Category: Prizes

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

Tips for First Time Sweepstakes Success

Is your company thinking of running a sweepstakes or contest for the first time? Here are some tips for sweepstakes success from the seasoned promotional marketing experts at Marden-Kane! Do one thing well, not ten things poorly… focus on one type of promotion, ensure marketing messages clearly communicate the call to action, create an easy to enter means of entry, and promote participation to meet the established goals. Beth, Account Executive Keep

January 17, 2017

4 Reasons Brands Should Embrace Sweepstakers

Sweepstakers, also known as “sweepers” and even as “compers” in the UK, are the people who put hours each day into entering sweepstakes and contests. Many of them consider it a full-time job. These people take promotions very seriously, and are frequently more well-versed in the ins and outs of sweepstakes industry than some brand marketers. Not all brands like the thought of a bunch of professional sweepstakers entering their

November 4, 2016

Working with Third-Party Brands for a Contest

You should approach working with third-party brands in a contest or sweepstakes with caution. Giving away highly sought after prizes like trips, electronics or gift cards, or running promotions on social platforms, may seem like a great idea to garner interest and new followers for your brand. However, if you are naming a specific brand name other than your own as part of your contest, you may need to

September 8, 2016

Are Promotional Products Still Relevant?

Stacey Novick, former Account Executive, contributed this post on promotional products. The $22 billion promotion industry is constantly changing to keep up with current consumer trends and the types of promotional products, whether premiums, branded merchandise or custom logo apparel, are also changing. Knowing that social media, gaining followers or having a commercial go viral are probably forefront on your mind, we want to provide you with some information on

July 14, 2016

How to Contact Winners in Social Media Contests

Running a promotion on Twitter or Instagram or other social platform is fairly easy. You basically follow the social platform guidelines, post rules, collect entries and select winners from valid posts or tweets or pins. The hard part can be contacting and clearing winners. In a traditional contest where a form is used to collect data you typically collect address and phone or email so contacting winners is easy.

February 23, 2016

3 Reasons to Use Electronic Gift Cards as Prizes

Electronic gift cards are a great option for prizes in your next Sweepstakes or Contest. E-gift cards can be purchased from retailers like Visa and Amazon and consist of a card code and a confirmation code that can be redeemed by a consumer online. The codes and instructions can all be delivered via an email from your brand to your winners. Here’s why e-gift cards make sense: Lower Fulfillment

January 12, 2016

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