A seeded contest is one where the sponsor SEEDS the winning entries throughout all the codes, products, tabs, etc. Similar to Charlie finding a golden ticket in a Wonka Bar. There were five golden tickets in thousands of bars.

Some are obvious, like the annual McDonald’s Monopoly sweepstakes where you have to be lucky enough to find a rare piece to win big. Some are not. like the current Moosehead Beer one, where it appears to be a PIN Code contest, but the winning codes are predetermined.

This is another reason to always read the rules. You not only need to know eligibility, frequency, and end date, but you must also look for any other clauses that will affect your odds of winning. In this case, it is the clauses that describe what the odds are and that the winning numbers are predetermined. This clause is from the Moosehead Beer contest.

8. PRIZE: There is a total of seven thousand one hundred and fifty (7150) prizes (the “Prize”) available to be won in relation to this Contest: fifty (50) grand prizes of “the Ultimate Backyard Makeover” of a cash prize of $10,000, one hundred (100) secondary cash prizes of $500, two thousand (2,000) secondary cash prizes of $100 prizes, five thousand (5,000) secondary cash prizes of $50.

9. PRIZE WINNER SELECTION PROCESS:
Each PIN code is associated with either a grand prize, secondary prize, or no prize.

Or in the Nutella contest, if no one submits one of the predetermined winning codes then they will hold a random drawing to give away one prize. However, if one is claimed, the random drawing won’t take place.

Odds of Winning: Prior to the Contest Opening Date, Sponsor will randomly select ten (10) winning numbers
between 1 and 2.1 million. Every PIN entered is turned into a unique random number between 1 and 2.1
million. The unique number is assigned to the entrant and checked against the list of ten (10) pre-selected winning
numbers. If that unique random number matches with a pre-selected winning number, the entrant will win one
(1) of ten (10) Grand Prizes. Therefore, the odds of winning a Grand Prize are 1 in 210,000.

If at the end of the Contest Period, if none of the ten (10) pre-selected winning unique numbers have been assigned
to an eligible PIN entry, a random draw will take place in accordance with section 4 below. Only one (1) Prize will
be given away in this random draw. The odds of winning a Prize via random drawing in accordance with section 4 below will
depend on the number of eligible entries received during the Contest Period.

The two takeaways from these examples are:

  1. be sure you understand how you win the prizes, and
  2. your odds of winning.

This will determine if you want to participate, and then if you do, you need to decide if you are going to support the sponsor or send away for the No Purchase Entry. (NOTE: I choose to do a mix of both if I decide to enter.)

Yes, the odds of winning can be daunting for seeded contests, but that doesn’t stop people from collecting the Monopoly playing pieces at McDonald’s, because someone has to win. Charlie did.

Do you enter seeded contests?