Promotion Trends Archives

What is a Surprise and Delight?

A Surprise and Delight is a marketing tactic similar to a sweepstakes or contest, where gifts are given away to fans, but instead of a posted entry period with rules and a set prize, the giveaway itself is completely unannounced and random. What can be tricky about a Surprise and Delight is that if you aren’t very careful you may actually be running a sweepstakes which would require official rules, possible registration and bonding and whole set of legal hoops to jump through. For a true Surprise and Delight no one can know it is coming. 5 Surprise and … Continue reading →

Best Sweepstakes Ever

This month, Marden-Kane employees share their stories of the best sweepstakes they ever worked on. Here’s a quote I haven’t heard nor used in a long time, “Good, better, best, never let it rest, until your good is better, and your better is best.” Needless to say, as a Mom I cannot pick a favorite child nor in this case a favorite promotion as they were all the Best in Show! However as a marketing professional I can provide you with an exceptional example that truly deserves that title and surpassed the better and the best…The WesternUnion.com “American Dream” Sweepstakes ran for 11 … Continue reading →

Promotional Marketing Predictions for 2017

Every year at this time we discuss what the next big thing will be. Sometimes we can see it coming, and sometimes we don’t. So how did we do for this past year’s marketing predictions? Here they are so you can see! 2016 Prediction #1: Native ads will be booming – and promotions are part of that mix. Results: Native ads did turn out to be big news this year, especially because the FTC started to enforce native ad guidelines and brands became more aware of what disclosure was required. Some brands learned the hard way that disclosure is … Continue reading →

Holiday Sweepstakes Basics: Everything You Need to Know in One Neat Package

A holiday sweepstakes is an easy affordable way to increase sales or traffic to your store. Not sure how to make it happen? We are! Just take a peek at this super early present from Santa Kane: a series of articles and links about how to run a holiday sweepstakes that we have compiled in one neat, handy package of a list. The links cover things like holiday sweepstakes planning, strategy, prizing, and legal tips. Any one of them can help get your holiday sweepstakes up and running quickly and without a lot of searching for ideas! You’re welcome! Holiday Sweepstakes Ideas and … Continue reading →

Are Promotional Products Still Relevant?

Stacey Novick, Account Executive, contributed this post on promotional products. The $22 billion promotion industry is constantly changing to keep up with current consumer trends and the types of promotional products, whether premiums, branded merchandise or custom logo apparel, are also changing. Knowing that social media, gaining followers or having a commercial go viral are probably forefront on your mind, we want to provide you with some information on why promotional products are still relevant for you and your clients. Marden-Kane can recommend and help you source, procure and fulfill promotional products for any type of promotion. So what … Continue reading →

#Hashtag Contests 101

The buzzword in contests right now are hashtag contests (or hashtag sweepstakes). These types of promotions are easy to run, less expensive than setting up a contest web site, and don’t require a lot of lead time. The simplicity and low cost appeals to a lot of businesses anxious to expand their social channels, but you will still need to follow some best practices to ensure that you don’t run into any issues. What is a hashtag contest? A “hashtag contest” or “hashtag sweepstakes” is a promotion that requires users to post to a social channel using a unique hashtag. … Continue reading →

How to Contact Winners in Social Media Contests

Running a promotion on Twitter or Instagram or other social platform is fairly easy. You basically follow the social platform guidelines, post rules, collect entries and select winners from valid posts or tweets or pins. The hard part can be contacting and clearing winners. In a traditional contest where a form is used to collect data you typically collect address and phone or email so contacting winners is easy. A small prize can easily be mailed straight to an address. A winner of a larger prize can be called or emailed. But in a social promotion all you may … Continue reading →

Top Valentine’s Day Contest Prizes

Looking to make a big heart-shaped impression with your customers this year? Run a Valentine’s Day Contest and reward the winners with these amazing prizes. Here is a run-down of the best prizes you could offer in your Valentine’s contest this year: For the Winner of the Most Embarrassing Love Gone Wrong Contest A day trip to a spa for some time to get over the embarrassment and recover. The trip should include at least one massage and a giant bottle of champagne to help get over the sting. For Winner of the Most Romantic Couple Photo Contest A room. … Continue reading →

3 Reasons to Use Electronic Gift Cards as Prizes

Electronic gift cards are a great option for prizes in your next Sweepstakes or Contest. E-gift cards can be purchased from retailers like Visa and Amazon and consist of a card code and a confirmation code that can be redeemed by a consumer online. The codes and instructions can all be delivered via an email from your brand to your winners. Here’s why e-gift cards make sense: Lower Fulfillment Costs Electronic gift cards don’t need to be packaged, labelled and mailed, which will save you money on fulfillment and postage. To put that in perspective, if you mail 1,000 … Continue reading →