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/