MidYear NCH Coupon Report for 2011

The average face value of coupons has grown to $1.57, up from $1.49 same time last year. Redemption continues to increase while redemption shows growth in non-traditional channels such as drug stores.

See details, average redemption rates and more by viewing the MidYear 2011 CPG coupon industry facts report by NCH - July 2011. See link:

http://www.nchmarketing.com/ResourceCenter/assets/0/22/28/76/226/457/732e85bfeb9940fd8ebd018d33b6492…

Alternate Solutions to URLs in SMS Campaigns

Derek Johnson, founder and CEO of Tatango, recently managed a client case study that looked at the open rates of SMS campaigns with web links. That study revealed that only 26% of subscribers opened the URL on their mobile device. This percentage falls inline with a 2010 Mobile comScore report that reported only 25% of mobile phone owners have a smartphone capable of opening the link.

Since 75% of the mobile phone population can't open a link, other options are available. How about adding a phone number within the SMS campaign.

Concert tickets are now for sale for X entertainer? Call now to reserve your seats.

Have a special running tonight at your restaurant? Call now for reservations and 10% off your ticket.

Click-to-call campaigns are an option that many SMS senders just don't consider. Click here for more campaign ideas.

http://www.mobilemarketingwatch.com/political-sms-campaign-teaches-new-dog-old-trick-16891/

Tag a Commercial, Get a Coupon

IntoNow is a TV check-in application that identifies what you are watching. And, you can connect with friends to find out what they are watching.

Pepsi joined forces with IntoNow to reward viewers a coupon when they tag a specific Pepsi commercial during MLB games. Up to 50,000 participants will be issued a free Pepsi Max coupon.

IntoNow just launched their app on 1/31/11, and they are getting alot of publicity with this promotion.

Lots of opportunities with this type of technology.....

http://www.lostremote.com/2011/04/20/tag-a-tv-commercial-get-a-coupon-for-a-free-pepsi/

To learn more about IntoNow or download the app, go here:
http://www.intonow.com/ci

General Mills tries Groupon

General Mills developed a clever way to get on the Groupon bandwagon. They ran a Groupon deal that offered coupon buyers in Minneapolis and San Francisco a $40 sampler pack for $20.

The offer ran April 21 and consisted of a sample pack with 12 grocery items, including Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix, a Wanchai Ferry Orange Chicken dinner kit, and sampler sizes of Green Giant Corn Niblets, Chex Mix and Hamburger Helper.

A coupon book was also included.

General Mills viewed this as an interesting way to offer up samples to consumers and move sales via in-store redemption. This was the first time Groupon has worked with a CPG company due to Groupon's deep-discount offerings.

I envision more CPG offerings now that General Mills has paved the way.

http://promomagazine.com/incentives/news/general-mills-tests-groupons-0426bq1/

Kroger Software Update

Kroger has recently updated their POS system to prevent coupon fraud. This new enhancement checks for multiple coupons being redeemed for a single product. Consumers can now only use one coupon per product purchased.

"In the past, Kroger customers could use or "stack" an electronic coupon with a paper coupon for the same item. They could use both because Kroger did not have a good way of monitoring that the customer was using two coupons on the same item."

This upgrade gives Kroger the means to tighten coupon use to the limit terms printed on most coupons.


http://www.wmctv.com/story/14344597/kroger

Sweepstakes I Like

I found a couple of sweepstakes on Facebook I want to share.

I Like Vacations gives you the opportunity to win $300 and you can enter every day. This is your Personal Entry. The great part is you can choose a Facebook friend to win $300 as well. Together, you get one entry for that day. The friend selection is optional.

You also have a chance to win when one of your friends submits a Personal Entry and lists your name as the friend of their choice. That friend will receive one Personal Entry and you will receive one Friend Entry. There is no limit to the number of valid Friend Entries you may receive per day from this method.

This sweepstakes ends April 11, 2011.
Enter here: http://www.bigprize.com/share/vacations

Next, I like the Stouffer's Farmers' Harvest Drop 'n' Save Game.
The registration form asks a question about the number of people living in your household. How you answer depends on the prize pool you are in. All prizes are Stouffer's Meal coupons ranging from cents off coupons to free coupons.

After registering, you proceed to the instant win portion and play the game. If you win a prize and like the prize you won, you can accept the prize and print the coupon. But if you don't like the outcome, you can discard that entry or prize and try again, up to two more times. Your third chance is your final outcome for the day. You can win one time during the entire promotion.

This game ends April 8, 2011. Enter here:
http://www.facebook.com/stouffers?ref=ts#!/stouffers?sk=app_132019770201051

Clay Yourself Contest

Hotels.com ran a contest where consumers could create clay images of themselves in order to enter. A total of 390,000 people visited clayyourself.com and 230,000 developed headshots to enter the contest.

Consumers then voted on their favorite clay avatar. Approximately 1.2 million votes were cast to narrow down their favorite.

The winner, from North Carolina, will travel to Los Angeles to see the making of the next Hotels.com commercial. The winner's clay creation will play a part in the commercial along-side the hotels.com spokesperson, Smart, a clay character (shown on the left) and the face of hotels.com.

This site won the Favorite Website Award's "Site of the Day" on February 18.


http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hotelscom-clay-yourself-contest-concludes-grand-prize-winner-leonty-m-will-star-in-a-hotelscom-commercial-117795238.html

Orville Redenbacher's Pop & Win Game

Orville Redenbacher is running an instant win game on specially marked packages of Orville Redenbacher's Gourment Popping Corn. The game is called Pop & Win.

What I love about this promotion is the game piece. Each bag has a heat activated game piece. Once you cook the popcorn in the microwave, a winning or non-winning message is revealed. Winning game pieces tell you what you have won and show a prize redemption code that you enter online.

There are over $8 million in prizes to be won. And the odds of winning are good: one in six wins. I actually won a prize on the first bag I cooked from the 3-pack box I purchased.

I love how technology can enhance the sweepstakes experience if you can find the right technology for the right brand. The anticipation of waiting to see if I won was a fun experience. And even though I'm not hungry for popcorn right now, I can't wait to see if I have won any more prizes with the remaining two bags in the box.

Game ends 11/30/11.

http://orville.promo.eprize.com/popandwin/

Extreme Couponing on The Learning Channel

There are consumers who are obsessed with saving money. TLC has a special called Extreme Couponing which profiles four coupon fanatics that go beyond the norm to save hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars on their monthly grocery bill. This show portrays what they do to save money.

Digging through garbage to find coupons that have been thrown out, carefully following store ads, going to stores that only double coupon, stock piling, and hoarding is just a part of the lifestyle that these shopaholics lead.


One star of the show had a store visit that only cost him $241 after using his coupons, a retail value that would have cost him $5743.00.


One mom utilized her coupons and only had to pay $6.32 on a bill that came to $230.38.


Check out the details here: http://press.discovery.com/us/tlc/programs/extreme-couponing/



Look for reruns of this special on the TLC website found here: http://tlc.discovery.com/search/results.html?focus=site&query=extreme+couponing

Record Year for Coupons.com

For the first three quarters of 2010, Coupons.com has shown a 57 percent growth compared to the same period in 2009. The company reported that it has surpassed the $1-billion mark for printed savings for the year.

The growth shows a consumer comfort level in printing and saving coupons to their loyalty cards. This also shows that more manufacturers are getting accustomed to offering coupons online. We wouldn't be seeing this type of interest from both sides if the economy hadn't forced consumers to look for savings and brands to find new ways to promote their product and stand out among the competition.

For the first 9 months of 2010, the following digital coupon categories have been most popular:
#1 Ready to Eat Cereal
#2 Yogurt
#3 Refrigerated Dough
#4 Portable Snacks
#5 Vegetables,
#6 Baby Needs,
#7 Soup,
#8 Nutritional Snacks
#9 Lunch Meats
#10 Cheese

You can find the Coupons.com news release here: http://www.couponsinc.com/Corporate/OurCompany/PressReleases/2010.aspx?udt_447_param_detail=118

Making Sweepstakes Fun

The 20 Pine Tree Air Fresheners in 20 Nights Sweepstakes is an interesting play on words. The actual prize in this sweepstakes is the air freshener carrying case you get if you win - a 2011 Chevrolet Cruze 2LT’s plus $5,000 cash. One prize will be given away each weekday until December 21st.

The use of Conan also makes for added exposure to this sweepstakes. Potential winners are being announced on-air on the “Conan” television show to add more excitement to this program.

Funny how the air freshener is not listed in the actual prize description. I wonder if winners will actually get one.

Entry deadline is 12/21/10.

http://teamcoco.com/chevycruze

Facebook Promotions

Brands are engaging with the consumers in new ways, thanks to Facebook. Instead of putting coupons or sweepstakes offers on brand sites, companies are getting their consumers to interact with these promotions like never before.

ConAgra posted a progressive coupon on their Healthy Choice Facebook page. As more consumers "liked" the offer, the better the offer increased in value. The coupon started as $0.75 off and grew into a buy one, get one free coupon.

Jack in the Box ran a sweepstakes where a virtual nickel was deposited into the prize pool for each new follower of the Facebook page. The promotion ended October 25 and the grand prize winner will get the actual prize pool in real dollars.

As a marketer, you are accomplishing several goals: 1) luring consumers to your brand, 2) getting consumers to interact with your promotions, and 3) getting your consumers to come back to see "where the offer stands today." What a great opportunity to talk to your consumers and offer up new messaging to them.

http://www.brandweek.com/bw/content_display/news-and-features/direct/e3i1c1499752deb3a60fd537cddbdaf44b2?pn=1

Poll on Prizes - What would you want to win?

McDonald's is running a poll on their FaceBook site with the question "What would you most want to win?" Who better to decide than their Facebook fans.

A new car, $25,000 cash, and tropical vacation are the choices. As of this morning, almost 93,000 people have taken the survey. Cash is winning by 78%. A new car is second at 15% and a tropical vacation is third with 7% of the votes.

Clients do tend to ask "what do people really want to win?" Here is an informal way to get feedback on options you might be considering. This survey falls in line with other results I've seen with cash being the top prize-choice among consumers. Trips and cars seem to run both 2nd and 3rd. More details about the trip value and car value might have made this poll more interesting.

If you'd like to take part in the survey or see the latest results, go to the official McDonald's page on Facebook and click on the arrows to see the Polls tab.

Allure Magazine Sweeps Results

Allure Magazine has published the results of their mobile barcode sweepstakes.

Every weekday in August, Allure gave away prizes - over 32,000 prizes in all.

Consumers were asked to download the scan-tag app and scan the barcode to enter every sweepstakes. The alternate method of entry was online.

The Results:
1) There were 38% more entries into the giveaways this year than last year, 28% of these entries were directly attributable to barcode scans
2) Mobile users entered more giveaways than PC users – an average of 25 times per mobile entrant, and 9.4 times for PC entrants.
3) 34% of mobile entrants opted in for more information.

You can find more info here:
http://www.gomonews.com/mobile-barcodes-allure-results-from-microsoft-tag-725k-give-away/

Eight O'Clock Coffee - Their New Packaging Change

When it came time to update their 150 year old packaging, Eight O'Clock Coffee turned to their consumers for their opinion. And they used sweepstakes to capture their attention.

Interbrand executives had two priorities when developing new package ideas for their brand: 1) design a look that loyal consumers will relate to, and 2) develop a fresh look that attracts new customers.

In 2009, Eight O'Clock ran a sweepstakes where consumers could vote between two new package ideas for a chance to win $5,000 in groceries. Another 2009 sweepstakes ran during Eight O'Clock's 150th Anniversary where consumers voted for their favorite design. This time, prizes included Bed, Bath & Beyond gift cards and free bags of Eight O'Clock coffee.

Now that the packaging is showing up on store shelves, consumers are being educated on the new look via the brand's Facebook page. A game with daily coffee prizes and coffee for a year are getting consumers to take notice of the new packaging design.

Management is using their consumers to manage the risk of the new packaging change and using social media to help educate consumers on that change. We will have to see if the winning packaging choice is a good one for the rest of the brand's users.

http://promomagazine.com/news/eight-oclock-managing-risks-1005/

Using Shazam to Interact with Consumers

Consumers who use Shazam are accustomed to receiving the name of the song and artist when they tag a song on the radio.

Companies are now tying Shazam to tv and radio commercials as well as tv shows.

In September, SyFy partnered with Shazam to provide unique content during the season finales of Eureka and Warehouse 13. They were interested in finding a unique way to get consumers to engage with their television. The episodes displayed the Shazam logo on the screen, giving consumers direction to "point their mobile phones and 'tag' content they were interested in viewing." Consumers were then directed to bonus scenes and a sweepstakes.

Earlier this year, Dockers ran a commercial during the Super Bowl asking consumers to Shazam the "Men Without Pants" song. Shazam directed them to a mobile Dockers website with special offers and a link to a sweepstakes.

According to Shazam, they have more than 75 million users worldwide, with over 20 million of these on the iPhone and iPod touch. They recently announced that they are now adding more than one million new users every week.

http://www.dmnews.com/syfy-to-use-shazam-for-mobile-consumer-interaction-sweepstakes/article/178560/

Lessons in improving sweepstakes response

We see many companies run the same promotion year after year. The key to that next year's success is to take the learnings from the previous year and make the promotion even better. Marketers win when those companies share those learnings with other marketers.

Take, for example, the Subway Scrabble Game. It launched in 2007 and ran three years in a row. Their marketing agency shares how they made the sweepstakes successful by building on the following points.

1) Boost odds of winning by offering more lower level prizes. Consumers will enter if they have a chance at winning.
2) Communicate number of prizes and odds of winning at all touch points. Consumers want to win so communicate those chances everywhere.
3) Give away a free code. Get consumers to register to try the promotion for free.
4) Collect only the necessary data up front during registration. Collect the detailed redemption information when needed, when consumers actually win. This will help with privacy concerns.
5) Offer multiple ways to enter. Consider text. Some 10%-50% sweeps entries now come in via SMS.
6) Consider virtual prizes – music downloads and ring tones can be won instantly online. They are cheap, easy to redeem, and create instant gratification.

Check out the full article here:
www.chiefmarketer.com/disciplines/tips/contests/ways_win/index.html

Mobile App Contest

Have an original mobile app idea?
This contest allows you to enter your idea. If it wins the most votes, the app will be built for free.

You own it.
You publish it.
You keep the revenue.

Entry deadline is September 26, 2010. This contest is sponsored by IphoneAndroid.com their development partner Persource.

http://theunlockr.com/2010/08/31/contest-have-a-mobile-app-idea-get-it-built-for-free/

Cash Prizes are Enticing in Tough Times

Cold hard cash.

More and more sponsors are offering cash as the draw to lure consumers to their product and enter their sweepstakes. It is a trend during these economic times.

This article references multiple sweepstakes offering cash prizes -prizes ranging from $125 gift cards to a $9 million annuity. The 2010 Dream Home sweepstakes, sponsored by HGTV earlier this year, attracted more than 40 million entries. The prize was $500,000 cash, a home in NM, and a SUV.

One interesting point noted in this article is that there may be a limit to the amount of cash needed to attract consumers. “We even experimented at the end of last year with a million-dollar giveaway,” said Mr. Wilkes, VP of Hearst Magazines, “but the response wasn’t as much as we thought.” Consumers apparently had to “pause and think” more about the implications of winning $1 million than of winning $250,000, he added, and some believed it would be harder to win the bigger prize than the smaller one.

This also holds true with the number of prizes offered. Do consumers feel they have a good chance of winning 5,0000 prizes when 2500 prizes might offer the same response? It's worth considering the idea of testing ideas ideas prior to just spending money unnecessarily.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/22/business/media/22adco.html?_r=1&ref=media

First Stickybits Sweepstakes

Campbell's Soup Scan Sweepstakes is the first sweepstakes to use the Stickybits mobile application. Their goal is to provide a fun and interactive way to build awareness of the brand's redesigned label.

Consumers enter the sweepstakes by using the free application to scan UPC codes from labels of redesigned Campbell's Condensed soup cans and sharing their impressions of the new designs by adding a photo, which is then posted on the Campbell's Condensed soup Facebook page.

Check it out on Facebook.

Article found here http://www.marketwatch.com/story/campbell-soup-company-launches-soup-scan-sweepstakes-using-new-stickybits-app-to-promote-revamped-label-designs-shopper-experience-and-soup-selections-2010-08-10?reflink=MW_news_stmp