Everyone wants to be a millionaire, but unless you've got the
fastest fingers, you've got to pass the fries or at least pass your name
and address to have any chance of seeing a fat check or a trip to
Tahiti.
Executed correctly, sweepstakes and contests offer a more substantial
engagement process with constituents than information-based
campaigns.
They provide a thematic conduit between media relations, special events,
point-of-purchase promotions, websites, and advertising.
It's about participation. For magazines and networks, contests can allow
the audience to feel involved in making the news. For companies like
Cover Girl cosmetics and tween retailer Limited Too, the tactic provides
consumers a more visceral experience with the brand.
"We find contests to be a great way to form lasting relationships with
consumers in a manner that is consistent with the spirit of the Cover
Girl brand," says Cover Girl manager of global external relations Cheryl
Hudgins.
This summer, Limited Too's "Passion for Fashion" campaign invited girls
to six city malls to parade as their favorite pop stars and meet Olympic
figure skating champ Tara Lipinski. Attendees drawn at random competed
in games on stage, and the winners jetted off to a compete in a grand
finale event in Manhattan that included backstage concert passes to meet
boy band O-Town, as well as a chance to win a $2,000 wardrobe and
$5,000 scholarship.
The contest was a way of drawing the girls and their moms to view fall
fashions in time for back-to-school purchases. Celebrity elements
ensured coverage by tween magazines, and a mass of local kids onstage
lip-synching to their favorite pop songs brought out the local
media.
"The bottom line is you're training the consumer where to buy the
product, and you are stimulating them to try it," says Lee Duffey, CEO
of Duffey Communications. "That takes a strong incentive."
Sweepstakes provide that incentive in one of three forms: contests,
"collect and win," and random draws. They are regulated by a set of
simple federal guidelines made far more complicated by state-level
interpretations.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, managing the elements of
prize, consideration, and chance determines whether the promotion is a
sweepstakes or an illegal lottery. The nomenclature is simple: "prize"
is something of value to be awarded, "consideration" is something of
value given up by the consumer in exchange for entry, and "chance" is
the element of randomness in awarding the prize. Often, that is where
the simplicity ends.
FTC regional director John Mendenhall says one of these three elements
has to be eliminated for the promotion to be considered a legal game -
otherwise, it's gambling. Some use the "no purchase necessary" caveat,
but determining a winner on the basis of a skill is another way to get
around the "chance" rule.
When sweepstakes require consumers to provide personal contact
information for entry, the FTC looks upon this as a quid pro quo, and
has not yet set any specific privacy guidelines dealing with the use of
that information.
"Usually, if the prize is significant enough, the consumer is willing to
give up a certain amount of privacy," says Mendenhall. However, with
sub-committee hearings set to convene on Capitol Hill, the heyday of
this loophole may be waning.
Collect-and-win games are popular with soft drink, fast food, and candy
companies. Consumers uncover food wrappers and soda caps in search of
words, letters, or codes necessary to compete for prizes. However, the
degree of difficulty in winning such games recently landed McDonald's in
PR trouble.
For the last decade, America's number-one fast-food chain partnered with
Hasbro to present the Monopoly game. Peel-off stickers on food wrappers
corresponded to a color-coded series of "real estate" on the Monopoly
game board, with escalating prizes associated with each block of real
estate. This year, distribution of game pieces was restricted to a few
select food items, none of which were part of the standard value-meal
orders, thus increasing the difficulty to collect and win. McDonald's
had even more problems when it was discovered that an employee of its
promotions firm had rigged the contest.
According to web-based consumer watchdog Planet Feedback, consumers were
less concerned about the fraud than the onerous game rules. 51%
complained about restaurants running out of cups and packages with the
game pieces, whereas only 28% addressed the scandal.
"They got creativity disease," says Duffey. "Too may cosponsors with
competing brand messages, and too restrictive an entry policy hurt
them."
Despite the news value of some contests, it is important to remember
that the sweepstakes itself should not be the story that's pitched.
This year, Cover Girl partnered with iVillage.com to promote Outlast
lipstick. The contest allowed women to create personalized lipstick
"looks" online and win luxury spa vacations and shopping sprees to help
them "outlast" their daily strife.
The success of this promotion was based on the news value of the product
innovation, as well as the simple entry process. Women's magazines
covered the new product extensively, and mentioned the sweepstakes in
context.
Consumers only had to give their contact information for entry in the
random draw.
In the end, the idea of getting something for free is the driving force
behind sweepstakes. Successful ventures are those that tap into the
psyche of the target to ascertain what he or she most desires at the
moment, and creatively associates that desire with the brand's
values.
TECHNIQUE TIPS
1. Do use a sweepstake to hype a new product or a product innovation
2. Do hire a law firm. Make sure your sweepstakes is compliant with
rules in all 50 states, or you could land your client in legal hot water
3. Do get insurance to guard against professional sweepstakes entrants
and frivolous lawsuits
1. Don't overcomplicate. Alliances help pay for prizes, but competing
brand messages can confuse
2. Don't catch creativity disease. Make your participants think, but not
too much. Entry options should be easy and well-communicated
3. Don't forget that the sweepstakes should only be one element of a
campaign
