| Tuesday, March 06, 2007 |
| A Thought About Contests |
With the launch of the Tiki Wisdom Challenge this week, I thought I'd give an insider's peek at how good your odds sometimes are at winning stuff from various contests.
When I worked for KSL, i was regularly in charge of collecting entries for prizes at ReAl SL games, The Utah Symphony, Utah Auto Shows, and various other events along the Wasatch Front.
Due to people's fear of SPAM and junk mail, they're generally averse to entering any kind of contest that requires your age, email address, etc. There were times we would be giving away free cruises as on-air promotions, and only a couple hundred (if that) people would "dare" to enter the contest. That means the person that ended up winning that prize wasn't really that lucky- they just had great odds. Somewhere around 1 in 150, most of the time.
The best part, though, is what we did with all the entries that didn't make it. After we picked the winner out of the box, we kept that entry so that we could notify the winner of their prize. The rest of them went into the garbage can. Yup. All those names and email addresses went straight into the garbage can. Nobody sat down to a computer and entered the information, which means none of the people that entered the contest were ever bothered again! A horrible marketing practice-but it goes to show that the point of the promotion was promotion, not to gather a bunch of email addresses for spamming.
Working for an ad agency provides some back-up for for what I've just said. This same scenario happens all the time with local contests. Only a couple hundred people take the time to enter the contest, and as a result, the odds of winning are usually very, very good. Since most of our contests are online, we're not as bad with the email addresses as KSL- and they occasionally get used. If given permission, we might send out announcements about new games or contests- but never spam. In two years, I've never seen an email address taken from one contest and given to another client. In fact, I've never seen an email address taken and used for anything other than what the user had signed up for.
With the passing of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, agencies (ours, at least) are paranoid about compliance. The bill permits e-mail marketers to send unsolicited commercial e-mail as long as it contains all of the following:
- an opt-out mechanism;
- a valid subject line and header (routing) information;
- the legitimate physical address of the mailer; and
- a label if the content is adult.
The penalty for breaking the rules? Each violation is subject to fines of up to $11,000.
Now, we don't send unsolicited emails from our databases, but even more important- that opt-out link really works. For good reason people have been told to stay away from responding to, or clicking on any link in an unsolicited email. In our case, though- and likely the case of any reputable company- if you click that link, you'll be automatically be taken off the list. By law, if a user opts out, a sender has ten days to cease sending email.
So- that's the deal. Many of these local contests have great odds- and little potential to flood your inbox with spam. And if you do start getting emails you'd rather not, you're just one click away from stopping it. That's all.
So, want to win a trip to Hawaii? Want something to do at work instead of work? Play the Tiki Wisdom Challenge- it's a pretty fun game that gives you clues about your friend, and you have to guess who your friend is. If you're a horrible guesser, you can throw some spears at coconuts and still win an entry into the contest. And you can enter as many times as you want.
If you like the sound of the waves, or the thunder, or the swoosh of the spear through the air...I chose those. They're basically my only claim to fame on the game...but I can't complain, I got paid to do it. The rhyming in that last sentence was unintentional, I promise.
To play, visit www.tikiwisdom.com And good luck. |
posted by Brett Crockett @ 9:51 AM   |
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