Tag: Sweepstakes
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.
Many marketers are already in full force now that this holiday season is upon. Not only can I tell by watching TV, but my email box has been filling up with messages about holiday recipes, black Friday sales and various gift ideas. According to a recent poll by Experian Marketing Services, email marketing will be the most-used advertising channel this holiday selling season. So even with all the social media choices, 90% of these marketers say they’re sticking with the tried and true email message!
Sweepstakes are one of the most efficient ways to gather customer/user information and build a database with email addresses as well as mobile phone numbers for SMS messages. Running a sweepstakes during the Holiday season offers prospective customers the chance to win great prizes and also helps to build excitement and awareness of your brand.
We’ve been assisting the team at Experience Kissimmee in promoting their destination as a place to celebrate the holiday season with their Snowy Holiday Sweepstakes. The sweepstakes offers weekly chances to win a holiday getaway package to Kissimmee that includes 2-day/3-night hotel accommodations plus tickets to area attractions such as Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, Now Snowing in downtown Celebration, FL, and to ICE! featuring the Nutcracker at Gaylord Palms Resort.
People are invited to enter the Sweepstakes by submitting an entry form on the promotional website, www.snowyholiday.com, or via text message by texting the keyword “snow” to a shortcode. Experience Kissimmee is currently promoting the sweepstakes only through channels targeting residents that live in areas within driving distance to Kissimmee. This is because the getaway prize package doesn’t include airfare along with the fact that the trip needs to be taken within a short time period. This market also happens to be one of Experience Kissimmee’s prime target audiences since it is a group that would most likely visit the destination on a yearly basis, if not several times a year.
“Our holiday sweepstakes is a key component of our seasonal campaign to encourage visitation to Kissimmee and highlight our variety of holiday events and special offers” states Megan Heron, Product Manager for Experience Kissimmee. “Consumers who enter for a chance to win may opt-in to learn more about what Kissimmee has to offer. We are excited to use this data to re-market to them during key travel planning periods throughout the year. Our direct marketing efforts have included email marketing and now can also include text messaging with last minute deals, e-newsletters and information about our ongoing campaigns and promotions.”
So far I’ve awarded two weekly winners with the getaway prize package and both are extremely excited and can’t wait to book their reservations and visit Kissimmee. One winner told me they are originally from the northeast and are looking forward to experiencing snow again, but this time in Florida!
Many brands have been launching promotions this time of year tied into the Halloween season. Usually I would feature a candy brand, or as in the past, Halloween pet treat promotions. But this season I found it interesting that a beer brand has hopped on the band wagon.
Dos Equis is getting into the spirit this year with their Masquerade Sweepstakes. They are inviting participants to enter for a chance to win a trip to New Orleans on November 22 to attend the Dos Equis Masquerade featuring music artist Q-Tip and a chance to meet the Dos Equis Most Interesting Man. Participants can either upload a photo of their favorite Halloween celebration to XXMasquerade.com, the promotional website, or post the photo to Instagram using the Hashtag #XXMasquerade.com to enter.
Dos Equis is also offering a third way for participants to enter that requires purchase. Participants can text or email a photo of their receipt showing the purchase of Dos Equis Lager Especial or Ambar beer in either 6, 12, 18 or 24-pack configurations to [email protected]. I’m starting to see more of this type of entry using SMS with a photo as a means of entry. We currently are assisting a client with rules for a local promotion in a Florida supermarket where texting a photo of a receipt as proof of purchase is an option. In that case there is a mail-in request option as well to participate without purchase.
The Dos Equis Masquerade Sweepstakes ends on Halloween night. Six grand prizes will then be awarded which includes airfare for two to New Orleans, LA, hotel accommodations and $300 spending money. Approximate retail value (ARV) of each grand prize: $2,820. 25 second prize winners will each receive a life size standing image of the Dos Equis Most Interesting Man.
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15-second TV spot is running through October featuring the Dos Equis Most Interesting Man offering his take on Masquerade Parties: “Sometimes it’s best to be yourself. This is not one of those times.” The promotion also includes events nationwide, digital experiences along with limited edition label designs for its Lager and Ambar brews. Each pack and bottle will feature new branding with its own mask. Dos Equis will also sponsor several Halloween-themed events nationwide, including Music Midtown, Life is Beautiful, Pacific Beachfest, ALONE, Monster Bash and HARD Day of the Dead.
You can view some of the photos in the XXMasquerade gallery. Even though the Official Rules contain photo guidelines that are quite extensive, there are still definitely some interesting photos posted as you can well image. This one of the woman and the parrot I thought was one of the better quality photos that has been uploaded. But it is a random drawing, so we’ll have to wait and see who wins.
I was in New York City last week attending the 3rd Annual Summit on Digital Advertising Compliance for Social Media, Sweepstakes & Promotions hosted by the American Conference Institute. I was in a room mostly filled with legal counsel from many of the top brands as well as those from law firms who specialize in advertising and promotion.
What I mostly came away with is that there are so many grey areas when it comes to social media. Yes, there are laws regarding sweepstakes and contests that we follow. But when it comes to the various guidelines from all the social media platforms as well as the FTC, there are many cases when it is open to interpretation. Recently Facebook updated it’s promotion guidelines that I wrote about here. Also the FTC came out with new endorsement guidelines that was sparked by a Pinterest promotion that I posted here. It is hard to keep up with them all.
In my last post I wrote about the issues businesses face when trying to include a NFL team or the Super Bowl in their promotions without having an official sponsorship. At the conference we discussed this as well as the use of celebrities and sports figures in tweets, photos, status updates, etc. without their permission. We just had a client come to us with a sweepstakes where they are giving away as the grand prize tickets to a concert. They wanted to use not only the artist’s name in the official name of the sweepstakes, but also wanted participants to retweet the promotion with the artist’s name in the tweet. This is not a good idea to,first off, use the artist’s name without their permission, and then go broadcast it on Twitter that you’re using it.
While at the conference I came across this article on SmartBlog for Social Media written by Ivan Serrano which is titled “How to Mind Your Manners on Social Media”. Ivan created this infographic that I think is perfect so I wanted to share it here. It doesn’t include any laws or guidelines, just the simple etiquette that we businesses sometimes forget when posting on our social media sites. I think it’s mainly because we’re not face-to-face with our audience. Thanks Ivan for sharing this. Yes, I totally agree about the too many hashtags!
attending the 3rd Annual Summit on Digital Advertising Compliance for Social Media, Sweepstakes & Promotions hosted by the American Conference Institute. I was in a room mostly filled with legal counsel from many of the top brands as well as those from law firms who specialize in advertising and promotion.
What I mostly came away with is that there are so many grey areas when it comes to social media. Yes, there are laws regarding sweepstakes and contests that we follow. But when it comes to the various guidelines from all the social media platforms as well as the FTC, there are many cases when it is open to interpretation. Recently Facebook updated it’s promotion guidelines that I wrote about here. Also the FTC came out with new endorsement guidelines that was sparked by a Pinterest promotion that I posted here. It is hard to keep up with them all.
In my last post I wrote about the issues businesses face when trying to include a NFL team or the Super Bowl in their promotions without having an official sponsorship. At the conference we discussed this as well as the use of celebrities and sports figures in tweets, photos, status updates, etc. without their permission. We just had a client come to us with a sweepstakes where they are giving away as the grand prize tickets to a concert. They wanted to use not only the artist’s name in the official name of the sweepstakes, but also wanted participants to retweet the promotion with the artist’s name in the tweet. This is not a good idea to,first off, use the artist’s name without their permission, and then go broadcast it on Twitter that you’re using it.
While at the conference I came across this article on SmartBlog for Social Media written by Ivan Serrano which is titled “How to Mind Your Manners on Social Media”. Ivan created this infographic that I think is perfect so I wanted to share it here. It doesn’t include any laws or guidelines, just the simple etiquette that we businesses sometimes forget when posting on our social media sites. I think it’s mainly because we’re not face-to-face with our audience. Thanks Ivan for sharing this. Yes, I totally agree about the too many hashtags!
If you want to drive people to enter your sweepstakes or contest promotion then if helps if you offer a good prize. As a promotion’s sponsor you should always have a prize that is relevant to your target audience and enhances your brand. Cash prizes are relevant to all types of people and still ranked as the number one prize that draws the most participants.
The Krazy Glue “Krazy Big Fix” Sweepstakes is offering a chance for one lucky grand prize winner to receive $40,000! We’ll be drawing the name of this winner around January 5,2015. Here’s how it works:
Krazy Glue is inviting participants to submit a photo or a description of something they fixed using Krazy Glue. There are three ways to enter:
1. Online at www.krazybigfix.com by completing and submitting the entry form. Participants need to describe their fix in writing and choose which Krazy Glue product they used from a drop-down menu. They then have the option of uploading a photo of their fix or including a link to their video posted on YouTube.
2. On Twitter by posting a tweet of their fix and using the hashtag #crazybigfix.
3. On Instagram by uploading a photo of their fix and using the hashtag #crazybigfix.
All eligible and approved submissions are being displayed on the promotion’s website. There is a counter on the website that currently claims there are 237,315 submitted fixes since the sweepstakes launched on April 2. You can sort the fixes by type on the website. Currently there appears to be a good mix of submissions f
rom all the different ways to enter. However, I don’t see any videos submitted as of yet. Here’s one of my favorite that was posted on Twitter with a photo of “cat” boot stuffers.
Besides the $40,000 grand prize, there are also monthly prizes being awarded. Each month is a different prize. The current June prize is a Galaxy Tablet. Last month we awarded a GoPro Camera and the previous month a Bose Speaker System.
Monthly drawings are done around the 5th of the month from all eligible entries from the preceding month. The grand prize drawing will include all eligible entries received from the start to the end date which is December 31, 2014. Participants can enter one time per method of entry. So if they enter by all three ways, they can have up to three entries total during the entire promotion period.
From the looks of how many great entries we’ve received so far, we should have many more by the end of the year. This promotion not only gives Krazy Glue a great database of customer names and contact info. It also provides valuable insights into how consumers are using their products and what social media platforms they are utilizing. Well worth the $40,000 plus in prizes I would say!
This weekend is Memorial Day, referred to as the unofficial start of summer, and with that many summer-themed promotions targeted to consumers of all types. Also it kicks off the summer movie season which normally includes many action-adventure type movies hitting the theaters.
“TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION”, the fourth film in director Michael Bay’s global blockbuster franchise, will hit theaters on June 27. It stars some of my favorite actors, Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci and Kelsey Grammer. The film’s PR release states that the movie “begins after an epic battle that left a great city torn, but with the world saved. The characters are swept up in a war of good and evil, ultimately leading to a climactic battle across the world.” Sounds like another classic adventure movie! You can watch the trailer here.
Big Red Soda has partnered with Paramount Pictures on this movie to launch a promotion offering fans a way to win big prizes and collect some Transformers swag. The Big Red $25,000 Transformers Sweepstakes just launched on May 19 . Fans can enter the sweepstakes at bigred.com/tf4 which is off of Big Red’s Facebook Page. Prizes include TRANSFORMERS collectable figures, Hasbro toys inspired by the movie, wearables, DVDs, posters and even a cooler that transforms into a picnic table. All in all, Big Red will be giving away over nine hundred prizes sure to create some excitement at all levels. Sweepstakes ends on August 15.
The promotion also includes Limited Edition TRANSFORMERS themed cans found only on Big Red Zero soda. The series of six cans will feature renderings of TRANSFORMERS figures Optimus Prime and Bumblebee. Fans will even be able to pick their side by choosing between Autobot and Decepticon themed cans.
“This is our opportunity to offer everyone a chance to receive something ‘Deliciously Different’ in anticipation of one of the biggest films of the summer,” says Thomas Oh, Big Red’s SVP of marketing. “We are thrilled to be part of bringing the explosive on-screen action of TRANSFORMERS to life with not only our Limited Edition TRANSFORMERS can series but also a sweepstakes offering fans the chance to win some unique TRANSFORMERS prizes.”
So get ready for an action-packed, hot summer. After the hard, cold winter that most of us experienced this year, we’re all so looking forward to it!
The Renew-It-All-Sweepstakes from the Hallmark Channel is helping to celebrate Season 2 of their Home & Family series. The sweepstakes launched on March 31 and is offering one lucky winner a chance to have their home renewed.
The grand prize consists of $15,000 in cash to fix up a home along with a trip to Los Angeles for winner and guest to appear on the Home & Family set. Ace Hardware is a partner providing a $2,500 gift card in the grand prize package along with Lumber Liquidators who is also a partner providing a $2,500 gift card as well which brings the total value of the grand prize to $21,500!
Hallmark Channel’s Home & Family is a daily, two-hour lifestyle program currently hosted by Mark Steines and Cristina Ferrare. Mark was a long standing co-anchor on “Entertainment Tonight and also was named People Magazine’s “Sexiest Men of 2004”. Chistina started out as a model, has had many TV appearances including co-hosting Good Morning America. She is a NY Times best-selling author and most recently published a cook book titled “A Big Bowl of Love”.
The Home & Family series includes a lineup of celebrity guests, chefs, designers, and even audience members. The Grand Prize winner of the Renew-It-All Sweepstakes is expected to appear as a guest on the show during a taping scheduled to take place between July 14 – 25, 2014.
Yesterday’s episode featured actress Elizabeth Henstridge (“Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”) along with actor Lou Wegner who shared their advice and challenges of owning pet rabbits. Today’s episode features Actor Miguel Ferrer (“NCIS: Los Angeles”), Judge Cristina Perez along with yoga guru and raw food enthusiast Rainbeau Mars.
This is our first time working with the Hallmark Channel which is part of the Crowne Media Group. We were brought on board to be the Sweepstakes Administrators for this promotion through one of their agencies, The Promotional Edge. The Promotional Edge specializes in promotional marketing and they are based in the LA area. So we are hoping this is the first of many more promotions that we can assist them with. Check it out, you can enter the sweepstakes up until May 11.