Category: Contests

Creative Mother’s Day Promotion Ideas

Mother’s Day is right around the corner, and what better way to celebrate and say “thank you” to all the moms and motherly figures in your life than with a great gift! Here are a few sweepstakes and contest ideas to help generate engagement and excitement from your consumers: Mom’s Best Recipe Instagram Sweepstakes: We all have that special dish that no one makes like Mom does. Ask people

April 8, 2026

Good Criteria for Judging a Contest

Fae Savignano, Senior Vice President and expert on all things promotional, weighs in on what good criteria are for judging a contest in her blog post for the month.

May 5, 2025

What is Promotional Marketing?

Promotion marketing is any message that includes an incentive to persuade the target audience to take immediate action, thereby driving some form of brand interaction that leads to a current or future purchase. Promotion is different from advertising and other forms of marketing in that the goal is to drive immediate behavioral change. Promotional marketing is an often-misused tool when placed into inexperienced hands. You must ensure that any promotional

May 4, 2025

Criteria for Judging a Photo Contest

Fae Savignano, Marden-Kane SVP, follows up on her “Good Criteria for Judging a Contest” blog with this closer look at photo contest criteria. I would like to expand the list of suggested Contest Judging Criteria as it applies specifically to Photo Contests to include updated entry methods, social media trends and promotional knowledge acquired in the past 2 years. Previously suggested Judging Criteria for a Photo Contest: Adherence/Appropriateness to Theme

May 3, 2025

The Difference Between Sweepstakes and Contests

The words “promotion,” “sweepstakes,” “contest,” and “giveaways” are sometimes used interchangeably. However, there are a few very distinct differences between sweepstakes and contests. To start, the word “promotion” can be used to describe many different marketing tactics including Sweepstakes, Contests, Instant Win Games, Continuity and Loyalty Programs. Two of the most common promotions are Sweepstakes (games of chance) and Contests (games of skill). The major difference between sweepstakes and

May 2, 2025

The Facts About Prizes Revealed

Fae Savignano, SVP, contributed this post about prizes. Research shows that more than half of all adults in the U.S. enter at least one sweepstakes every year, and this amount increases exponentially. Promoting Sweepstakes and Contests are an excellent way to engage and retain your customers and a properly structured prize offering will definitely enhance your endeavor. Let’s face it, the chance of winning an expensive and alluring prize is

April 26, 2025

5 Ways to Run a Flawless Beauty Pageant

Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, making any kind of beauty pageant subjective. It then follows that if you are having a beauty pageant, you must look at it as a contest, and in most parts of the world that means you will also need to have Official Rules for your contest, and predetermined criteria within those rules. If you want to run a beauty pageant here are

May 6, 2021

March Madness: How to Run a Bracket Challenge

March means the return of flowers, longer hours of daylight, St Patrick’s Day – and March Madness. The annual bracket challenge basketball tournament is known to basketball fans and non-fans, on TVs in bars and in homes across the country, where people talk about their picks to win it all. A bracket challenge like the March Madness tournament can be a fantastic promotion vehicle for your business, and you can

March 11, 2021

Cooking Contest Best Practices

A cooking contest is a great way to engage your customers and help people think of creative ways to use your brand’s products, be it the food or kitchen products. Keep It Simple As with any contest, the key to a successful cooking contest is to keep the ask simple and the messaging clear. An open-ended call for entries could create issues if you end up having to judge a

September 23, 2020

From the MK Promotion Archives: Hunt’s Great Recipe Hunt

Hunt’s Great Recipe Hunt The Challenge In 1989 Beatrice/Hunt-Wesson, Inc. wanted to encourage the use of Hunt’s products in new recipes. The Solution Marden-Kane administered and supervised the “Great Recipe Hunt” recipe contest, coordinating all details for a final “cook-off” event held in four major U.S. Cities. MK scouted hotel locations, oversaw the ordering, procurement and set-up for each cook-off location. We rented generators, miles of electrical cords, stoves,

June 3, 2020