickets for different holiday activities in Kissimmee.
For example, this week’s prize package include two tickets to Universal Studios or Universal’s Islands of Adventure at Universal Orlando Resort. Plus two tickets to Now Snowing in Celebration, Florida that includes a train ride, horse and carriage ride, ice skating and a photo with Santa. Experience Kissimmee is mainly targeting residents of Florida to come visit at this time of year, so that is why the prize package does not include any airfare or hotels.
This is one of many sweepstakes that Experience Kissimmee has been running that combines online entry with mobile text messaging entry which they have had great success with. Just wait till January and we’ll most likely see a new. similar promotion but instead targeting those of us in the northeast!
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Holiday promotions that include a donation component are very popular with brands as a way to show that they’re giving back. This season one of our clients, PostNet, aims to encourage acts of kindness with the launch of the #PostNetMerrymakers campaign.
Now through December 31, people can enter for a chance to win a $5,000 holiday shopping spree that will be awarded in the form of a check. Participants need to fill out an entry form located here at the.
They are then encouraging participants to join them in spreading holiday merrymaking by sharing on social media one good deed that they have done, or promise to do, for someone else during the holiday season. For every good dead that is posted on Twitter, Facebook and/or Instagram that uses the hashtag #PostNetMerrymakers, PostNet will donate $3 to the winner’s choice of four meaningful charities, including JDRF; The ALS Association; United Way; and ASPCA. The maximum donation from PostNet is $50,000.
There are many posts so far which some are featured on the promotional page. Also PostNet has a “Merry-O-Meter” that shows the amount of money that is currently pledged toward the charity donation. No good dead is too small.
PostNet is the leading business-to-business franchise known for providing personalized, business-enhancing print, marketing and shipping solutions. Locally owned and operated PostNet locations offer full-service digital printing; direct mail; signage; document binding and finishing; graphic design; and ancillary business services, like private mailbox rental and more. They also offer professional packaging services and shipping with UPS, FedEx, DHL and the U.S. Postal Service. So the holiday season is a very busy time for them.
It is December, the last month of the year, and the holiday season is now in full swing. So for this month I’ll be writing here about holiday promotions that we’re working on as well as others that are of interest.
This promotion caught my attention just yesterday. Honda has always been known to run promotions that feature new and cutting edge technology. For their “Happy Honda Days” end-of-year marketing they are using Twitter’s new Instant Win feature. The Honda “Open The Cheer” Instant Win Game and Sweepstakes offers instant win prizes for retweets, which are Amazon gift cards and Apple Watches, with a grand prize drawing for a 2016 Honda Accord.
Participants can receive a gameplay into the Instant Win Game and a Sweepstakes entry into the drawing each day during the promotion period, which runs till December 29, by retweeting a Tweet sent by Honda. I retweeted their daily Tweet just now and immediately received a reply back that I didn’t win now, but I’m entered into the drawing to win the Honda Accord.
This #OpentheCheer program kicked off with a tweet on their Twitter page that included this cool video that encouraged people to retweet for a chance to instantly win a gift.
For every retweet, Honda will give $1 to the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation. “Our goal for this campaign is to tap into the anticipation of giving and opening gifts during the holidays and Twitter’s Instant Win feature allows us to surprise our fans while helping to find a cure for children’s brain tumors,” said Susie Rossick, assistant VP at American Honda, in a statement.
The campaign was created by RPA and includes video elements from Brand New School and Instagram artist Jessie Bearden. I’m looking forward to seeing more of Twitter’s new Instant Win feature and hope I’ll be able to be involved with it soon.
My post today is relevant to this holiday since it is the eve of Thanksgiving . This is when we all should express what we are thankful for. I am personally blessed with many things to be thankful for, most importantly the good health of me and my family and our well-being.
However, today I am especially very thankful for our dogs. Our 12-year old Golden Retriever, Shadow, went under yesterday to have a abscess removed from his eyelid and his teeth cleaned at the same time. The look he gave me as I walked out of the vet’s room and left him with this stranger, would break any mother’s heart. He is very glad to be back home and sleeping it off quite well. I can’t help thinking that he is getting old and won’t be with us forever. This makes me appreciate the time I have with my dogs even more.
Here’s a Thanksgiving-themed promotion from Purina PetCare that is running now through Nov. 29. Purina is inviting dog owners to post on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram why they are thankful for their dog. For every original post submitted that includes @Purina and the hashtag, #dogthanking, Purina will donate one dollar to the AKC Canine Health Foundation, up to $75,000, to help further pet health research.
On top of that, Purina plans to share some of the posted videos, photos and posts during the National Dog Show Presented by Purina on Thanksgiving Day on NBC. This show is a tradition that we watch after the Thanksgiving parade each year. Purina is promoting the initiative on its Facebook page, via its Twitter account and on Instagram.
Purina has had the support of Olympic figure skater and fashion commentator Johnny Weir who helped kick off the campaign by thanking his dog Tema: “Tema is my little prince, and always there wagging his tail when I get home. He brings so much joy to my life, and I am so thankful for his companionship,” Weir said of his Japanese Chin. Weir will also appear on the National Dog Show on Thanksgiving day.
So I’m now going to create my post and share why I am so thankful for my dogs. If you’re a dog owner, please share yours as well.
Coming from a mostly Italian family in New York we had an early pasta dinner every Sunday and the morning always started out with Frank Sinatra records playing on the stereo. So when I saw this promotion that is celebrating what would have been Frank Sinatra’s 100th birthday I couldn’t resist “spreading the news”!
Sinatra passed away 17 years ago and he would have been 100 this Dec. 12. Jack Daniels has launched this Toastmakers contest that invites fans to make toasts in the style of Ol’ Blue Eyes. Now through Dec. 12, people can visit TheToastmakers.com and the Jack Daniels Instagram account to see all the Sinatra-themed toasts.
Frank Sinatra passed away 17 years ago and he would have been 100 this Dec. 12. Jack Daniels has launched this Toastmakers contest that invites fans to make toasts in the style of Ol’ Blue Eyes. Now through Dec. 12, people can visit TheToastmakers.com and the Jack Daniels Instagram account to see all the Sinatra-themed toasts.
The Contest is awarding one Toastmaker the ultimate Sinatra-style weekend. The winner and four friends, the “Rat Pack” will receive a trip to Los Angeles then on to Vegas to spend the weekend hitting some of Frank’s favorite places along the way. This prize package consists of air transportation to Los Angeles, then a tux, or dress, fitting for all to attend dinner in LA (up to $1,000) along with hotel accommodations in LA for all five for a night. Then helicopter transportation from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and hotel accommodations for two nights in Las Vegas.
To enter participants need to TOAST, SNAP and POST. First they need to click the link in the @JackDaniels_US bio on Instagram to connect with the brand and verify their age. Then using Instagram, post one video or photo of their toast and include the hashtag #ToastSinatraContest. A maximum of five unique entries is allowed during the contest period. Videos must be between 3-15 minutes in length.
At the end of the contest a panel of judges will determine the grand prize winner based on the following criteria: 30% Creativity, 30% Originality, 30% Relevancy to the themes of Frank Sinatra and Jack Daniel’s and 10% Technical quality of entry.
The brand has released a JD/Sinatra offering which includes a Jack Daniel’s Sinatra Century whiskey. A one-liter bottle of this limited-edition (100 barrels), 100-proof version, packaged in a gift box along with a CD of previously unreleased tracks of Sinatra performing live at the Sands Casino in 1966, which is selling for $499.99. A bottle of JD Single Barrel goes for about $45.
Frank stated in his Playboy magazine interview in 1963: “I’m for anything that gets you through the night, be it prayer, tranquilizers or a bottle of Jack Daniels.”
The BAA’s 37th Annual Marketing Law Conference just wrapped up on Wednesday, Nov 11th, in Chicago which I was glad to attend. The organization (Brand Activation Association) broke another attendance record with over 760 attendees who ranged 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 entitled “Walking the Line: Between Innovation and Regulation”. “The theme of this year’s conference perfectly sums up the challenge of our industry and why our event is more important than ever,” says Ed Kabak, BAA’s Chief Legal Officer. As has been the case in past years, Wednesday’s first session featured Linda Goldstein, a Partner in the Media and Marketing practice at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP in New York. Linda reviewed some of the most newsworthy developments of the year and what they mean for marketing and advertising lawyers and professionals. As usual Linda’s talk was very informative and entertaining as she reviewed again the basics of sweepstakes and skill contests along with social and digital media legal issues from some of the latest promotions. I wrote about Linda’s presentation from last year’s conference here in which she covered some of the same legal matters.
There were two central themes that appeared to be prominent at this year’s conference which Linda first touched upon in her presentation. The first was Real-Time Marketing. More brands are now putting much effort into connecting their product or service with consumers in the moment. To do this successfully, the content must be relevant. We reviewed many examples of those that pulled it off well and those that didn’t. Some brands have started using the new live streaming apps, Periscope and Meerkat, that are perfect ways to connect experiential marketing with consumers. However, broadcasting live video to the world has its inherent risks, along with possible copyright and trademark infringements
The other central theme was focused on the FTC’s Endorsement &Testimonial Guidelines which are not new, but it appears the FTC is now clearly monitoring what is happening online and on social media. Sweepstakes and contests are a material connection to the brand, and therefore need to be disclosed. They are recommending brands direct the participants to us the #sweepstakes, #contest, #entry hashtags along with their promotional hashtag in any social media posts that gain the consumer an entry. Another type of material connection that should be disclosed is an employer/employee relationship to the brand. The FTC charged Sony and their agency, Deutsch LA, with deceptive behavior on Twitter when it found that employees were using the same hashtag that the consumer was using, #GameChanger, when posting about their Playstation Vita handheld device.
Real-time marketing is one of the areas that the FTC is highly looking at. Linda ended her presentation by stating that trust is key and that brands that walk the talk will be rewarded. “These real time platforms will take us to new territories; we the attorneys’ must protect our clients as we walk the line between innovation and regulation.”
Wednesday morning we were treated to another highly entertaining presentation from Ron Urbach, Chairman/Davis & Gilbert LLP, who also demonstrated how important it is for those in our industry to keep current. Ron used the term “Disruption” to describe how today’s technology allows new brands and services to thrive. He pointed out Airbnb, which has changed the way we travel, and Kickstarter, the way we invest. So to help get his point across Ron created a video of a group of fictitious millennials who were using social media and technology to launch new products, such as DrinkAgain Pay Water Fountains and Rag Exchange – The Fashion Lease Experience. Ron was their lawyer, or as one of the female characters called him, their “interpreter”.
This video demonstrated several areas in which the group crossed the line and Ron had to reign them back in to stay compliant. We were reminded that if you link your product to a celebrity, don’t forget about the FTC endorsements guidelines. If you’re going to do live streaming, then you better establish guidelines, train the person(s) doing it and then monitor it carefully. Brands must also develop a social media policy, train employees, monitor and then enforce their policy. And, don’t forget to get consumer’s consent before re-posting any photos or videos of theirs.
Ron summed up his presentation by stating that today we need “Live Lawyering”, along with training and best practices. Pay attention to “Disclosure in a Disruptive World – and provide the right info at the right time in the right way.”
Hopefully many of us will be headed back to next year’s 38th Annual Marketing Law Conference. We were treated with some beautiful, unseasonably warm weather this year. Can the BAA conference team please schedule that for us again?
We had a bit of NFL history in last weekend’s wild-card round. For the first time all four road teams won in the same playoff weekend. All those hometown fans in Washington D.C., Minneapolis, Cincinnati and Houston were disappointed to see their team’s season end. The fans of the Cincinnati Bengals and the Minnesota Vikings thought they had the game in the bag, but fans of both teams had a heartbreaking loss and Vikings fans sat through a bitter cold, minus degrees, game.
PepsiCo, the parent company of Doritos, is back again for their Annual Crash the Super Bowl Video Contest which is their 10th season. They announced that this will be the last edition of the contest and now my last time writing about it on this blog which I’ve done since 2008.
This year’s contestants have the chance to win $1 million and the opportunity to work with Zack Snyder, director of 300 and Man of Steel, whose latest film, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, will be released next March. The winner will work with Snyder as well as Warner Brothers and DC Comics on an undisclosed future project.
