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