Branding
Stop Being Boring and Come Up with a Better Promotion Name
Every so often a new promotion gets underway and it has a working title, such as the “Acme Las Vegas Sweepstakes”, because the brand (Acme is just being used for illustrative purposes, by the way) is having a sweepstakes and the prize is a trip to Vegas. We treat this as a working title, but there are lots of other elements to the sweeps – a celebrity tie-in with a cool throwback 90’s theme for the creative, and a grand prize trip to Las Vegas with a stay at the penthouse of a 5-star hotel, and a night backstage stage … Continue reading
Spring Promotion Planning Guide
Need to run a promotion this spring? Consider one of Marden-Kane’s holiday promotion ideas for one of these upcoming holidays. Groundhog Day OK, this may be a winter holiday, but since it brings a promise of spring we have included it here, along with some other lesser known holidays to consider in your promotional planning. Valentine’s Day Ideas for running a love-themed sweepstakes on a social platform like Twitter or Snapchat. Mardi Gras Some “big easy”, last-minute promotion ideas that you don’t have to be in Louisiana to run. St Patrick’s Day Go for gold with … Continue reading
Run a Sweepstakes to Make Small Business Saturday A Big Win
Five years ago American Express started promoting a new concept: Small Business Saturday. The idea is simple: consumers are asked to spend their holiday shopping dollars locally at small businesses, and American Express provides incentives to those shoppers. In just those five years, the concept of shopping locally the day after Black Friday has become a holiday tradition. So how can your small business make this the best Small Business Saturday ever? American Express offers a toolkit for small businesses. This handy kit provides images and signage options for bags and posters and point of sale. It also has … Continue reading
3 Simple Things to Do to Prepare for Cyber Monday
With Black Friday and Cyber Monday fast approaching, what can you do to ensure your brand’s holiday promotion gets off to a great start? There is a lot at stake here — last year’s Cyber Monday sales topped $2.29 billion. Here are three simple things to do to ensure that your holiday promotion goes smoothly so your brand can capitalize on this year’s share of the Cyber Monday action. 1. Decide If You Really Need to Send Out a Black Friday Email Don’t send out an email to your list over the holiday weekend unless you have a really … Continue reading
5 Non-Traditional Holidays to Build a Promotion Around
Don’t want to get lost in the sea of promotions running during the holidays from October through December? Consider running a promotion in conjunction with a more obscure, non-traditional holiday. Here are some of our favorite holidays that are ripe for a sweeps or contest tie-in. Betty White’s Birthday: January 17 Betty White, everyone’s favorite grandmotherly actress, will be celebrating her 93rd birthday in 2015. Last year, her birthday celebration was covered by every major news outlet and NBC ran a Betty White Birthday Special in her honor. Join the celebration with a Betty White trivia contest or “I … Continue reading
Top 10 Marden-Kane Blog Posts of 2013
Here are the most visited, shared and read content from the 2013 Marden-Kane Blog in order of popularity. 1. Changes to Florida Sweepstakes Registration and Bonding Requirements One of the core administrative services necessary when a sweepstakes prize structure exceeds $5,000 is the registration and bonding of the promotion in Florida, New York and potentially Rhode Island depending on the nature of the concept structure. Much to the chagrin of marketers in for-profit companies, the recent revisions to Florida’s Game Promotion statute which became effective April 10th does not absolve marketers of this requirement. The revisions were created for … Continue reading
Your Winners List Can Be a Marketing Tool
And the winner is… surprise – your brand! There is an important difference between simply preparing a winners list which is a basic legal requirement, and posting winners. So when addressing the issue of winners lists, use the opportunity to accomplish a few important things. Compliance — First there is the administrative requirement. By law, a winners list must be made available to the public (either online or by mail). Where and when a list of winners can be obtained is stated in the Official Rules. It may sound silly but while a winners list contains the names of … Continue reading
Practical Advice on Planning a 2014 Winter Olympics Promotion
Update: See our updated guidelines for the Tokyo Summer Olympics. The next Winter Olympic Games are set to take place in Sochi, Russia in February, 2014. The U.S. Olympic Committee, in tandem with the International Olympic Committee has been lining up sponsors of the games. If you are using the Olympics to promote your brand, or if you are just curious about how to grab some attention for your brand, here is some advice on how to proceed. First – If you use any Olympic Games Intellectual Property you must work within their guidelines. This is black and white, … Continue reading
Use Content Moderation to Ensure Fair Play
There is a torrent of content being produced and distributed through the various social platforms. The overwhelming volume may have us believe it is impossible to keep watch over it all. That’s not true, at least for content created by marketers. The FTC has refreshed their Truth in .com Disclosures Report. It is a good idea to review their latest take on how to remain within their guidelines and prepare effective disclosures. But apart from marketers who are being encouraged to play by the rules, there is no big brother per se making sure content from consumers is … Continue reading
The Impact of Instagram Versus Twitter Vine on UGC Contests
Why did Kevin Systrom, co-founder of Instagram introduce 15 second videos now? Because he can? That’s a possible answer since barriers to download speeds have all but disappeared. This is thanks to 80% penetration of smart phones and tablets among adults 18-34. But technology aside for a moment, there is more to it as Systrom suggests; “You can capture a lot in 15 seconds. It’s the right balance between not too short and not too long where you have to wait a lot of time for it to download.” Sounds like Goldilocks and the three bears to me. … Continue reading
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