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The Free Gas 4 Life Sweepstakes – Sheetz

Sheetz is offering an exciting promotion that offers its participants the enticing reward of free gas. From May to August, Sheetz is inviting anyone to participate in The Free Gas 4 Life Sweepstakes, providing multiple entry methods that make it convenient for interested parties to enter.

The Free Gas 4 Life Sweepstakes is offering a prize pool that allows for over 700 lucky winners from the pool of entrants. The rewards up for grabs are as follows:

The Grand Prize: One (1) fortunate winner will hit the jackpot with Free Gas 4 Life. Alternatively, you can opt for a $250,000 cash award allowing for more flexibility.
The First Prizes: Six (6) winners will win Free Gas 4 A Year. Each of these winners will receive a $5,000 Sheetz gift card, providing them with a steady supply of fuel for their adventures. Alternatively, winners can choose a $3,500 cash award, once again allowing them to use the funds as they see fit.
The Second Prizes: Seven Hundred (700) second prize winners will win a $500 Sheetz gift card, allowing them to enjoy Sheetz’s offerings with convenience.

By entering this free gas sweepstakes, participants can unlock a world of benefits and rewards. Each entry method provides a gateway to a richer Sheetz experience and ensures that participants reap the benefits long after the sweepstakes have concluded. The prize drawing will be conducted on or around September 6th, so enter now and be sure to stay tuned!

The Free Gas 4 Life Sweepstakes is not just about winning prizes—it also serves as a strategic marketing tool.

A Multitude of Entry Methods

During the promotional period, Sheetz offers a range of entry methods for consumers to participate in the free gas sweepstakes. Whether it would be the most effortless for interested parties to visit a Sheetz store location, receive an exclusive email invitation, access the user-friendly Sheetz App, or even enter directly at a Sheetz gas pump. These versatile entry methods ensure that anyone can join the sweepstakes with the greatest amount of convenience.

Driving Brand Awareness and Future Traffic

Sheetz also aims to forge lasting connections with its sweepstakes entrants. The company drives brand awareness and creates a strong connection with consumers by encouraging participants to explore different platforms, engage with Sheetz, and experience the brand’s additional offerings. This promotion serves as a starting point for new traffic while also strengthening the bond between Sheetz and its existing customer base.

The Free Gas 4 Life Sweepstakes offers a golden opportunity for Sheetz to offer enticing prizes to entrants, while also encouraging participants to explore the brand’s diverse platforms and offerings, whether it is creating a loyalty account online, signing up for a rewards card to use on future purchases, or opting into Sponsor related emails.

American Sweepstakes for Summer Sweepstakes

Interested in launching your own sweepstakes? Let American Sweeps handle the administrative support. Our seasoned experts ensure all aspects of your sweepstakes will be taken care of, so you can focus on running a successful promotion for your organization.

The Expert Entertainment Summer Sweepstakes – BuySide from WSJ

The coming of summer has many eagerly awaiting getting to host friends and family for outdoor get-togethers and backyard barbecues. To help make these events even more special, BuySide from WSJ is running a summer sweepstakes with an incredible prize package worth over $5,000.

From May through June, consumers can visit BuySideSummerSweeps.com to register for their chance to win the Summer Entertaining Prize Package, which includes:

Wine Enthusiast VinoView Wine Cellar
St. Frank Serving Tray
Solo Stove Bonfire Pit
Solo Stove Bonfire Pi Fire
Mark & Graham Bean Bag Toss
Breville Smoking Gun Smoke Infuser
Thermoworks Thermapen One
Bartesian Cocktail Maker
Vitamix
Victrola and Sonos Turntable
Sonos Speakers
BenQ GS50

Consumers who participate in the sweepstakes will also be encouraged to opt in to receive the BuySide newsletter. This newsletter is a valuable resource for anyone looking to stay informed about the latest trends and best practices in personal finance and consumer spending. The winner of this prize will be announced in early July.

Running a Summer Sweepstakes

Running a summer sweepstakes or giveaway is a popular promotional strategy that companies often use to generate interest in their products or services. By offering an exciting prize package, like the Summer Entertaining Prize Package in this case, companies can create a buzz around their brand.

In this case, the sponsor of the BuySide Summer Sweepstakes is using the promotion to achieve two key objectives. First, they hope to drive consumers to opt in for their BuySide newsletter. By encouraging participants that sign up to opt in to receive their newsletter, the sponsor can expand their email list and increase their reach.

Additionally, the sponsor is looking to build brand awareness by offering a prize package that is sure to grab people’s attention. By offering a wide range of high-quality products, the sponsor appeals to a broad audience.

Overall, the BuySide Summer Sweepstakes offers an exciting opportunity for consumers to win some amazing prizes while also learning more about how to make the most of their time and money. Whether you’re planning to host a backyard barbecue or simply looking to upgrade your home entertainment setup. This prize package has something for everyone! So be sure to follow this effective example, and consider hosting your own summer sweepstakes!

American Sweepstakes for Summer Sweepstakes

Interested in launching your own sweepstakes campaign? Let American Sweeps handle the administrative support. Our seasoned experts will ensure all aspects of your sweepstakes are taken care of. All you have to do is focus on running a successful promotion for your organization!

Promotional Games: Boost Your Charity or Non-Profit’s Reach

Get your community excited and involved in supporting your charity or non-profit organization by hosting a promotional game! This innovative advertising approach is a fun and engaging way to drive awareness and participation for your organization.

Promotional Games Explained

In order to increase sales, promotional games allow players to compete with other entrants, where victory depends, at least in part, on luck. Drawings, open competitions, and games meant to promote sales are all referred to as promotional games.

Promotional games are an interactive way for an organization to engage with its community, raise awareness for a cause, and encourage donations, making them a valuable tool for non-profits and charities in particular to promote their mission and drive support.

Providing Hope VA’s “Lawn King the Third” game is a great example of a successful promotional game. This company is a non-profit organization that assists first responders and veterans who suffer from PTSD, as well as first responders. The entrants were limited to current members in good standing and previous donors to the organization. Seven prizes were awarded to the game winners, with multiple prizes and additional cash prizes.

With the assistance of American Sweeps, Providing Hope VA created a promotional game of chance for its members who choose to donate to their cause. After donating, they received a game code via email. After a set total of 2,400 game pieces were available and were offered while supplies lasted. As expected, the promotion sold out within 4-6 hours, & live drawing was later held to announce the winners. Providing Hope VA continues to host these games or sweepstakes on a monthly basis, as it continuously proves to be an effective promotional strategy for their organization.

The Benefits of Running a Promotional Game

The specific benefits of running a promotional game over other options are as follows:

Pre-Set Odds of Winning – In contrast to sweepstakes, entrants who decide to participate in a promotional game are able to know their odds of winning. In the case described above, the odds of winning the first or second prize were 1/2400, and the third prize odds were 1/480. This lets entrants know the probability of winning each prize before entering the game. An appealing aspect to many potential entrants!
Increased Media Opportunities – Besides having the chance to publicize your promotional game and announce the enticing prizes to be won, you also generate more excitement around the grand prize. The promotional game outcome announcement is a fantastic opportunity to capture promotional photos, acquire a comment or testimonial from the winner, and more because a component of chance is involved.
Expand Your Organizations Community – In running these promotional games, organizations get the opportunity to offer a diverse range of prizes to their community members, effectively getting the attention of consumers with various interests. Offering a classic car as a grand prize for one game, then the newest model of a pickup truck the next will appeal to a diverse range of potential participants!

Why Run a Promotional Game

Promotional games frequently have a smaller audience since they are more personal. As there are a limited number of entries, these games often allow you to focus on a smaller audience. This sort of promotion would especially benefit charities and non-profit organizations, by offering these games only to members and incentivizing individuals to become a part of the community!

American Sweepstakes for Promotional Games

Ready to launch your promotional game? Let American Sweeps handle the administrative support. Our seasoned experts ensure all aspects of your promotional games will be taken care of, so you can focus on running a successful promotion for your organization.

Contingency Insurance for Insured Prizes – What It Is and Why You Need It

If you’re looking to wow your customers, incentivize your employees, or just generate some good marketing buzz, consider running an insured cash prize sweepstakes.

Insured Prize Sweepstakes Explained

Insured cash prizes allow sweepstakes sponsors to safely advertise high-dollar winnings without risking their bottom line. These promotions feature a minimum guaranteed prize as well as the opportunity to win a larger (usually cash) prize of a greater value.

Example: Capital Construction’s $50,000 Exterior Home Improvement Giveaway, which features one Grand Prize and five First Prizes.

Entering for “a chance to win XYZ” is the key differentiator of insured prizes compared to other sweepstakes promotions. By offering “a chance to win” a large sum of money, the sponsor doesn’t actually need to guarantee the payout; instead, they’re able to pass that risk along to the company that is insuring the prize. For this reason, it’s important for companies looking to sponsor a sweepstakes to work with a properly vetted and insured sweepstakes provider, that way the “risk” of offering a cash prize is absorbed via a flat rate the sponsor pays to the insuring body.

Why You Should Run An Insured Prize Sweepstakes

Companies often use insured prize sweepstakes to “dangle the carrot” in front of their target audience. By being able to advertise and promote a high-dollar payout, sponsors typically get greater participation in their promotion. After all, if Capital Construction is advertising a chance to win a $50,000 makeover, there are going to be a lot of folks interested in that opportunity. They’ll visit the website, read the rules, and ultimately provide their information to enter. Not only do they get the chance to win big, but Capital Construction now has a curated list of folks interested in an exterior home makeover – aka a big list of potential clients. This is a win-win for both parties.

Other times, employers can use “a chance to win” sweepstakes with an insured prize as a way to incentivize employees.

Example: Any Verizon employee who sells an additional insurance policy with each new phone purchase gets entered into a sweepstakes with a chance to win $1,000,000.

By entering employees into a chance to win sweepstakes, they’re going to focus their efforts on the task at hand. This helps Verizon, the employee, the insurance provider, and the customer – all with little to no risk on Verizon’s part. After all, they only need to cover the cost of the contingency insurance with their insurance provider to be able to offer a great incentive to their employees.

Why Insured Prizes Are More Lucrative Than Other Options

The chances of winning are good – Unlike playing the lottery or other games of chance, the likelihood of winning is actually relatively high. For some insured prize sweepstakes, it could be as good as 1:500!
The media opportunities are amplified – Not only do you get the opportunity to actively promote your sweepstakes, and advertise a high-dollar winning, but you also get added buzz around the grand prize drawing. Because there is an element of chance, the “drawing” is a great opportunity to take promo pictures, get a quote/testimonial from the winner, and more.
The excitement of the game creates desire for other potential players – Once you start offering insured prize sweepstakes, you won’t want to go any other way. The chance of winning element creates lots of hype around the sweepstakes and sets the sponsor up for future successes offering the same types of programs. After all, insured prizes could include any type of game – from half-court shots to win big $$ to hole-in-one promos that offer trips or vacations.

American Sweeps For Contingency Insurance

Ready to launch your insured prize sweepstakes? Let American Sweeps handle the administrative support. Our seasoned experts ensure (and insure) all aspects of your promotion, so you can focus on running a successful campaign with our contingency insurance services.

The Cboys launch a new giveaway sweepstakes on both their YouTube Channel and their websites

We recently started working with a client who has a popular YouTube channel called the CboysTV, along with as a small eCommerce business. The Cboys are a group of young entrepreneurs and entertainers who specialize in living life to it’s fullest every day! The Cboys have been best friends since a very young age and all of them grew up in the Cormorant Lakes Area of Northern Minnesota. They claim to have been blessed with a busy and exciting lifestyle of both work and play and taken their ‘talents’ of humor and recklessness to a fan base of now more than 500,000 people on YouTube!!

They launched their first small business with CboysTV.com and began selling Cboys merchandise such as shirts, hats and stickers which has been a huge success so far. They also started doing some giveaways which they promoted both on their YouTube channel and their website. They came to us for assistance with this latest sweepstakes since it involves a prize of high value. The Cormorant Boys Giveaway #8 Sweepstakes launched on February 17 and runs till the end of March. There will be one Grand Prize Winner awarded at the end of the Sweepstakes who will receive a snow bike kit which consists of a 2019 Kawasaki KX 450 F along with a Timbersled® Riot Kit. The combination of the two has a total grand prize value of $10,000. I wasn’t aware that you could convert a dirt bike to ride in the snow, but obviously there is a big market for it. Click on the photo below to view their latest video that promotes this.

They expanded their online business by launching a couple of other websites, www.wideopenparts.com and www.erasedproducts.com and starting selling other products helmets, goggles, gloves and more. So fans will receive one entry into the Sweepstakes for every $5.00 of merchandise (excluding tax and shipping) that they purchase on any of their three websites. Since all sweepstakes in the U.S. have to have a No Purchase Necessary clause we also have opened a PO Box for the sweepstakes where people can mail-in their entry as well. There is no limit to the number of entries that can be received from either method.

So I wish these young entrepreneurs much more success and hope we can assist them with many more future promotions. Be sure to check out more of their videos on their channel.

This alcohol beverage distributor assists many of their clients run text-to-win mobile sweepstakes for their brands

We’re working again this year with the Republic National Distribution Company, who are distributors of alcohol beverage brands. They have asked us to assist in three different text-to-win mobile sweepstakes for their clients so far this year. Here’s an overview of each one.

We started off 2020 with The Botanist Ginuary Sweepstakes which is sponsored by Remy Cointreau USA and is running January 1 till the end of February. Participants are invited to text the keyword Botanist to the short code 65047 where they will receive a text message back with a link to a form that they need to fill out and submit to receive an entry. They may also directly visit the online form located at https://go.sweeppea.com/BOTANIST to receive an entry. At the end of the sweepstakes period we will draw 15 Grand Prize Winners who will each receive a Home Bartending Kit valued at $100.

Next we launched The National Margarita Day Sweepstakes, also sponsored by Remy Cointreau USA ,which kicked off on January 15 and runs till March 15. Participants text the keyword Cointreau to the shortcode 65047 or enter directly online at https://go.sweeppea.com/Cointreau and follow the same instructions as in the Botanist Sweepstakes. At the end of this sweepstakes will will draw 20 Grand Prize Winners who each receive a Margarita kit that includes a Shaker, Jigger, Lime Squeezer, Tank Top, Tee-shirt, Temporary Tattoos, Coasters, Photo Backdrop, Photo Props, Inflatable Margarita and Inflatable Bottle all valued at $250.

The last sweepstakes running now is The Born Bayou Sweepstakes sponsored by The Stoli Group USA which started on February 20 and runs till the end of March. Here participants are invited to text the keyword BAYOU to the shortcode 65047 or enter directly online at https://go.sweeppea.com/Bayou and follow the same instructions as in the other two sweepstakes. At the end of this sweepstakes we will also draw 15 Grand Prize Winners who will each receive craw fish pot and a retailer gift card for a total prize value of $586 each.

All three brands produced in-store point-of-sale materials to promote their sweepstakes in retail locations. Setting up a text-to-win sweepstakes is a great way to encourage in-store displays. All alcohol beverage brands are required by law to confirm participants are 21 years of age or older at the time of sweepstakes entry. So by providing the additional form we can asked for their date-of-birth in order to comply with the law, along with other data such as name, email address and also mailing address which makes it easy to ship the prizes direct to the winners.

We hope to continue to assist this client with more of these text-to-win sweepstakes as the year moves on. If you are interested in running one please contact me.

“Suiteheart Sweepstakes” from Sandals helps celebrate Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day this year falls on this Friday, February 14, just in case you weren’t aware. Everyone including retailers, brands, restaurants and other businesses all have been providing us with ways on how best to celebrate. This holiday appears to get bigger and bigger each year.

One of our long-standing clients, Sandals Resorts, has gotten in the love mood this year with a special Valentine’s Day sweepstakes called “The Suiteheart Sweepstakes”. Sandals is giving one Grand Prize Winner the chance to stay at a “Love Nest Butler Suite” and enjoy an ultimate luxury vacation. The sweepstakes started on February 1 and runs till February 29, yes it is a leap year. All people have to do is visit the Sandals website at www.sandals.com/Suiteheart2020 and fill out the entry form to gain an entry into the sweepstakes.

The Grand Prize winner will receive a Sandals 7day/6night “Luxury Included” accommodations for two in a Love Nest Suite at any Sandals resort that they can choose from located in Jamaica, Antigua, Saint Lucia, The Bahamas, Barbados or Grenada. Each Butler suite offers the utmost in privacy and plush elegance, including 24-hour room service with professionally trained butlers.

The “Luxury Included” amenities include local airport transfers, unlimited 5-Star Global Gourmet dining at up to 16 restaurants per resort, unlimited beverages and premium brand drinks, daily and nightly entertainment, land and water sport activities at the resort (scuba diving for certified divers), wi-fi, tips and gratuities and resort taxes. The only thing not included is the airfare to any of the islands. Total prize value is $6,500.

Happy Valentine’s Day to all. I am just hoping that it doesn’t snow on Friday so that my husband doesn’t have to work late and we can enjoy a quiet meal at home with a nice bottle of wine!

The Road to Super Bowl LIV Wrap Up

The Kansas City Chiefs won their first Super Bowl in over fifty years against the San Fransisco 49er’s last Sunday 31-20 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. The two teams were tied going into halftime, but then KC scored 21 points in the 4th quarter to seal the game. Patrick Mahomes, the Chief’s quarterback, was the youngest player ever to earn both MVP honors and a Super Bowl. And it’s the first title for their coach, Andy Reid, 61, who up until Sunday night had been known as the best head coach to have never won a Super Bowl or NFL championship. This was his second Super Bowl appearance in his 21-year head coaching career.

Besides the ads, people were talking about how great Demi Lovato sang the national anthem after she just recently had a emotional performance on the Grammy’s.

The other big winners of the day were Shikira and Jennifer Lopez who performed for the Pepsi Halftime show. Their performance has gotten more coverage then the game itself. Alex Rodriquez, J-Lo’s finance, tweeted while dancing with the audience, “AMAZING!! She ABSOLUTELY CRUSHED IT! Wow, that was so fun!”

Now back to the ads. Which one was your favorite? While the majority of the ads focused on humor, the ad that instead tugged at our heartstrings, Google’s “Loretta”, was the most effective ad of the year according to video ad tech company Unruly. I had seen the ad already since it had been released before the game, but still have to admit it choked me up a bit. It brought back memories of my parents who we had lost our mom seven years before dad. However, I still don’t understand what Google’s Assistant is really all about, so I may look into it a bit. One article I read pointed out that it was strange that Google spent this much money to show us a different way to catalog our photos.

Two of the top three ads by most articles I’ve read, including USA Today’s Ad Meter, were automobile ads. At number one was Bill Murray who was featured in Jeep’s Groundhog Day ad, along with an adorable groundhog. This made perfect sense with Super Bowl Sunday being on Groundhog Day this year. Number Two was the Smaht Pahk, Hyundai Sonata’s Remote Smart Parking Assist feature which included David “Big Papi” Ortiz among others. I had to go back and watch the Jeep ad since I missed it during the actual game…it was worth it.

One of my personal favorites, Weathertech’s Lucky Dog ad, featured Scout, a golden retriever cancer survivor. I also have a golden retriever, Molly, and as I wrote in last’s week post, my daughter attend the the University of Madison’s Veterinary School and is now a vet. So I am partial to this ad.

Another first was made in this year’s Super Bowl game with Offensive Assistant Coach of the 49ers, Katie Sowers, on the field. She is opening the door for women and LGBT people to help them pursue any career that they chose. Thanks to Microsoft for showcasing her in their ad Be The One: Katie Sowers.

Pepsi, which sponsors the Super Bowl halftime show, drove the largest Twitter conversation share with its interactive tweet campaign, which invited users to guess elements of the half time show. Pepsi used its campaign to drive awareness for Pepsi Zero Sugar, which included giveaways and major prizes tied into its new offerings. People were invited to Tweet #PepsiSweepstakesOK every time someone said OK during the broadcast to enter for a chance to win.

So we experienced a pretty good football game, some memorable performances by J-Lo, Shakira, and Demi Lovato and also were entertained by Bill Murray, those folks from Boston, Baby Nut, Lil Nas X and Sam Elliott, and a host of others. It was a fun few hours to spend at the start of February.

Here’s looking forward to the next NFL season. Hope you enjoyed my posts.

The Road to Super Bowl LIV continues with the release of more ads including this WeatherTech ad featuring Scout

This Sunday, February 2, Super Bowl LIV will finally take place in Miami at Hard Rock stadium. It will include the Kansas City Chiefs vs. the San Francisco 49ner’s. Since the NFL Conference Championship games that were played almost two weeks ago now there have been many Super Bowl ads and teasers released. An average 30-second spot ad during this year’s Super Bowl costs over $5 million and up to $5.6 million.

One of the ads that you’ve must have heard about was a 30-second teaser from Planters in which they killed off their iconic Mr. Peanut mascot. This was one of the ads that had been getting the most responses on social media. Many were posting tributes to the mascot, who was created in 1916. Planters planned to run the ad on television before the game, along with a spot of Mr. Peanut’s funeral during the game’s third quarter. The brand was encouraging people to “pay their respects” by participating in its social media campaign and by entering a contest to win Mr. Peanut swag.

However, due to the real and horrific death of nine people in the helicopter crash that included Kobe Bryant and this 13-year old daughter, Gianna, the brand has paused their campaign. A spokesperson for Planters said that the pause only impacts paid advertising on channels like Twitter and YouTube an some other outreach in the immediate wake of this tragedy. However, they have not yet said that they are changing their plans for Super Bowl Sunday which includes a spot that features Mr. Peanut’s Funeral.

Walmart announced this week that it will air its first-time Super Bowl television commercial to highlight the benefits of its expanding pickup service. Walmart was actually founded five years before the first Super Bowl in 1967 and has held out as an advertiser in the Big Game for more than 50 years up till now. The ad it titled “Famous Visitors” includes a 60-second TV spot which will run during the game that shows 12 characters from popular movies and TV programs who “touch down on Earth” from “across the galaxy” to collect groceries and other products at Walmart curbside pickup stations.

Here’s an ad that has not gotten much publicity but was shared on Facebook by my daughter Alex, who is a veterinarian. A 30-second commercial from WeatherTech will feature the University of Wisconsin Madison’s School of Veterinary Medicine that will air Sunday during the game’s second quarter. WeatherTech, an automotive accessories, home and pet care products manufacturer, is paying for this $6 million spot along with supplying the talent, company founder and CEO David MacNeil’s golden retriever, Scout.

A 30-second commercial from WeatherTech will feature the University of Wisconsin Madison’s School of Veterinary Medicine that will air Sunday during the game’s second quarter. WeatherTech, an automotive accessories, home and pet care products manufacturer, is paying for this $6 million spot along with supplying the talent, company founder and CEO David MacNeil’s dog, Scout.

MacNeil had lost three previous dogs to cancer and was devastated when an ultrasound identified an aggressive cancer on Scout’s heart that left him with no more than a month to live, according to the university. A recommendation from a local veterinarian led MacNeil last summer to UW Veterinary Care, the school’s teaching hospital. Oncologist David Vail and other hospital specialists stabilized Scout’s condition and came up with an aggressive treatment plan. Some of the faculty and staff will appear alongside the 7-year-old golden retriever in the commercial that follows Scout’s journey to recovery. My daughter, Alex, spent her last year of clinical studies at U W-M in their veterinary school and now works at the Golf-Rose Animal Hospital in Schaumburg, IL. We are also currently dog parents to Molly, our 4 1/2 year old golden retriever.

Many brands have all created some great ads and campaigns to help make their Super Bowl investment pay off. I’ll post once more next week to summarize how the actual game was as well as how the ads scored. We’ll also get to see how well the Pepsi Half Time show featuring Jennifer Lopez and Shakira was received. I’m sure these two ladies will definitely entertain us. And yes, it should also be a great game between two really good teams that I’m looking forward to.

Volvo ties sweepstakes to a safety happening during Super Bowl LIV

Last weekend we got to watch the two NFL Conference Games that determined which teams are now headed to Super Bowl LIV. First we watched the Kansas City Chiefs take down the Tennessee Titans to make it to their first Super Bowl in 50 years. The Chiefs says that they’re happy to earn their head coach, Andy Reid, another chance at a Super Bowl. In the second game of the day the San Francisco 49ner’s took the lead first and stayed there the whole game to beat the Green Bay Packers. Both teams now headed to the Super Bowl have a great offense, but trying to stop Patrick Mahomes, the Chiefs quarterback, is a tough job. However, the 49er’s have one of the best defenses in football today. So we should be able to watch a great game taking place on Sunday, February 2, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.

Between now and then we’ll be hearing more about all the marketing and advertising associated with the Super Bowl. In my Road to the Super Bowl post last week I mentioned that Fox Sports, who is broadcasting the game, had sold out of spots running during the game back in November. Several brands have announced the ads that they will be running, including some major vehicle brands. One car brand that is not running an ad, but has created an interesting campaign around “The Big Game” is, Volvo USA.

Volvo has declared February 2, the same day as the Super Bowl, “Volvo Safety Sunday”. The Volvo Cars Safety Sunday Sweepstakes will give away $1 million in cars if a safety takes place during the Super Bowl. To participate, consumers must visit VolvoSafetySunday.com between now and just before the game begins. On the site, visitors are encouraged to design their own Volvo from 2020 models, adding the features of their choice. On the summary page, participants will be presented with a “Try to Win This Volvo” button. Clicking on it creates a unique configuration code, which is necessary to enter the sweepstakes.

Volvo is hoping to draw a comparison between a safety during game play, which can change the course of a game, and the automaker’s own safety features, which it claims have been a game-changer for millions of people. A safety is a relatively rare occurrence in football that happens when an offensive team is tackled, loses or fumbles the ball in their own end zone, which scores the defensive team two points.

Giving away $1 million in Volvo cars is cheaper than buying a Super Bowl ad, which cost on average around $5 million for a 30-second spot. Volvo doesn’t have to award any of the prizes if a safety doesn’t happen. Still, if a safety does take place, Volvo has purchased what we call “Prize Insurance”. The insurance company works up what the odds are of a safety happening and charges a fee based on those odds. If a safety happens, the insurance company will pay for the value of the prizes. Las Vegas is offering 6-1 odds on a safety occurring during the big game. Volvo is working with the same insurance company we work when we require prize insurance as well.

We’ll have to get use to Sundays with no football soon. For now we have Super Bowl Sunday to look forward to. As I said it should be a good game and many of the ads will entertain us as well. I’ll feature a couple more of then next week, so check back.