From The Contest Queen

I can’t thank A.M.P.R. enough for donating the movie passes for St. John of Las Vegas.  The movie pass winners in Vancouver and Montreal saw it on Monday.  (I was looking forward to going as I got a few Thank You emails telling me what a good time they had and how funny the movie was.)

Last night, Roy, Laura, myself, Katherine, Robert & Dave all met at the AMC 24 at Yonge & Dundas.  (Craig was with us, but he was taking the photo!)  We had a chance to chat for about 30 minutes before the movies started.  Which was a good thing too, as everyone was to tired to go for coffee afterwards.

I loved the movie!  It was one of those weird movies that is oddly funny as  bizarre things happen to the quirky characters.  I mean, the main character John, is played by Steve Buscemi.  Need I say more?  He did play Carl in Fargo.  If you want a relaxing night out at the movies where you laugh yourself silly, but not so hard Coke comes through your nose, go see St. John of Las Vegas.

A good time was had by all.

Stay tuned for my next Night Out With The Contest Queen blog contest!

Yesterday afternoon my daughter was watching Johnny Test on Teletoon, and as I was passing through the family room I heard the character Dukey say, “Well, it’s true, you haven’t won anything, but you have to enter a contest to win or lose, and you never enter contests, so basically, you’re nothing.”

WOW! What a message targeted towards kids!  What I got from the statement was; it’s OK to win or lose, but you have to take action.  Similar to; you have to be in it to win it, or my favourite, you can’t win if you don’t enter.

What did you get from Dukey’s statement?

I really dislike the cold. In 1991 I lived for a year in Sydney Australia.  Every winter since then I keep wondering why I came back.  Then in 2006 we attended the Annual National Sweepstakes Convention in Scottsdale Arizona.  I now say I want to move to Arizona as I was happy in the daily 110+ degree heat.  That said, I would never enter the following contest.  Not to meantion the fact that the grand prize is a trip HERE!

Participants of a winter competition clothed in beach wear sit in beach chairs in temperatures around the freezing point at the water’s edge of the famous landmark ‘Aussenalster’ in Hamburg, northern Germany, on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2010. A Hamburg radio station awards the participant that endures the icy temperature the longest with a trip to Canada.

The 3rd Edition of Advertising and Marketing Law in Canada by Brenda Pritchard and Susan Vogt was officially released on January 14th at Gowlings’ head office in Toronto.

Read the rules is the #1 tip I give entrants.  Have airtight rules is the #1 tip I give to contest sponsors.  I give that tip to companies because most people do not realize that the rules are a legal and binding contract between the sponsor and the entrant.  If a contest’s rules do not properly follow Canadian promotional laws, a company could find themselves in legal hot water.  Chapter 8 covers Contest and Promotions.  Brenda and Susan discuss topics such as: the Criminal Code, the Competition Act, no purchase entries, skill testing questions and the Regis des alcools, des courses et des jeux.  Sometimes the law, and legalese, can be complex and difficult to understand.  With that in mind, they have written their book with the corporate advertiser and marketer in mind.  It is easy to read and quickly grasp the important points of each section.

Of course, I do find myself bias to Contest and Promotions chapter, as I quoted several sections in my book You Can’t Win If You Don’t Enter, but as a marketer the other chapters are also very relevant to me depending on the project I am working on.  Advertising and Marketing Law in Canada is their largest edition to-date (532 pages) and covers a myriad of topics such as: basic principles, false advertising, advertising claims, Worst Case Scenarios, pricing in advertising, User Generated Content, Green Marketing, Advertising To Children, packaging, labelling, Drugs and Natural Health Products, cosmetics advertising, food advertising, regulations of specific market sectors, trademarks, marketing communications, Privacy Law in Canada, Uniquely Quebec Issues, advertising agencies, and more…  If your job function touches advertising or marketing in any way, or if your business runs contests and sweepstakes, Advertising and Marketing Law in Canada is a must read.

I also had the pleasure of finally meeting both Brenda and Susan at the book launch!

ENJOY, GOOD LUCK & HAVE FUN!

I had so much fun last week on “my date” with fellow contestors, that when I expressed my enthusiastic gratitude to A.M.P.R. for sending the movie passes, they offered to donate more prizes.  WOO HOO!!

So, here we go again, and again, and again.  This time I got more passes for more cities!  I have three passes for each: Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal.

The Vancouver screening will be held on Monday February 1st at 7:00pm at the Cinemark Tinseltown, 88 West Pender.

The Toronto screening will be held on Wednesday February 3rd at 7:00pm at the AMC Yonge & Dundas Square 24, 10 Dundas Street East.

The Montreal screening will be held on Monday February 1st at 7:00pm at the AMC Forum 22, 2313 Ste-Catherine Ouest.

If you want to win a Movie Night with The Queen (well, in Toronto anyway…), you live in the Vancouver, Toronto or Montreal region and are interested in attending a preview screening of St. John of Las Vegas, watch the trailer below (very funny), then leave a comment stating why you prefer contesting to gambling, along with which city you would like to see the screening in.  One entry per person please.

The contest will end at 11:59pm on Wednesday January 20th.  I will be randomly selecting 3 winners for each city.  Those living in Vancouver and Montreal will have their passes mailed to them.  Those in Toronto will meet me at the theatre.  I am looking forward to another night of fun and laughter with my contest buddies!!

GOOD LUCK & HAVE FUN!

Like the Brain, Ellen has decided to take over the world!

Watch the above video until the end and you will see, FINALLY, Ellen has opened up her contests to Canadians!! WOOT!!  Plus she has a contest open ONLY to Canadians.  (On the entry page, in the Tell Us A Story section, type in the answer to the Skill Testing Question: What is the square root of 64? BTW, the answer is 8.)

Also, both Canadians and Americans can enter all of Ellen’s other giveaways.

HAVE FUN & GOOD LUCK!

What a wonderful evening we had!

Pat from Newmarket, ON was the lucky winner of my blog contest: Win a Date with The Queen.  (She learned the benefits of, plus how to find and enter, blog contests at my seminar How To Win Cash, Cars, Trips & More!)  She brought her friend Sherry, also from Newmarket with her (who also attended the seminar).

We met at The Bloor Street Diner at 5pm allowing us enough time to have a leisurely dinner before heading into the theatre.  It was good fun chatting about all wins they had since November.

At 6:30pm we headed into the theatre to see the preview of Creation (@Creation_Movie).  (I didn’t pop for popcorn because we were all so stuffed from dinner!)  It was a good film.  It was much sadder than I thought it would be.  I can also see an Oscar nod for Paul Bettany who played Charles Darwin.  If you like dramatic films, I recommend seeing Creation.

Stay tuned for the next “date with the Queen” blog contest, as I plan to begin holding them on a regular basis in 2010.

ENJOY, GOOD LUCK & HAVE FUN!

At the beginning of December the FTC announced its revised guidelines concerning endorsements and testimonials with the changes and updates specifically targeted towards online commenters, bloggers, tweeters, etc.

I decided to write this blog today because this week I posted: Contests With a Voting Component.  American Standard had hired me last fall help them with their contest.  Two years ago they had a problem with the promotion they ran, I had offered my advice and they liked it enough to hire me to ensure they didn’t run into similar problems again. I didn’t disclose they were my client in the blog post because it was not within the scope of work I was hired for.  I blogged about the contest because I wanted to ensure the voting was fair.  (If you read the post, you know my thoughts regarding voting contests.)

I feel that helping others win is my purpose in life, so sharing contests and sweepstakes is a natural way to do fulfill that purpose.  I have always disclosed if a company hired me to promote their contests or sweepstakes and the new FTC rules do change how I always chosen to conduct my business or my hobby.  It always made sense to me to be up front with my contest buddies on what I was getting paid to post/blog/tweet about.

So, unless you see a specific comment or note about a particular company being my client, I am just sharing tips, tricks, news and sweepstakes links.

GOOD LUCK & HAVE FUN!

I am not a fan of contests with a voting component.  Why?  Because it’s usually the person with the widest social network that wins, not the best submission. (Read From The Contest Queen October 24, 2005 or my blog post Casting a Wider Winning Net.) That is the reason for today’s blog post.  I want to shift the “net” away from the individual and towards the general public.

From October 15th until November 30th American Standard Canada accepted entries into their Win Your Dream Bathroom Contest.  From December 1st until December 15th, all entries were screened to ensure they followed the rules and were eligible, then a judging panel narrowed the selection down to the top 25 entries.  (See rules for specific judging criteria.) From December 16th until January 3rd the designers Cecconi Simone selected the top 10 entries.

Now it’s your turn.  From January 4th until January 9th the public gets to vote for who they think deserves to win their dream bathroom.  Note that I said deserves vs who has the ugliest bathroom.  The contest was to see who could convince, first the judges, and now the public they deserved the makeover.  They might only have an OK bathroom, but a very compelling argument for why they should win.

So, please check out all 10 entries and vote for who you feels deserves to win vs which entrant can get the most friends and family members to vote for them.

Originally for the Toronto seminar D Films had donated passes to see the movie Creation.  Unfortunately, the release date was changed from the end of November to early January, so the prizes were unavailable.

However, they did send me two double passes for the advanced screening on Thursday January 7th at 7pm at the Varsity Cinemas at the Manulife Centre (at Bloor & Bay in Toronto).  I thought it would be fun to hold a contest to give away a pass.  Well, not just a pass, a whole date, with me!  I will ensure we have tickets to the movie (as passes are not guaranteed seats), I will pop for the popcorn and drinks along with dinner (either before or after the movie) for the winner and their guest.

To be in to win, please leave a comment on this blog post as to why you want a date with the Queen.  Be creative and have fun!  (The winner will be selected by random draw, but this hobby is all about the fun, plus I love reading all the comments.)  The contest ends at 11:59pm on Tuesday January 5th.  I will draw the winner the morning of Wednesday January 6th.

Ensure you can respond ASAP if you are selected as the winner, as the time frame between winning and attending is very short.  The winner will also need to be downtown Toronto at 6pm, at the latest, next Thursday evening.

I look forward to having a great evening with a fellow contestor.

GOOD LUCK!