Contests Archives - Page 3 of 4 - American Sweepstakes

Tweet #VolvoContest During a Super Bowl Car Commercial

Tweet #VolvoContest during a Super Bowl Car Commercial and you could put someone in a new Volvo!

If you want to enjoy some chicken wings on Super Bowl Sunday you’d better stock up on them now! The National Chicken Council says it estimates that Americans will eat 1.25 billion wings this Sunday to celebrate the Big Game. We in western New York love our chicken wings. In fact the Buffalo Bills treated the Detroit Lions to Buffalo wings to thank them for letting the Bills play a Monday night game in their stadium when Ralph Wilson Stadium was buried in snow!

The National Retail Federation says it expects 184 million fans to tune in to Super Bowl XLIX, and that the average viewer will spend $77.88 to celebrate. That adds up to $14.3 billion! That’s shows how powerful the NFL is for this economy. Let’s not have any more of this Deflate-Gate nonsense!

Volvo just announced something interesting that they’re doing this year to tap into those 184 million fans! There are many automotive brands that are running an ad during the Super Bowl 49 broadcast, but not Volvo. Instead it wants viewers to Tweet when one of their competitor’s ad is running. This promotion “The Greatest Interception Ever,” invites fans to tweet its hashtag, #VolvoContest, during other car brands’ Super Bowl commercials. This contest asks fans to nominate someone they feel deserves to win a new Volvo XC60. Volvo says it wants to focus on real people rather than its own marketing message. Check out their promotional video here:

The Who Would You Put in a Volvo? Contest details are on their promotional website www.volvointerception.com. The contest starts when the game starts, at 6:30 pm on Sunday. Once the participate see another car commercial they have to tweet using the #volvocontest hashtag and state who they would put in a brand new Volvo.

After the required Tweet is sent, Volvo will send a Tweet back to that participant with a link to the contest’s entry form. Participant then needs to fill out and submit the entry form and include a statement identifying who their nominee is and why they are nominating this person. Nominee statement must be no more than 75 words and nominee must be a living person in the U.S. who has a valid driver’s license and 18 years of age of older. Each participant can nominate only one person and should have that person’s permission before they nominate them.

At the end of the contest period, which is 11:59 pm ET, a panel of judges will choose 5 potential winners based on the following criteria: (a) extent to which the Nominee demonstrates passion for the Volvo brand (10%); (b) extent to which the Nominee demonstrates generosity of spirit (30%); (c) extent to which the Nominee demonstrates how they inspire (30%) and (d) overall impression(30%).

Once the winners are verified 5 prizes will be awarded to the nominees, not the winners. Each nominee will receive a Volvo XC60 along with a $5,000 check. Total prize value is $46,205. The nominee will be responsible for all taxes, registration, insurance and title.

Now Volvo isn’t a sponsor of the NFL or Super Bowl, so they have been very careful in all their promotional communications, including the Contest Official Rules, not to mention the Super Bowl. Instead they refer to it as the “professional football championship game taking place on February 1, 2015, at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona”. I would think that the other car brands that have paid big money to run their ads (BMW, Kia, Lexus, Nissan and Mercedes-Benz) are not happy with this promotion either. You can view some of the ads that will be running here on YouTube’s AdBlitz.

I’m looking forward to watching “The Big Game” this Sunday and eating some chicken wings. Hope it’s at least a good one, not like last year’s blowout! Don’t forget to vote for your favorite ad here on AdBlitz.

A Diva Like No Other Agent Promo

2014 Review. Happy New Year 2015.

I hope 2014 was good to you and that you’ve been enjoying this holiday season. I’ve established a end-of-the-year tradition which is to write my last post of the year as a review of what I’ve written about during the past year. I feel it’s a nice way for us all to reflect on the past year before we look forward to what the new year will bring.

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 47 blog posts this past year, including this one, which is almost one a week, published mostly on Wednesdays.

January – Intuit’s Small Business Big Game Contest winner is one Super Bowl Ad we haven’t seen yet – My January posts mostly cover the Super Bowl and all the marketing, advertising and promotions that go with it. Super Bowl 48 was the first in a cold-weather outdoor stadium that most of us could ever recall while we also were experiencing some really COLD winter temperatures. Most of the advertisers decided this past year to post their spots online before the game, except for Intuit. The small business contest winner’s ad was broadcast during the game for the first time and the winner was Goldie Blox. Check out their ad here.

February – Thank You Mom Campaign from P&G Scores Gold at the Olympic Games – Sochi hosted the Winter Olympic Games and Team USA had an amazing year. What was so special about the games was hearing some of the personal stories of the athletes. P&G’s “Pick Them Back Up” TV spot hit the emotional nail on the head. As of today it has over 20 million views here on YouTube.

March – Video contest from Experience Kissimmee Utilizes Instagram – Instagram had an amazing year and this was one of the first posts of the year I wrote highlighting a video contest we worked on for Kissimmee Florida. Instagram recently announced that they hit 300 million monthly users, up from 200 million from March, and have now surpassed Twitter.

April – Tourism Australia offers 52 chances to visit now, not Someday – I worked with Australia Tourism and their agency to help launch the Someday campaign. It was in partnership with Virgin Australia and Delta Airlines, their first joint U.S. marketing campaign, which gave away 52 amazing trips to Australia. Each trip was valued at $7,800 totaling over $400K in prizes. Many of the lucky winners will be taking their trip well into 2015.

May – FTC publically addresses compliance violation with Pinterest contest – the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) updated its Endorsement Guidelines after it completed an investigation into a Pinterest-based contest conducted by Cole Haan. The ruling impacts all social media promotions, particularly those that encourage user-generated content to be created and shared, and not just on Pinterest, but all other social media platforms.

June – Contests, Games, Hashtags and Videos promote the 2014 Word Cup – Once team USA won it’s first match against Guana US fans got very excited about the games and helped to make it the most social sporting event ever. John Brooks became a star overnight and his #daretodream posts. However, it was the Germans that walked away with the final trophy. We’ll see what we can do in Russia in 2018.

July – Hershey’s Experience Sweepstakes from Menchie’s launches and Shortstack introduces their new Campaign Builder – With this summer promotion I was able to use my favorite Facebook app to create a sweepstakes campaign that not only was installed to a Facebook page, but existed online as well. This sweepstakes campaign collected entries from both methods all going into one database.

August – Facebook no longer Likes a Like-Gate – Facebook announced in early August that it would no longer allow apps that make it mandatory to like the page in order to enter a promotion. They gave developers 90 days to adapt to the change that officially went into effect on November 5. Most recently they have also announced that they will restrict Facebook status updates from pages that strictly promote entering a promotion.

September – Rules, Guidelines and Etiquette of Business Social Media – After attending the 3rd Annual Summit on Digital Advertising Compliance for Social Media, Sweepstakes & Promotion in NYC in early September, I came away with the fact that there are so many grey areas when it comes to social media. So I included a infographic in this post titled “How to Mind Your Manners on Social Media” and still feel that it rings so true.

October -#CheckYourself, new music video from Avon honoring Breast Cancer Awareness month Each October in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month I write a least one post promoting the cause. This year it was about a powerful PSA from the Avon Foundation for Women which featured a new music video created with and by Paula Abdul along with Alex Cairo, a young and up and coming copywriter who wrote the lyrics and is the daughter of Gene Cairo, the President of American Sweepstakes Company.

November – Sweepstakes, Contests, Disclosure & Digital/Social Media Updates from the Annual Marketing Law Conference – I was back again in Chicago for the 36th Annual Marketing Law Conference hosted by the BAA/PMA. This post includes a summary of what Linda Goldstein from Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, aka the Sweepstakes Diva, shared with us.

December – Cheddar’s Cafes Home for the Holidays Contest invites Brand Advocates to vote – During the month of December I wrote about several Holiday promotions that we were working on for clients. This one from Cheddar Cafes involved a essay contest that included voting. They received 1,350 entries and the winner, Ross Kelly, has her story posted on their Facebook page.

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 2015.

Cheddar’s Cafes Home for the Holidays Contest invites Brand Advocates to vote

It wasn’t a big surprise this year that Black Friday and Cyber Monday were not what they used to be. From the stats that I have read it appears that we now shop whenever we want, however we want, thanks to online and mobile. So even though some stores were open on Thanksgiving day, most people still shopped at home on the holiday. I admit that I contributed to the economy over the weekend and got my holiday shopping started, both online and in stores. The only day I ventured out was on Saturday and I did shop at one of the Small Business Saturday stores using my Amex Card, in which I will now receive a $10 credit.

To continue on with my coverage of some of this year’s holiday promotions, here’s another one that we are working on for a client, Cheddars Casual Cafes. They are running a “Home for the Holidays” Contest inviting people to tell them who they would like to spend their holidays with and why. Cheddars is known for it’s scratch kitchen and homemade food that they prepare in a casual restaurant atmosphere. So part of the contest requirements is to include a description of a great holiday meal that they shared with this special person who they unfortunately won’t be with this holiday season.

Participants need to describe in 150 words or less what was in this great holiday meal and where it was shared, along with what this special person means to them. A photo is also required to be submitted with their essay to complete their entry. Submissions are now being accepted up till December 7. After that a panel of judges will review all the submissions and choose 10 finalists based on the following criteria: Adherence to theme, Holiday Reunions 33%, Incorporation of a meal into the entry, 34%, Creativity: 33%.

The 10 finalists will then be voted on to determine the winners. But Cheddars decided to open up the voting segment not to the general public as in many user-generated content contests, but instead to customers who they have determined to be “Brand Advocates”. There are 424 of these “Brand Advocates” who each may cast 3 votes. They may cast these 3 votes any way they choose; all 3 votes for one Finalist, one vote to 3 different Finalists or 2 votes to one Finalist and one vote to another.

Three Grand Prize winners will be announced on or about December 19. They will each receive a $1,000 VISA Gift Card and a $250 Cheddar’s Gift Card. This will hopefully help them to connect with that special someone before the holiday season is over.

Our two daughters will both be home for Christmas and my husband and I are looking forward to it very much. We missed them at Thanksgiving and haven’t seen them since August when they were both home for a few days together. They have already put in their special menu requests. Their dad is the one who cooks most of the homemade meals in this kitchen.

Dunkin’ launches video contest inviting fans to Dance for Dark Roast

Dunkin’ Donuts is celebrating National Coffee Day which kicked off earlier this week, September 29, with the launch of a video contest. The DDance for Dark Roast contest is tied to the launch of their new Dark Roast Coffee.

When you invite participants to submit a video of themselves dancing, then you obviously are going to receive videos with music in them. What I really like about this contest is that Dunkin Donuts actually went and licensed a song “Clap Your Hands” by Richey Lam for this contest. Participants first must visit the contest website DDanceForDarkRoast and download the song. Then they must record themselves dancing to the song.

The contest website features a introduction video from Maria Menounos, host of E!’s “Untold” and “Live from E!”who also states that she’s a former DD employee. She instructs participants to submit a video with their dance moves as “bold and smooth” as Dunkin’s new dark roast coffee. If so they have a chance to win one of 10 first prizes which is a year’s supply of Dunkin’s new dark roast coffee as well as a $5,000 grand prize. The first place prizes will be awarded in the form of five $100 DD gift cards. The grand prize winner will also have their video broadcast on the billboard in Times Square.

What I also like about this contest is that they are asking all participants to post their videos on their own social profiles. They must use the hashtag #DDanceforDarkRoast, make sure their post can be seen by the public and post it on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Vine. Some of the eligible videos will be pulled into a gallery for viewing on the contest website.

All video submissions must be no longer than 30 seconds and must include the song playing in the background. The judges will review all submissions and give each a score based on this criteria: Overall Appeal (50%), Adherence to Contest (25%) and Originality (25%). The contest entry period is open now through October 12, 2014.

I’ll be interested to see who the winners are of this contest. Dunkin’ is also offering a cup of their new dark roast coffee for $99 now till Oct. 5. I’m a dark roast coffee lover, so I’ve got to try it.

Makeover My Mom Contest from Lane Bryant celebrates Moms

Mother’s Day is this Sunday and while I appreciate a day that celebrates moms, I feel it has become a bit too commercial. Whatever form of media you may engage in right now you will see a “Mom” message in one form or another. Marketers have again come out in full force positioning their products as the perfect gift for mom. For me, what I really want this Mother’s Day is warm weather and, as tradition, some flowers to plant.

One of our company’s long-standing clients is Lane Bryant and each year they tend to run a Mother’s Day promotion. Last year I wrote about their Mom and Me Photo Contest. This year we are assisting them with running the Makeover My Mom Contest. Consumers were invited to visit the Lane Bryant Facebook page and click on the Contest app to participate. During the submission period, you could submit an essay (up to 250 words) describing why your mom deserves a makeover.

The Submission Period ended a few days ago and we’re now in the Voting Period of the Contest. All of the submissions are posted in the Contest app and the general public is invited to vote for the one that they find most deserving of the Grand Prize. The three submissions that receive the most votes by the end of Mother’s Day, May 11, will become contest finalists. The sponsor will then have their panel of judges review these three submissions and determine the winners based on the following criteria: Entrant’s genuine love for their mother (50%) and the Entrant’s creativity and uniqueness (50%).

The Grand Prize Winner will receive a trip for two to the Lane Bryant Corporate Office in Columbus, OH, which includes round-trip airfare, 2 nights hotel accommodations and a $500 Lane Bryant makeover for the Winner’s Mother or Mother-figure. The other two finalists will each receive a $250 Lane Bryant gift card. The winners will be contacted next week, around May 14.

We’ve been experiencing some issues with contests that include public voting, so we now make sure that the official rules include a clause that state that the Sponsor may disqualify any vote or voters who tamper or attempting to tamper with the voting process or who may submit more than the one vote per day allowed. The rules also states that the use of any voting board or voting forums are not allowed and anyone suspected of using them may be subject to disqualification. Including a judging component to determine the final winner also allows the Sponsor the ability to choose the submission that best meets the criteria and not just solely determined by votes. This is a recommendation that we consistently make to our clients when setting up a public voting contest.

There appears to be over 800 submissions in the contest and many of the submissions, from what I have read, include some heartwarming stories. So it appears the contest has been a success. Happy Mother’s Day to all those moms who’s stories are shared here as well as the rest of us moms. Mother’s Day is a bit depressing for those of us whose moms are no longer living, which some of the contest stories shared. The holiday now reminds me of how much I miss my mom and how I really miss saying the word “mom”. It is one of the first words we learn and one we tend to take for granted. Happy Mothers Day Mom.