Category: Prizes

7 Types of Incentives to Use For Your Next Promotion

What motivates customers to interact with your brand? Incentives do! Here are seven types of incentives you can use for your next promotion. 1. Prizes: It should come as no surprise that the #1 type of incentive is a contest or sweepstakes prize. People love to win high-value prizes, especially cash, trips, and one of a kind experiences that can be won in a game of chance or a skill-based

August 12, 2020

10 Amazing Prizes Under $600 Your Customers Will Want to Win

In the United States, winners are required to pay taxes on prizes they win, but if prizes are valued at over $600 then the promotion sponsor is also required to collect W-9’s and issue 1099’s to each winner. That’s why many sponsors like to find prizes under $600 that are coveted by winners, but don’t require the additional headache of having to collect additional personally identifying information (PII) in order

July 6, 2020

Why Do People LOVE Cash Prizes

When asked what prize they want, most people entering sweepstakes and contests overwhelmingly say they want cash prizes. Why? Why not a trip, or a car, or jewelry? Here are the three big reasons: 1. With cash prizes, you can buy exactly what you want. With most prizes, the sponsor customizes the choices or options for a prize, such as selecting the make and model of the car offered as

May 28, 2020

Prize Fulfillment Considerations for Your Next Sweepstakes or Contest

Prize fulfillment is the part of the sweepstakes or contest that consumers may love the best, but for the promotion administrator there is a lot more involved than putting a prize in the mail. Here are 6 things to consider when putting together a plan for prize fulfillment for your next sweepstakes, contest or instant win game. 1. Prize sourcing Giving away the latest goods, services, and experiences takes planning

March 11, 2020

10 Cool Winter Prize Ideas

As the temperatures continue to drop, businesses wonder what they should give away with during their winter promotions. Here are 10 cool winter prize ideas for the cold weather season: 1. A trip to Iceland A trip to see the Northern Lights is on most people’s bucket lists. Make dreams come true with a trip to Iceland to see the lights up close. 2. Tickets to a hockey game Let’s

December 27, 2019

6 Things NOT to Do When Planning a Holiday Promotion

Frequently we give out ideas or strategies for promotions, but sometimes we need to talk about the failures to prevent companies from making the same mistakes. Here is a quick list of what NOT to do when planning your holiday promotion so your brand can outshine the rest. Don’t forget who your customer is. One of my favorite “they did not just actually do that, did they?” moments was when

October 16, 2019

What Promotion Incentives Work Best?

We are constantly asked by our clients what promotion incentives work best. Should they give away a lot of small things, or one big thing? What is the ideal value of an incentive or prize? Do small incentives work? Here is a short summary of what promotion incentives work to entice consumers to register for a promotion such as a sweepstakes or contest or loyalty program. But first, we

September 5, 2019

5 Reasons to Use Electronic Gift Codes as Prizes

Electronic gift codes, or e-gift codes, are a great option instead of traditional prizes or plastic gift cards in your next Sweepstakes or Contest. E-gift codes can be purchased from big retailers or restaurants and usually consist of a link with a redemption code and/or a confirmation code, or simply as a URL with the code embedded in the link. These e-gift codes can be redeemed online, and the codes

April 26, 2019

Prize Fail: Avoid These Prizes

Don’t have a prize fail! Take the advice of the experts at Marden-Kane on what prizes to avoid – and what works! – for your next sweepstakes or contest. “A prize by any other name is still a prize” and one would hope that it will bring joy to the lucky winner. But this is not always true as some enter just for entering then realizes that their prize

February 28, 2017

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,

February 10, 2017