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Is there such thing as a worldwide, English only contest?

We are frequently asked if it’s possible to run a worldwide, English only contest. A lot goes into providing an answer. Eligible countries and what type of promotion you want to run are two major areas of consideration. Prizes also can be tricky and you need to be prepared for additional effort in prize fulfillment. So the short answer is: unfortunately no with the long list of country by country oddities that have to be reckoned with. Creating and running a global contest entails expert knowledge of foreign law, foreign speaking judges, and more mundane but nevertheless important elements like translations. And when you are done with translating things like contest rules, more translations await you in the form of winner notifications and correspondence.

It is also important to separate out the legal and technical requirements from the marketing of the idea. It is really never a good idea to insist that someone who doesn’t speak English from, say Italy be forced to participate under language duress. And if you see no issue with this barrier to participation there is the legal view. Technically a worldwide, English only competition would be in violation of local promotion laws in many countries. When a competition is open to a non-English speaking country, to be fair, those residents should be able to read the competition website and Official Rules, as well as submit their entry, in their native tongue. Something else to consider when you violate a local law is the risk associated with it. Are you willing to “chance it?” The answer might have to do with media, the value of the prize, and the like. Generally speaking the more attractive the promotion is, the more risk associated. When it comes to determining risk this creates sort of a win-lose. We prefer win-win.

So what do you do if you want your promotion to have a “global-feel” but do not have the budget or resources to legally conduct a truly global promotion? Fortunately there are some workarounds that can lessen the financial pain while preserving the idea that you have an international promotion. A few of the most common we have seen and experienced are:

Narrowing the country list to include only countries that speak English. We always say that unless there is a good business reason to include the country don’t just tack them on.
Selecting a limited number of languages and run the competition in all countries that use those languages which spreads the concept around and creates a better return for the investment.
Run in a limited number of languages but note in the Official Rules that entries are “preferred in English” but be careful so that it doesn’t imply you don’t have an equal chance unless it is in English.

Coming back to the question at hand; right now there is no such thing as a worldwide, English only contest. But laws are changing rapidly and interpretation on the risk associated with non-compliance is also constantly changing. This last point alone should give you hope you’ll be able to implement some form of worldwide promotion. Determining how your concept will be interpreted is the best place to start.

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Marden-Kane is one of the nation’s foremost promotional marketing service providers. For over 67 years, we’ve supported leading brands to create the best promotional experiences for their most valued customers.

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