I get asked to help people with “sweepstakes that have gone bad”.  The sponsor or the contest management company has not done the back-end marketing for the promotion and dropped the ball.  More often than not, it non-delivery of prizes within a timely manner.  (The rule of thumb for prize delivery is; 4–8 weeks after you submit your release forms and affidavits.)  My advice is always the same.  Start at the top, as poop rolls downhill and and be very nice, you get more flies with honey than with vinegar.

So, who should you contact?  I recommend the President of the sponsoring company and/or the Vice President of Marketing.  How do you find the name and contact information for these executives?  Google, of course.  Every major corporation has all their executive bios and corporate information online. Remember, you are looking for the corporate website, not the one for the sweepstakes or their products/services.

In Google, type in the title, president, and the company name, XYZ Company.  You may have to poke around a bit on various corporate links to get the full contact name and job title.  Once you have that, click on Contact Us.  They will usually list the company address.  You want the head office location.  If it’s not there, try the media or press contact to find a mailing address and/or phone number.  At that point you can either write a letter or call.  I do not recommend emailing the company.  Emails are too easy to delete or ignore.  It’s much harder to ignore a paper letter or someone on the phone.

If you call, you will not get the Vice President or President directly.  You will get their assistant.  Make sure to have pen and paper handy to jot down their name and number.  Explain your problem in a clear friendly manner and ask for help getting the situation resolved.  You will be amazed at how quickly problems will be resolved.

If you are dealing with a contest management company that has dropped the ball, you will notice I suggested you contact the sponsor.  I recommend that course of action because the sponsor has paid the management company to execute the promotion.  They will not be very impressed with the complacency of the firm they have hired.  They will usually be swift to get the problem resolved.

If the problem has not been resolved to your satisfaction, at that point, your next step is to file a formal complaint with the Competition Bureau.  However, it is a government agency and you will not be informed of the result.  The other option is to contact the media, someone such as Dale Goldhawk (@dalegoldhawk) to bring attention to the issue.

Thankfully, the majority of promotions are handled in professional manner.  (That’s why we don’t hear about them.  They went smoothly from beginning to end.)