One of our clients through our sister company, Alliance Sweepstakes Services, has been utilizing text-to-win sweepstakes now for the past three years. Deschutes Brewery is a craft beer company headquartered in Oregon and their beer is available in 29 states throughout the U.S. and in D.C. They have been run these text-to-win sweepstakes during the past two years which they have had great success with. So they plan to run more of them this year. Here are a few of them that have launched so far.

They kicked off the year on February 1 with their Camping Chairs Sweepstakes. This will run for nine months until the end of October and award 10 winners each month who will each receive a Deschutes Brewery branded Camping Chair worth about $50. All they have to do is text the word “CampChair” to the shortcode 65047 which we provide through the mobile platform that we have partnered with call Sweeppea. Upon receipt of the text message, the entrant receives a response message confirming the proper keyword and providing a link to the mobile Sweepstakes entry form which they have to enter their name, mailing address, phone number, date of birth, and e-mail address. People can also go straight to the online form to enter as well. Each completed entry form generates an entry and people can enter once a day. So they have several months to possibly become a winner.

The next sweepstakes was launched on March 1 for their Stand Up Paddle Board Giveaway. This will run for just four months until the end of June when the final drawing will take place shortly after that. Five Grand Prize winners will each receive a custom Deschutes Brewery inflatable stand up paddleboard from Stand On Liquid which has a value of $700. Plus 30 second prize winners will each receive an Outdoor Research Dry Isolation Pack valued at $50. The total prize pool value of this sweepstakes is $5,000. People can enter similar to the Champing Chairs Sweepstakes but in this case, they must use the keyword “SUP” when they text in.

The third sweepstakes that the Brewery currently has going is the Grizzly Cooler Sweepstakes. This just launched on May 15 and runs till July 15, so only two months for this one. Entrants text the word “Grizzly” to enter for a chance to win a Deschutes Brewery branded Grizzly Cooler valued at $800 that can hold 160 cans of beer along with some ice. Or they could be one of the 20 second prize winners that could win a smaller, soft-sided Grizzly cooler that has a $50 value. People can also enter directly on the Deschutes Brewery website.

So as you can tell by these prize selections, Deschutes Brewery seems to really know their customers and has defined them as outdoor enthusiasts. With these sweepstakes Deschutes Brewery not only collects the entrant’s mobile phone number, but their name, email address and mailing address, which makes it easy to ship out the prizes directly to the winners. Since this sweepstakes is for an alcohol beverage brand we need to make sure that entrants are 21 years of age or older as well so that is why we ask for their date of birth.

One of the main objective of these text-to-win sweepstakes is for the brands to receive extra awareness at retail and bar locations. Many alcohol beverage brands are now utilizing text to win and other types of sweepstakes promotions in order to gain the extra display at point of sale that promote the sweepstakes. Deschutes Brewery has a couple more of these types of sweepstakes scheduled further in the year which I’ll keep you posted on.

We have been getting more and more interest in running text-to-win sweepstakes this year. Here’s a new one that started running September 1 and will end this month. We’ve been working with Republic National Distributing Company who is the second largest alcohol beverage distributor in the U.S. They are assisting Pernod Ricard, the sponsor, who has several very popular spirit brands. Pernord Ricard is utilizing in-store POS for both their Absolut Vodka and Martell Cognac brands to get the message out about the sweepstakes.

People in the Maryland and Washington DC area are invited to text the word WIN1 (Absolut) or WIN2 (Martell) to the shortcode 65047 to be entered into the sweepstakes. One Grand Prize winner from the Win1 keyword drawing will receive two VIP tickets to a Washington Capitals’ NHL home game and a Zamboni ride and One Grand Prize winner from the Win2 keyword drawing will receive two VIP tickets to a Washington Wizards’ NBA home game and a pregame shoot experience. Both prizes total $899 in value.

Since this sweepstakes is for alcohol beverage brands we needed to make sure that entrants were 21 years of age or older. So when they text in each entrants receives a message back with a link to a very brief mobile form in which they have to enter their date of birth. Once completed they receive another message confirming their entry with a link to the official rules. Pernod Ricard is collecting mobile phone numbers and all entrants are automatically subscribed to a text messaging list in which they can receive future text messages from the sponsor. An opt-out option always needs to be included. Other marketers that we have been working with use the form to collect additional data on the entrants such as their name and email address. It depends on the marketer’s objectives and how easy they want to make it for the entrants.

The main objective of these text-to-win sweepstakes is for the brands to receive extra awareness at 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. Here is another text-to-win sweepstakes that we are running for Infinium Spirits for their Tequila Corralejo brand. This is the third and final text-to-win sweepstakes that we’ve been assisting them with this year. The other two which I wrote about were for their Seagrams Vodka brand and for their Templeton Rye Whisky brand.

The Ultimate Fiesta Sweepstakes is open to all of the U.S. and invites people to text Tequila to 65047 for a chance to win one of four $250 gift cards that they can use to host the ultimate fiesta. Point of sale materials such as case cards and neck ringers have been created to get the word out in stores. This sweepstakes also started on September 1 and runs till the end of October. With all three of their sweepstakes they have been utilizing the mobile form to collect additional data on the entrants which include their name, email and date of birth.

We’ve been partnering with the Sweeppea mobile platform on most all of our text to win sweepstakes this year. Based on some initial 2018 planning that some of our clients have shared with us I believe that we’ll be doing many more of these text-to-win sweepstakes next year.