The Web + Contest Enthusiasts

I was having a look at what’s going on with contests on the web this morning and it became apparent that the contest enthusiasts have found all of the on-line contests we’re managing at the moment.

For example, several sites link to every new contest at The Beer Store on the day they launch. On one level, I just can’t fathom who is sitting by their computer waiting for the contest to launch. On the other hand, we’re interested to learn more about who these folks really are.

Stay tuned for our take on the enthusiasts.

Toronto Star Why Ask Why Ends Well

I received my thank you email from the Toronto Star this morning:

This is the perfect way to end the Why Ask Why contest that has engaged players on a consistent, daily basis. Thank you, Toronto Star, for thanking me. It’s far more than what other similar contests do.

The email also includes a subtle and tasteful ask for subscriptions and classifieds.

Well done, Toronto Star. We hope the contest has been a success.

A Clever Tourist Contest

While strolling through the very touristy downtown Nassau, Bahamas this weekend, we saw one of the most clever retail contests we’d come across in a long time. Sorry, no links or photos of the actual contest, so I’ll have to describe it here.

One of the many jewelery stores on the main drag featured a poster which was promoting their contest about “win a trip back to the Bahamas”. It was a clever way to get you into their store and differentiated this store from all the others we walked by.

I have to throw in just one Bahamas photo. This is Atlantis, enjoy!

Contests We’re Not Fond Of – Vachon

Instant win contests can be used in a lot of fun and interesting ways. Generally, we see them in retail and this fall we seem to be working on more than a few.

While this contest is not one we’re working on, it’s worthwhile to review here in this blog. The Vachon Sweet Taste Of Retirement contest uses instant win for their standard prizes, but also prize indemnity for their match-and-win grand prize, $50,000 a year for life (or a $900,000 lump sum). The contest scratch cards appear in a number of Vachon products, like this Jos. Louis box.

The design of the box sticker and ballot are OK, but the sticker is perhaps a bit difficult to see at retail. Perhaps contest-specific packaging might make sense.

On our contest card, we received the “V”, but otherwise didn’t win an instant win prize.

Why are we not fond of this one? The most significant shortcoming is the lack of an odds statement within the contest rules, since this is a legal requirement for Canadian contests. Vachon certainly knows the odds for the instant win prizes and, despite what their ’statistician’ may say, the odds for the match-and-win grand prize are calculable. At minimum, this is misleading to consumers and not a course of action we recommend to clients.

The Régie

Not a day goes by that we do not discuss the Régie and Quebec’s unique contest requirements. The topic of the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux, as they are formally known, is long overdue in this blog.

The Régie is not a unsolvable mystery. And fear of the Régie is no reason not to conduct a contest in the province of Quebec. Their requirements are fairly straightforward and satisfying them is not that difficult. While it shouldn’t be taken lightly, dealing with the Régie is not that daunting of a task. Certainly, familiarity with the Régie’s requirements helps and that’s where an experienced contest parnter can help.

We’ll discuss the ins-and-outs of the Régie in upcoming posts, but for now, we’ll leave you with this tip direct from the Régie’s site:

“These Rules do not apply to publicity contests where the total value of the prizes offered does not exceed 2 000 $, with the exception of sections 5 and 6 that apply to all publicity contests in which the total value of the prizes exceeds 100 $.“

In other words, you do not have to register a contest with the Régie if the contest’s total prize value is less than $2,000.00 CAD.

Contests We Like – Canadian Club C To C

CC was my grandfather’s drink. CC is my drink. We’re Canadian, so it’s natural that we love a contest that has anything to do with Canadian Club.

I had a meeting at the Manulife Centre in downtown Toronto the other day and was looking for an excuse spend some money to see that at least I got my parking validated. The Manulife Centre has the best parking garage in Toronto, in my opinion. It’s always the right temperature, classical music plays throughout the garage and they have a fantastic window washing station, along with complimentary windshield washer refills.

Anyway, I dropped by the liquor store to pick up something that was going to be consumed regardless and they had their whiskey promotion feature in store. I couldn’t miss the bottle of Canadian Club with the contest and freebie 50 ml on the neck.

The Canadian Club C To C Contest offers two grand prize winners a choice of three adventure trips. How perfect is that theme?

This contest is a straightforward fixed-odds structure, using a peel-and-reveal card. Odds are clearly stated in the (brief) contest rules. We haven’t seen one of these used for a brand promotion in quite a long time and it was cool to see the ol’ peel-and-reveal in action.

Sadly, we didn’t win a prize, but we still like the contest, since it’s all about Canadian Club.

[Pssst! Maxxium! Next time I'd like to see a little more creativity, OK? Great! Thanks.]

Contests We’re Not Fond Of – Vonage

I have to confess. We love technology at Upshift and VoIP is a very promising one, however, Vonage’s Back To School Event Contest is a bit drab.

While Vonage is using one of the standard “best” prizes for this contest, they could use some help. A $5,000 prize budget could have been used for many more interesting prizes. Cash might be of interest to some consumers, but the proof’s really in the pudding. I would be interested to hear what Vonage’s opt-in rate is once the contest is over.

I’m also wondering, what the heck is the “Vonage Thanks A Million Sweepstakes”? I thought this was called the “Vonage Back To School Event”.

To the folks at Vonage Canada, one recommendation–always include a statement about odds in your contest rules. If your lawyers or contest management firm overlooked this, I’d be concerned.

(By the way, Vonage, what’s with your high-pressure sales tactics?)

Contests We Like – Toronto Star Why Ask Why

Initially, I didn’t get the Toronto Star’s new contest, Why Ask Why, because I hadn’t investigated it. But now I’m surprised at how smooth this contest really is. They make it exceptionally easy for consumers to enter and they don’t ask participants to read the paper itself. They lead readers to the on-line content directly from the straightforward contest site.

Overall, the contest site was exceptionally well-designed, making it easy for any consumer to understand and participate. The entry process provides for permission for daily email reminders (I was already on their daily contest email list), as well as for saving entrants’ information for subsequent daily entries. It’s as if they followed the Contest Best Practice Handbook.

For all of the love I have for this contest, I have one complaint. The site just doesn’t work for the OSX Safari or Camino browsers. I had to upgrade to the latest version of Firefox before I could actually participate.

I also have a confession to make. The Toronto Star won me over with their RSS feeds. Yeah, the contest worked just like it was supposed to. Good work, Toronto Star.

What Do You Get When You Combine Models And Bix.com?

Why, a contest featuring models, of course! (Sorry, that was really lame, but it really didn’t take that long for a glossy T&A contest to hit Bix.com, either.)

Solomodels.com launched their contest using Bix.com early last week. They’ve got separate model and photographer contests running, offering a total of $2,000 in prize money.

Content of this contest is one thing, but, seriously, it’s a great way for Solomodels.com to use Bix. They look to be creating a community around models and photographers, and, according to the their profile on Bix.com, they are “the world’s premier destination for fashion models and photographers“. So why not take advantage of free, off-the-web-shelf technology for their promotions? They’re reaching their core customers, models and photographers, through this simple contest. Good for them, I say.

Until it happens, I’m (cautiously & patiently) waiting for a serious brand to play in Bix.com’s sandbox. I’ve got some great ideas…

Contest Notification Services

I received an email on Friday, October 6 from one of those contest notification services. Note the date.

The email announced the opportunity to participate in an on-line survey for a well-known research firm in exchange for a chance to win a fairly good prize. There is no apparent connection between the contest notification service and the research company.

The email content itself had poor creative and the execution below-average. Within the email, there was mention of a prize completely unrelated to the prize offered in the actual contest. In fact, the email is so poorly executed, I’m not even going to mention the notification service or the research firm by name.

After clicking through and digging into the contest rules, the contest period ended September 30! Well done, folks.