Sweepstakes
Get Social with a Back to School Sweepstakes for Students
Social is the perfect platform for a back to school sweepstakes as it’s the easiest way to engage high school and college aged students. You don’t need a huge budget to run a social campaign, and as long as you run the promotion on a platform familiar to your target age group, and offer something they want they will find you! It’s a win-win for your brand and for your student audience. So what do kids want to win? They want cash or items they could not afford on their own. They crave experiences like concert tickets or getting … Continue reading
Sizzling Summer Social Sweepstakes Ideas
Need a summer social sweepstakes idea? Here are 6 of them! Hashtag a Day Sweepstakes: Post a new hashtag every day in your social posts, and ask your customers to tweet or post an Instagram photo or Tumblr post using that hashtag of the day. This sweepstakes will encourage people to look for your social posts each day – and reward customers with random drawings for daily prizes. I Need a Vacation Sweepstakes: Everyone wants to go on a summer vacation, but not everyone can afford to do so. Run a sweepstakes where you ask people to post photos … Continue reading
Sweepstakes Void in Florida and New York
One question we hear frequently: Why are so many sweepstakes void in Florida and New York? The answer is simple: some states require registration and bonding. Many companies either don’t want to deal with that requirement, don’t want to spend the extra money, or they have run out of time to file. We have written other posts about the registration requirements for Florida, New York and Rhode Island, as well as how to bond your promotion, but do all sweepstakes really need all that? Here is a simple checklist to see if your promotion needs to be registered: Does … Continue reading
Running a Swiss Contest: Swiss-US Privacy Shield Required
Marden-Kane, Inc. became listed with the Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework on April 18, 2017, becoming the first promotional marketing company to meet Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield requirements after applications were opened on April 12, 2017. The Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework was designed by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Swiss Administration to provide companies a way to comply with data protection requirements when transferring personal data from Switzerland to the United States. The Swiss Government announced the approval of the Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework in January of 2017. For more information you can go to the Swiss Federal Council or … Continue reading
Regulated Industries and Sweepstakes
Some regulated industries require special disclosures and/or have special legal requirements for running sweepstakes. These regulated industries include alcohol, tobacco, gasoline, firearms, dairy, banking, pharmaceuticals, and cause-related marketing. It is absolutely essential to know the laws of these industries, or partner with a promotional marketing firm who works with legal counsel who is familiar with these laws, before undertaking a contest or sweepstakes. Here are some basics to be aware of, but this is by no means an exhaustive list. Alcohol “Void in California” used to be fairly common for alcohol-related sweepstakes because California law formerly banned sweepstakes and … Continue reading
Social Contests and Sweepstakes: Favorite (and Least Favorite) Platforms to Use
Social contests and sweepstakes are currently the most popular tactic that we are seeing our clients use to increase brand awareness and reach. The Marden-Kane team has some strong ideas on what social platforms work, and which ones can cause headaches. We compiled this list of pros and cons to use when evaluating social platforms for your brand’s next social promotion. Remember: If you are thinking of running social contests or sweepstakes, be mindful when deciding which platform(s) to use, your call to action, and that you follow each platforms’ promotion guidelines. And as always, keep it legal by … Continue reading
Running a Puerto Rico Sweepstakes
Account Coordinator Lindsey McLaughlin contributed to this post to help us better understand how easy it is to run a Puerto Rico sweepstakes! Legal restrictions used to keep companies from running a sweepstakes in Puerto Rico. However, in 2009 Puerto Rico lifted their tedious sweepstakes requirements, which now makes it easier to include them when running a promotion. Here is what you need to know to make a Puerto Rico sweepstakes legal. Legal Review: Prior to 2009, any company that was contemplating including Puerto Rico in their instant win game had to build time into their approval process to … Continue reading
Conducting a Background Check on a Winner — Is It Necessary?
This week’s blog on running a background check was contributed by one of our Account Supervisors, Cheryl Thornton. From time to time the topic of running a background check on a winner is discussed with our clients. There are number of factors to consider before determining if a background check is applicable for a promotion. We guide our clients by asking what their goals or needs are, along with the nature and value of their prize or prizes. For example, if they include a meet and greet with a celebrity, an on-field experience at major sporting events, a million dollar … Continue reading
Make Your AMOE Count
AMOE stands for Alternate Means of Entry or Alternate Method of Entry. By law, a sweepstakes in the United States must have a free method of entry, so if a sweepstakes asks for a purchase to obtain an entry or a code for an entry, then the rules should always list a “no purchase” or AMOE method of entry. Whether you are running a sweepstakes or entering one, here is how to make your AMOE count. AMOE Methods: The following are some of the various AMOE methods that a sponsor or brand could use in their sweepstakes: Mail The traditional AMOE method is … Continue reading
20 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Contest Vendor
Before hiring a contest vendor you should ask lots of questions. Not all vendors are created equal. Some may be technically proficient but lack legal expertise. Some have the legal credentials but can’t build a web site or do registration and bonding. Here are twenty questions you should be asking before you select your contest vendor: How well do they know sweepstakes law and advertising and mobile? A top notch promotional marketing agency is well versed in national and international laws that pertain to promotions, sweepstakes and contests. They should also have legal representation and know social, mobile and … Continue reading
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Recent Articles
- Get Social with a Back to School Sweepstakes for Students
- Criteria for Judging a Video Contest
- Sizzling Summer Social Sweepstakes Ideas
- Sweepstakes Void in Florida and New York
- 10 Necessary Features of an Online Contest Judging Tool
