Sweepstakes Program Example

Prompted by a recent question from Kelly Ives about SRG's experience with executing sweepstakes/contests/promotions for our clients (or partnering with a third party who executes promotions), here is a quick example of a sweepstakes program SRG executed for Almond Board of California:

Program Name: Shecky's Girls' Night Out Sweepstakes

Situation: we needed a way measure/quantify the effectiveness of a sampling program

Solution: along with the almond samples we distributed, we included almond snacking tips, portion size messaging, and an invitation to participate in a survey to be entered to win a prize

Execution:

• Recipients were directed to a landing page, and upon completing a short survey of questions about our promotion, they could enter the sweepstakes
• Link to the survey was posted on the official event website
• Reminder email was sent to all event attendees with a link to the survey/sweeps
• As an added bonus, we gave survey respondents the option to send a free almond tin to a friend. Those recipients were also invited to participate in the sweepstakes
• Three months after the initial survey/sweeps, we executed an additional survey/sweeps to measure changes in behavior and attitudes

SRG deliverables:

• Copy, design and production management of almond sample package (including survey/sweeps invite)
• Copy, design, development and management of survey/sweeps email and landing page
• Wrote survey questionnaire and analyzed/reported results
• Wrote official rules and worked with a legal representative to assure compliance
• Selected sweepstakes winners and fulfilled prizes
• Managed fulfillment of "send-to-a-friend" tins

Results:

• Percentage of respondents able to recall the correct portion size for almonds increased by 44 percentage points (from the initial survey to the follow-up survey)
• 90% of respondents reported they learned something new about almonds as a result of receiving our samples and messaging
• Client decided to pursue an extended sampling program based on the measurement results!

Full report of the results and copy of the sweepstakes Official Rules can be downloaded using this link:
http://my.srg.com/sparkfiles/SheckysExample.zip

Become a GTM Blog Author

All you need to do to become an author of this blog is create a Google Account using your SRG email address. Once you have a Google Account, email Katie Beer and request to become a blog author.

Here is the link to create your Google Account:
https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount

"Pro-Snacker" Campaign Performance

Stellar performance from recent Almond Board campaign! After seeing strong results during Jan-Feb 2010 (TV and online ads), ABC elected to invest additional dollars and extend the "Pro-Snacker" campaign. The online ads continued to run within targeted content on CBSSports.com and ESPN.com for the months of May and June, and a high-impact print placement was added to the mix. Three consecutive 1/3 page (aka sidebars) ran in the June issue of Men's Health followed by a customized version of one of the existing full page ads.

Here are a few highlights; full performance report can be downloaded and viewed here.

ONLINE

• Overall CTR increased from 0.22% to 0.57% (Jan/Feb to May/June)
• Unique interaction rate increased from 3.53% to 7.36%
• Pre-roll video placements continued to be the strongest overall performers; CTR on individual placements was as high as 1.29%

http://devlinux.srg.com/ABC/ALM_090472/

PRINT

• Of 61 advertisements in the June issue of Men’s Health, the Pro-Snacker ad series ranked 1st overall with 76% of respondents reporting taking action, or intending to take action, as a direct result of seeing the ABC ad. (Issue norm 52%)

Campaign landing page: www.AlmondBoard.com/ProSnacker

AdMob

In case you missed it... a rep from Google's AdMob was here in the office Friday morning and gave a very interesting presentation on what's happening in the mobile advertising space. This two minute video (below) offers a great overview. Click here to download and view the entire presentation.

The full presentation includes stats on the current mobile internet landscape and several creative examples of what types of advertising units, user experiences and interactions are currently available.

Location Based Social Networks... what's the deal?

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been hearing a lot of buzz lately about Location Based Social Networks (LBSNs) such as Foursquare, Gowalla, Brightkite and Loopt. With a growing user-base (Foursquare just passed the 2 million mark) we all want to know who’s using these services, how often they’re using them, what they’re using them for, how our clients can get involved, and if they should. Large chains such as Starbucks and Chili’s restaurant have already partnered with LBSNs to test promotions… so far, with mixed results. Check out this article from AdAge about some of the challenges and pitfalls these early adopters have faced.

A recent report by Forrester provides a little perspective on the subject of LBSNs, finding that less than 5% of U.S. online users have ever used a location-based application on a mobile device. Interesting to note that these users are typically young (~70% between the ages of 19 and 35), male (~80%), well-educated, and influential. Read more on Forrester’s own blog and on gigaom.com

Infographic: The Road to Wellness

Interesting take on the "Road to Wellness" by Hartman Group. Displayed on a LIFE-like board game are various dieting fads, advertising milestones, and other health and wellness trends from the last 200 years. Definitely worth checking out!

http://www.hartman-group.com/hartbeat/infographic-the-road-to-wellness

Cascadian Farm Blueberries come to FarmVille

Big week coming up for SRG client... Cascadian Farm will become FarmVille’s first-ever “in-game, branded crop” that consumers can plant, grow and interact with all while learning about the benefits of organic farming on the world’s largest virtual agricultural stage. During the week of July 19-16, FarmVille players will be able to plant an organic blueberry crop from Cascadian Farm and download a $1.00 coupon that can be redeemed in a brick-and-mortar store.

The popular social game FarmVille boosts 20 million users EACH DAY, and 60 million+ active monthly users.

Check out this great New York Times article about the upcoming Cascadian Farm campaign.


Go to Cascadian Farm's pages on Facebook to get in on the action:

• Farmer Joe Cascadian
• Cascadian Farm's Farmville Community Celebration