From The Contest Queen

Nissan Canada and Capital C began with a great idea. To have the biggest contest in Canadian history by giving away 50 cars! Sadly, it turned into the biggest contest fiasco in Canadian history.  From my perspective, all the problems stem from poor promotional design combined with even poorer promotion execution.

If you are unaware of the promotion, it went something like this: create a “hyper” webpage, judges would select 500 finalists, the finalists would use social media and social networking to garner votes, the top 50 would win a car.  (FULL RULES)  Sounds simple enough.

There were far too many problems with the contest that occurred for me to blog about them.  Here are a few links to the webpages and blogs relating to the Nissan Hypercube contest and all its failings.

Encyclopedia Dramatica Hypercube

Iggabod’s Blog

Madame Sunny’s Blog

Wired Cola’s Blog

Marketing Magazine is writing an article on the contest.  If you have been affected by the promotion, or have comments on the contest and you would like to voice your opinion, please contact Matt Semansky directly before Friday August 7th.

There are millions of people that enter contests and sweepstakes on a daily basis as a hobby.  So the question begs, how are “sweepers” created?  Where do they come from?  Why would anyone choose to spend hours on end entering countless contests and sweepstakes?  (For definitions of contestor, sweeper or comper, read What is a Contestor?)

Let us start with the marketers. The first games of chance were lotteries.  These dated back to ancient times.  In about 1900, contest giveaways began to enter the American marketplace.  The value of all the prizes given away totaled $15,000.  By 1910, $500,000 in prizes were given away and there were about 100,000 contestors. By the 1930s marketers saw the value of running a contest as a marketing tool.  By the end of that decade, the dollar value of giveaways soared to $100 million and there were 12 million contestors.

In the 1950s and 1960s, contests were in their heyday. (Read The Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio.) During that time there was a shift from contests to sweepstakes.  Sweepstakes were far easier to enter than contests.  The number of sweepers, again, soared.  By the 1980s there were 20 million sweepers.  By the new millennium there were 55 million sweepers.  In 2007 companies in the United States spent $1.89 billion on giveaways and that number is expected to triple.  We can only expect a rise in the number of hobbyists.

I call it “Contest Crack”. One win and you are hooked.  The marketers created these wonderful promotions giving away amazing prizes.  I usually goes something like this: You may enter on a lark.  You win.  Then you begin to wonder, “What else can I win?”.  A sweeper is born.

Another way a sweeper is born, is by watching their friends.  Many of my friends began entering on a regular basis after they saw me win many prizes and thought to themselves, “Well, it is so easy for her to win, why can’t I?”  I don’t know anyone who hasn’t begun to enter contests and sweepstakes on a consistant basis, that didn’t begin to win on a consistant basis.

If you want to know how to begin winning, click here: GETTING STARTED.

After giving it a few days thought, I have decided to use this blog as a teaching tool.  Each day’s post will deal with one aspect of promotional marketing.  I will write from the perspective of both a contestor and a promotional marketer.

The first topic I will tackle is: what is a contestor?
(Excerpts from You Can’t Win If You Don’t Enter.)

Profession or Hobby?

pro·fes·sion·al (prә-fĕsh^/ә-nәl)

adj. 1. a. Of, relating to, engaged in, or suitable for a profession: lawyers, doctors, and other professional people.

b. Conforming to the standards of a profession: professional behavior.

2. Engaging in a given activity as a source of livelihood or as a career: a professional writer.

3. Performed by persons receiving pay: professional football.

4. Having or showing great skill; expert: a professional repair job.

n. 1. A person following a profession, especially a learned profession.

2. One who earns a living in a given or implied occupation: hired a professional to decorate the house.

3. A skilled practitioner; an expert.

hob·by (hŏb^/ē)

n. pl. hob·bies An activity or interest pursued outside one’s regular occupation and engaged in primarily for pleasure.

Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Adapted and reproduced by permission from the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition.

What is an enthusiastic contestor called? I have been called a professional contestor. The term makes me uncomfortable because a professional is an expert in a specific field and is usually well paid for their skill and knowledge. I consider contesting to be a hobby because 1) it is not my occupation, 2) I do it for pleasure, and 3) I certainly could not live off my winnings.

There are several terms used globally to describe someone who enters contests on a regular basis. In Canada we refer to ourselves as contestors because we enter contests. In the United States they refer to themselves as sweepers because they enter sweepstakes. (If we did that in Canada, people would think we were curlers!) In the United Kingdom and Australia they refer to themselves as competitors because they enter competitions. As Shakespeare said, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” My favorite term to describe my hobby is winner!

NOTE: You may have noticed that I have spelled the word contestor with an OR as opposed to an ER. There is a reason for this. I created the word contestor because the proper definition of a contester is someone who is protesting or disputing something. We’re trying to win cars and big-screen TVs here, not contest a will!

con·testor (kŏn^/tĕst^/әr)

n. 1. One who enters contests, sweepstakes, competitions, lotteries and raffles.

con·testing (kŏn^/tĕst^/)

v. 1. The act of entering contests.

con·test (kŏn^/tĕst^/)

n. 1. A struggle for superiority or victory between rivals.

2. A competition, especially one in which entrants perform separately and are rated by judges. See Synonyms at conflict.

con·test·ed, con·test·ing, con·tests (kәn^/tĕst^/) (kŏn^/tĕst^/)

v. tr. 1. To compete or strive for.

2. To call into question and take an active stand against; dispute or challenge:
contest a will. See Synonyms at oppose.

v. intr. 1. To struggle or compete; contend:
contested with other bidders for the antique.

Probably from French conteste, from contester, to dispute, from Old French, to call to witness, from Latin contestari : com-, com- + testis, witness; see trei —in Appendix I.

con·test a·ble adj.

con tes·ta tion (kŏn^/tĕ-stā^/shәn) n.

con·test er n.

con·tes·tant (kәn-tĕs^/tәnt, kŏn^/tĕs^/tәnt)

n. 1. One taking part in a contest; a competitor.

2. One that contests or disputes something, such as an election or a will.

Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Adapted and reproduced by permission from The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition.

What a fire storm on the Internet this past weekend! I was sent a few emails regarding a blog post that was bashing sweepers.  So off I went to investigate…

Chad Essley decided to run a sweepstakes on his website Cartoon Monkey (@mrcartoonmonkey) I am assuming by the rant he posted on his blog, he has little or no marketing experience therefore was overwhelmed by the end result of the promotion. For some reason, at the end of his rant, he targeted me.  After I read his posts, I decided that maybe if he had a little help, his next promotion would go better and he would have a change of heart, so I posted the following comment:

Hello,
You obviously do not follow me or what I preach regarding finding, entering and winning sweepstakes, because I teach people to only enter for prizes they really want to win, or as a gift for a loved one.

If you run a sweepstakes without having designed it properly from a marketing or promotional legal standpoint, you will get everyone, and I do mean everyone, entering.
(I wrote a blog post about this very issue in May of 2008 called A Marketer’s Dilemma.)

I imagine you are a small company without the budget to afford to hire a promotional marketing consultant, like myself, a judging agency to run your sweepstakes or a promotional lawyer to write your rules.

Even though you have taken the time to bash myself and all my friends, I will give you some free marketing advice that you can actually use to run your next promotion.

Begin by using a service like Strutta.com (@strutta) or WildFireApp.com (@wildfireapp) to host your contest. They each have formats in place to allow you to setup various styles of contests, including judged ones, along with having all the legal rules pre-written, so you don’t get yourself sued.

As for the use of sweepstakes as a marketing tool; if companies did not find it so effective in reaching their target market to would not be growing to an almost $6 billion industry by 2012. The trick is, again, to design the promotion properly.

Consider listening to a few of my online radio shows where I interview the software developers, marketers and judging agencies to learn about sweepstakes from the “other side of the table”. I think it would also help you better design your next giveaway.

I wish you luck with your business.
Feel free to contact me with any questions you may have,
Carolyn
@ContestQueen

Well, it seems that Chad, not only deleted my response, he followed it up with another nasty comment.  At this point I re-read his original rant regarding how he conducted his sweepstakes and realized his actions were, in fact, ILLEGAL!  He did not conduct a random draw. Chad removed, what he deemed, to be the “inappropriate” entries, and then selected a winner from the remaining ones.

Therefore I have reported him to the proper legal authorities (Oregon Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Comission and Consumer Affairs) and I am asking you to do the same.  I believe this incidence requires proper investigation to determine, if in fact, any wrong doing was committed.

I will post any further findings as I receive them.

NOTE: Chad has deleted his original post and all it’s comments, so the link in the second paragraph goes to a PDF and not directly to his site.

Everyone was so tired with four days of: up early, sessions all day, winning prizes, having fun and then chatting with friends late into the evening.

The Sunday morning session began with a pancake breakfast. Family and friends were also included in the feast. We then heard from This N That Sweepstakes Newsletter, Online-Sweepstakes (OLS), SweepSheet, Sweepstakes Crossing,  The Sweeper Times and SweepsU.

Of course, the talks were followed by; PRIZE DRAWS! Double draws!! As we did both the Saturday night draws and the Sunday morning draws. A lot of hooping and hollering went on that day.

As each volunteer team has two years to prepare, the 2011 convention location was also announced. It will be going to Fort Wayne IN!

The gold ballot drum was then handed off to Bob Mennell, lead volunteer for the 2010 Annual National Sweepstakes Convention and the convention officially ended.

We then headed back to the Vendor Room to hand out the vendor draw prizes.  Unfortunately, with the throngs of people, I missed getting my picture with Mary Ann of Rochester NY who won my Lucky Basket, but I did get my picture with Bonnie of Masa, AZ who won a copy of my book.

It will be a long fourteen months until I see all my sweeping buddies again.  I just may have to do a few road trips over the course of the next year!

ENJOY, GOOD LUCK & HAVE FUN!

Day 3, Saturday July 4th was a wonderful day. It had rained off and on since we had arrived in Manchester NH.  The sun decided to grace us and was much needed for the final activity of the day; a full convention, with families, outing to a Fisher Cats baseball game followed by fireworks.

The day began with a great talk by Dave Biron from the USPS.  I wish I had a link to the amazing video shown about the history and statistics of mail in the U.S.  (In Canada, I have not sent in any OEBs – Original Entry Blanks -  for three years now, and have only recently begun to see an upswing in my outgoing sweepstakes mail, but only for NPE – No Purchase Entries.)  It will be interesting to see how this entry method changes over the next few years…

Of course, the talk was followed by; PRIZE DRAWS!

After lunch and an optional session on eBay we began the afternoon session.  We had a wonderful talk and slide show presentation by Valerie of Cherryfield ME. She was the lucky winner of the MasterCard Seven Wonders of the World Sweepstakes. She talked about the first of the four first class trips she won. On this leg she went to India and China to see the Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China, with her daughter.  (I was most impressed by how gracious and appreciative winner Valerie is.  I believe you must be to win big.)  And, she has three more trips to go!

Of course, her presentation was followed by; PRIZE DRAWS!

At 6pm we all began to walk over to the Merchantsauto.com Stadium.  I wore my Toronto Blue Jays baseball hat as the Fisher Cats are the double-A affilaite team for the Jays. We had a buffet dinner followed by the game and fireworks.  I missed most of the game as my daughter spent it playing in the Kids Zone.  We did get back in time to see the Fisher Cats win and watch some amazing fireworks.

What a great way to end the day.  It doesn’t get more American on the 4th of July than hot dogs and baseball followed by fireworks. AWESOME!

Due to the location, there were no prize draws at the stadium.  They were saved for Sunday morning!

ENJOY, GOOD LUCK & HAVE FUN!

WOW! If you have never attended a convention, you must plan to.  They are so fun, exciting and busy.  This is the first chance I have had to blog in several days.  My days at the convention were filled with; attending sessions, vending and most importantly, connecting with all my sweeping buddies.  (Plus, it took me two days to catch-up upon my return.  So today’s blog post is about Day 2, Friday July 3rd.)

Friday morning’s session began with Eric Freidberg. Eric owns CFA Promo (@cfapromo) and It’s Easy To Win (@itseasytowin). His talk was very interesting and interactive. As he spoke, we played his BINGO game LIVE. (To play online, click here.)

I will share his most important points he covered in he speech here:

1) Always opt-in to receive a sponsor’s information, newsletters and samples.

Companies run sweepstakes to increase consumer interaction, brand awareness, customer loyalty and SALES!  When you opt-in, you help the sponsor reach their goals.  You can always opt-out at anytime.

MY TIP: The best reason to opt-in is, most companies let their subscribers know about new contests sweepstakes first.

2) Only enter for prizes you really want to win.

3) DO NOT brag about being a contestor or sweeper.

He told the story of an older gentleman that won a trip to the set of Sesame Street. Not only did he not have any children or grandchildren, he bragged about how he was a sweeper, how much he won, etc. (I could feel my stomach tighten as I imagined the horror of the sponsor after spending so much time, energy and money running a promotion, only to have it end like that.)

4) Be grateful and support the sponsor.

Always send a thank you note. If it’s a small prize, an email will do.  If the prize is large, hand write a letter to the President or Vice President of Marketing to the sponsoring company(s). Also buy their products or services because when they deem a promotion to be successful, they will run MORE.

When Eric was done, we had prize draws!

If you were not able to attend the convention, you can listen to my interview with Eric here, or check out all the It’s Easy To Win videos on You Tube.

After lunch and an optional Sweepstakes Workshop for Winners, Eric came back and answered all types of sweeps questions followed by prize draws!

That evening we had a 4th of July BBQ buffet (yes, it was the 3rd) followed by more prize draws!

What a great day, and there was still two more days to go!!

ENJOY, GOOD LUCK & HAVE FUN!!

Like sweepstaking, convention is always an adventure.  This year has been no different.  We decided to combine a family vacation with convention again this year.  Unfortunately, at the last moment, my husband Craig could not attend due to work commitments.  We were very lucky and the convention organizers were able to change Craig’s registration to my assistant Aprile (see, good luck flows into all areas of one’s life).  So it became a girl’s road trip; myself, my daughter Nicole, the nanny Jennifer and Aprile.

We left on Monday morning. We could drive all the way to Manchester NH, but we decided to break up the drive to make it less of a long haul along with allowing us to sight-see along the way.  We drove to Burlington VT, then stayed the night.

Tuesday morning we began our trek to Manchester. We had two important stops to make first.  Our first stop was the Vermont Teddy Bear Company factory.

We began with a tour and Nicole left with a new teddy bear.  Then it was off for lunch before we got dessert, at the Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory.

We made spin art, a tye dye t-shirt, took the tour and, of course, ate ice cream! We arrived in Manchester just in time for dinner.

Wednesday we had planned to go to the beach (an hour east of Manchester), but the weather was not co-operating.  So we did what four girls would do, we went shopping!  After lunch we took Nicole to the SEE Science Center.  It’s a small hands on centre for kids (of all ages).  They have a really cool Millyard LEGO installation that used over 3 million pieces of LEGO.

Wednesday night we went to the famous Red Arrow Diner.  I had my first Whoppie Pie. YUMMY! !

Thursday at noon the convention officially started with the Vendor Room opening. It was wonderful to see so many of my sweepstaking buddies.  Lots of hugs all round.

After a quick dinner, the festivities kicked off with an Ice Cream Social and PRIZES! (Lucky me, I won 100 Forever stamps, WOOHOO!!)

If you didn’t make it this year, make sure you attend the 21st Annual National Sweepstakes Convention.

Hope to see you there!