From The Contest Queen

This one is way to good not to re-post.

Bonnie belongs to the T.O. Wanna Winner’s Contest Club and has a wonderful flare for writing.  She really shows her stuff this week by posting a letter to Subway regarding the dismal odds in their current Scrabble-style sweepstakes.

Bonnie’s Letter to Subway

Dear Subway,

Wow, you’re having a contest. Good for you.

Oh, and you’re having a contest with the lowest odds of winning in Canadian contesting history – you should be really proud. The rest of us are alarmed, if not disappointed, that you thought no one was going to notice how likely it was that your company would be keeping the $250,000 grand prize in your back pocket while countess uninformed Canadians gulped down soda pop 21 ounces at a time.

Even though the odds are one in five billion that you care about my opinion, I thought I’d improve my chances by writing you this letter.

It turns out that the letters I’ve been collecting by purchasing your overpriced beverages can also help me spell some words that I can use to describe how I really feel about your Play Subway Scrabble contest.

Z-I-P
The level of interest this contest generates when people discover that their odds of winning the lottery are much, much better.

A-T-T-E-M-P-T
A feeble act conducted by Subway to lure customers into their restaurants. Odds of it working: 1:326,652,198

B-I-G W-U-S-S
The name of the executive who approved this campaign. Odds of this person getting a raise: 1:130,660,879

You might want to get a coffee and make yourself comfortable; I’ve been working on this for a while.

F-A-S-T O-N-E
What Subway tried to pull on Canadian consumers.

S-U-B-P-O-E-N-A
What Subway executives should be expecting soon.

B-A-L-O-N-E-Y
A type of meat you can get on a Subway sandwich, and what the marketing team is full of. If you’re watching your weight, you should deal with the other type of marketing team member they have:

T-U-R-K-E-Y-S
The folks who thought that Canadian consumers would gobble up this idea without reading the fine print.

B-O-G-E-Y-M-A-N
The type of person who will be declared the “W-I-N-N-E-R” of the grand prize. Odds of us ever learning his/her real name: 1:1,633,260,992.

B-O-N V-O-Y-A-G-E
Say goodbye to all that “feel good” publicity you were hoping this campaign would create. Jared’s too skinny to appeal to us anymore, so just give up already.

S-W-E-E-T R-E-V-E-N-G-E
Wow, I almost used up all my letters in one play! This is for getting all my friends and family to go to Mr. Sub instead of your misleading place. Odds of that happening: 1:1

Oh, and in case some of these letters are impossible to get, I’ll use some of the easier ones in my final word for you:

N-O
As in, “no thank you.”

Your Play Subway Scrabble campaign, upon closer inspection, appears to be short more than just a few letters. Odds of recovery: 1:5,470,776,824.

Sincerely,

Bonnie Staring
A Canadian Consumer

Yesterday I got a text message from Molson Canada.  It was for their Coors Light Cold Certified Insider Text Contest.  The messages said to text the word COLD to 26677 and I would be entered to win a Coors Light Beer Fridge.  So I did.  I got a message back saying I was entered to win.  WOO HOO!  It also stated if I wanted more entries, I was to get my friends to text 5491 to 26677.  Just as I was thinking of which of my friends enter text messaging contests, my phone rang.  Molson sent me an automated voice message stating it was the top 20 referrers who would win fridges.  Hmmm…

Viral marketing is the high tech version of word-of-mouth marketing and marketers love it because their product’s or service’s message can go further and faster than it ever has in the past.  I agree.  Viral marketing is a great tool, but the secret is all in the execution.

I think every promotion should have a viral marketing component to it, such as giving every entrant an extra entry for each friend they refer.  I am not fond of contests you can only win by getting the most votes, sending the most emails or getting the most friends to text in for them.  It’s the person that can cast the widest net that usually wins versus a random draw (even playing field) or the best entry (such as in a photo contest).

So, being the Contest Queen, and having heaps of contesting buddies, should I cast my wide net?  I have to admit, I am torn.  The part of me that loves winning says YES.  The part of me that loves my friends says NO, it’s just not fair.  And then again, someone has to win, so why not me? Why not you?

How do you feel about casting a wide net?  Do you feel that you could ever win a popularity contest?

While cooking dinner the other evening I received a winning phone call. WOO HOO! I get so excited when I win. While getting all the details of my win, the gentleman commented on how nice it was to speak someone who was so excited about the prize (a one day family pass to our local zoo). He was giving out 75 passes and I was the first one he had spoken with that was happy.

WHAT?! How could anyone not be happy about winning? Why enter if it is not to bring unexpected fun and excitement plus unplanned adventures into your life?

So next time you get that winning call, get excited! Make the person notifying you happy he called you today.

As promised, here is the PDF link to Reader’s Digest Canada article; Eyes on the Prize: Contestors the Ultimate Optimists.

ENJOY!

One of the really fun things about the hobby of contesting, is you can have experiences that you would not normally have in your life.

Last night was one of those nights for me. I won tickets to see Doc Walker at The Danforth Music Hall. I usually only listen to country music when I go to a Tex Mex restaurant for fajitas. What a fantastic show!

Deric Ruttan opened the concert. No wonder he won the SOCAN Songwriter of the Year Award in 2007. And, boy can he sing. His voice is exactly what I envision a good country singer to sound like.

Doc Walker on the other hand, sounded more rock than country. They sang everything from their own hits, to covers from KISS, Genesis, John Denver and even the Bee Gees! The whole place was jumpin’.

So enter sweepstakes you would normally bypass and see what fun and interesting prizes come your way.

More and more companies are looking for a way to “cut through the clutter”, so they either bombard us with their product message or they use a new medium (social marketing), such as Facebook.

Contest Finder is a new application on Facebook that has partnered with Adooga to bring contests and sweepstakes right to your Facebook account. Since so many people log on to Facebook every day, it is such an easy way to find new promotions.

Don’t have a Facebook account yet? Why not sign-up, it’s FREE!

I am very excited because tomorrow we are going to meet the Barenaked Ladies!

As I have been very busy with the launch of the American Edition of my book, my entries slowed down to a trickle. One Friday I decided I needed to catch up on all my email. Open one at a time and take action upon each one. Many e-newsletters had contest links in them. When I went to the Kidding Around Toronto website, I noticed there were several daily entry contests that I had not entered. The one to meet the Barenaked Ladies was ending that day. I thought, “Darn! I missed the whole thing.” Then I thought, “What kind of a Contest Queen am I if I am not going to throw at least one entry into the hat. It only takes one to win.” So, I entered myself once and my husband once.

The next night Craig and I had a rare date night. We snuggled on the couch watching a movie. Afterward, Craig went to his computer to check his email one last time before we went to bed. He discovered a congratulatory email stating he had won the Grand Prize. I danced around the bathroom for a good 15 minutes while I got ready for bed.

Tomorrow we are going to their CD signing at Chapters. We get a copy of their new CD Snack Time, we get front row seats and an opportunity to take photos with them. I really like the fine print in the rules: All adults must be accompanied by a child.

Remember, it only takes one to win!

The two very interesting things I read about this week related to contesting and sweepstaking are: some experts predict that companies with triple their spending on online promotions over the next five years. Last year U.S. companies spent 1.89 billion dollars on sweepstakes so in 2012 companies will spend 5.67 billion dollars. There are now, and will be, a lot of prizes to be won! (Read more here.) And, sweepstakes websites are the fifth fastest growing Internet property. (Read more here.) Just more places to find and enter sweepstakes! WOO HOO!

There is an interesting new contest site in Canada called WinFreeTickets.com. As the name suggests, you can win tickets to all types of plays, concerts and sporting events. (Full rules here.) Since offers are made by region, you only enter for events near you and for what interests you.

One of the most exciting ways to meet fellow sweepers is at a convention.

The 19th Annual National Sweepstakes Convention being held in San Antonio TX from August 28-31, 2008 is almost sold out.  At last check they had 922 registered attendees and their cut off is 960.  Get your registration forms in ASAP!

The 3rd Annual Northeast Sweepstakes Convention being held in Hershey PA from October 17-19, 2008 is now 50% sold out.  Get your registration forms in soon.

Updated information for the 2nd Annual National Contestors Convention can be found on the convention Yahoo Group’s message board.

I am attending all of them, so SEE YOU THERE!