Tag: text-to-win promotions

Deschutes Brewery has success with text-to-win sweepstakes

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.

Text-to-Win Sweepstakes continue to grow in popularity towards the end of this year and into 2018

Interest in running text-to-win sweepstakes is continuing to grow.  Not only is it very popular with alcohol beverage brands, it is gaining popularity with other consumer brands sold at major retailers.

We’ve been working with the Republic National Distributing Company who is the second largest alcohol beverage distributor in the U.S. We worked with them earlier this year that I wrote about here when they were assisting Pernod Ricard with their Absolut Vodka and Martell Cognac Brands, each with a text-to-win sweepstakes. We’re working with them again on another text to win sweepstakes as they are now assisting Edrington Americas with their Macallen Scotch Whiskey Brand. The Macallan Distillers Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Edrington Group.

The Macallen DoubleCask Sweepstakes invites residents of Texas, 21 and older, to text DoubleCask to 65047 for a chance to win a trip for two to Edinburgh, Scotland. The prize includes round-trip airline tickets to Edinburgh, 5 day/4 night hotel accommodations in Edinburgh and a tour of the Famous Grouse Experience, Scotland’s oldest working distillery. The prize package is valued at $4,000. The sweepstakes runs till January 31, 2018. Pictured above is a copy of their shelf talker and to the left is their shelf blade, both point-of-sale pieces they have created to gain awareness of the sweepstakes at various retailers in Texas.

We need to make sure that entrants are 21 years of age or older since this sweepstakes is for an alcohol beverage brand. So we’ve set it up that each entrant receives a message back when they text in with a link to a very brief mobile form in which they have to enter their date of birth along with their name and email address. Once completed they receive another message confirming their entry which also has a link to the official rules. By collecting mobile phone numbers, all entrants are automatically subscribed to a text messaging list in which they can receive future text messages from the sponsor and opt-out at any time.

We also have a new client that we are working with on their first text-to-win sweepstakes through our sister company, Alliance Sweepstakes, which is Fiji Water. They have decided to test the waters with text-to-win in Canada for the first time. This sweepstakes is only open to legal residents of the provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, 18 or older. This recently started on December 6 and runs till February 6.

They are also giving away a trip, this one to Fiji. The prize includes 2 round-trip tickets from Canada to Nadi, Fiji Islands, 7 nights’ hotel accommodations at a hotel that includes daily breakfast, lunch and dinner along with 2 excursions or activities in Fiji. The prize package is valued at $10,000 Canadian. Fiji Water is working with Mac’s Convenience Stores in Western Canada to promote the sweepstakes at many of their retail locations.

We’ve been working with a mobile platform in the U.S. for the past couple of years called Sweeppea. Their platform doesn’t work with the Canadian Carriers, so I had to find a new company for the Fiji Water promotion. I found this company,  MODI$club, who have been giving me great customer service on this first promotion. So hopefully we’ll do more business in Canada with them.

I’ve just received approval on another text-to-win promotion for a new client that will start January 1. They have expressed interest in doing 3 text-to-win sweepstakes in 2018. We also have an existing client that has signed up for five more text-to-win sweepstakes in 2018. So it certainly seems like 2018 we’ll see an significant increase in these types of promotions.

Sweepstakes offers seat at final table at the World Series of Poker. Chinet and Meijer offer the Ultimate Backyard Party

Here’s a new sweepstakes targeted to poker players, or wannabe poker players. We recently started working with the team that runs the Shop. WSOP.com website. Here you can purchase all types of official licensed products of the World Series of Poker such as apparel, hats, poker chips and more.

They recently stared running the WSOP Final Table Giveaway Sweepstakes. All people need to do is join their email mailing list by filling out a few fields on their online entry form. The sweepstakes only runs till June 30 when one lucky winner will win two tickets to the final table of the World Series of Poker. The winner and their guest will have the opportunity to sit at the table when the best poker players in the world go head to head to win the Grand Prize. The Series will be featured on ESPN which is being held at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas July 20, 21 and 22! The prize package also includes $1,000 travel stipend to use for the trip to Las Vegas.

Another sweepstakes that recently launched that we’re assisting with is for a company called Huhtamaki, Inc. You may not recognize their name, but you probably would their largest consumer brand, Chinet. They are running this mobile promotion specifically for Meijer stores. Participants are invited to text the word “Movie” to the short code 65047 to be entered in the Ultimate Backyard Movie Night Sweepstakes. Once they text they will receive a text message back with a link to a mobile optimized entry form that they need to submit in order to complete their entry.

The prize package includes products to help the winners host their dream summer party. The Grand prize includes a voucher for a 65″ TV valued up to $1,399.99 good at any Meijer store. Also included is Charbroil Gas2Coal grill, 2 Lake N Trail chairs, Chinet party product supplies, 4 $100 Meijer Gift Cards and various OFF! products. Two first prize winners will also win a similar package, but not with the TV.

They are utilizing the mobile platform Sweeppea that collects the text entries and all the data from the online form. This is the same mobile platform that we utilize for all our mobile text to win sweepstakes as well.

This is the beginning of the summer promotion season. We’ll be covering more summer sweepstakes and contests here, so stay tuned.