Category: Consultation

Making Holiday Toy Dreams Come True

The Cabbage Patch Kid my grandmother gave me for Christmas when I was a kid was one of those right place, right time stories. It was that Christmas 1983, when you could not find a Cabbage Patch Doll anywhere. It was THE hot item that year – the one everyone wanted and no one could get. And my grandmother happened to be on a cruise in Europe that November

November 24, 2015

Sweepstakes Prizes: Regift or Keep?

When offering prizes in a sweeps, you have to offer what people want. We generally tell clients to keep prizing simple: offer cash, electronics, trips or cars, depending on your prize budget. People want those the most. But we wanted to put this to the test! So we polled people on a short nine item list of potential sweepstakes prizes to see if they would keep or regift the

November 10, 2015

50 Reasons to Run a Sweepstakes or Contest

Looking for a reason to run a sweepstakes, contest, instant win game, rewards program or loyalty campaign? Here are 50 of them! To create an email opt-in list. To create a mobile opt-in list. To give away your products. To build your brand. To encourage brand loyalty. To encourage product try-on. To encourage product usage. To encourage product trial. To reward your loyal customers. To introduce your customers to

November 4, 2015

5 Things That Scare Promotional Marketers

It’s not easy to scare a promotional marketer. We have run contests and sweepstakes all over the world on shoestring budgets and with impossible deadlines. We have assisted our clients in navigating through the freak show that is the world of promotional marketing. However, in the early planning stages with a new client there are a few key phrases that will always make our blood run cold: We want to

October 27, 2015

How to Obtain a Sweepstakes Bond

This week’s blog was contributed by one of our Account Supervisors, Cheryl Thornton. Before we discuss the process of obtaining a bond for a Sweepstakes, let’s first explain what a bond is and why it is needed for a Sweepstakes. A bond, also known as a surety bond, is a financial instrument that protects the public from fraud or credit losses by guaranteeing payment and/or awarding of the prizes offered.

September 11, 2015

If You Build It, Will They Come?

So you launched a Sweepstakes or Contest yet no one is entering. While there could be multiple factors for this lack of consumer response, the first thing to check is your media plan. If you do not promote your own Sweepstakes or Contests, chances are no one else will. You must use media to drive awareness and traffic to your website or Facebook page. Here are some examples of

July 7, 2015

Why a Facebook Ad Buy is a Must for Any Facebook Promotion

It’s happening again. Facebook is in the midst of changing their newsfeed algorithm. It’s another in a long list of unannounced Facebook changes that may result in even fewer of your followers actually viewing your posts. So what does this mean for a brand/marketer running a sweepstakes or contest on Facebook? Simply put, you must pay to play. Marketers can no longer rely on a “build it and they will come”

June 16, 2015

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

June 9, 2015