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Steve Ogden-Barnes --- "The new face of competitions ... in 25 words or less!" [2006] MonashBusRw 48; (2006) 2(3) Monash Business Review 7

The new face of competitions… in 25 words or less!

Steve Ogden-Barnes looks at the highs and lows of competition marketing.

With more than 4,000 members (only one in five is male) and an average of nine new members every day, the Australian Competition Club (www.compingclub.com) is just one example of a virtual community of multi-channel competition enthusiasts who’ve created a sophisticated platform to help them deal with the complexities and opportunities inherent in competition marketing.

The site provides hardcore ‘compers’ a platform to sell prizes they’ve won and help each other out with code words and entry forms. Some enter 60 competitions per week. This expanding channel for communicating promotions to consumers is also generating a complex matrix of multi-dimensional, multi-channel communication and marketing tools and options such as those highlighted below.

Promoters and beneficiaries

A competition may be retailer driven but event inspired. For example, Safeway’s “Go for gold and win” promotion encouraged consumers to mail in shopping dockets during a promotional period to win a new Toyota Kluger. An added complication was a “preferred multiple supplier incentive”, meaning if you had a Cadbury Schweppes, Nestle or Rexona product on your receipt you were automatically entered into a $1,000 bonus draw. Alternatively a promotion may be supplier driven, for example, the Holeproof Explorer Ute giveaway in which the major prize was offered to buyers of Holeproof socks from specific shops.

Exclusivity

Sometimes the promotion may be supplier driven and product specific yet channel limited, as with the recent, “only at Woolworths and Safeway” “Holiday in Paradise!” promotion, where entrants had to buy two Paradise biscuit products from a specified retailer to win.

Supplier to consumer (s2c) promotion

Manufacturers or suppliers can bypass retail channels and go directly to consumers. Kleenex UK asked consumers to supply their details to go in the running to win a digital radio. In return they agreed to sign up for an email newsletter detailing further promotions and developments.

Methods of communication

Competitions offered to consumers are increasingly using magazines (home-branded or branded), Internet sites or shopping center/event road shows. Important data is collected via submission of personal details.

Packaging and presentation

Competition offers and details are incorporated into the packaging or done independently through supplementary in-store promotional materials. This is of course irrelevant when a virtual retailer like www.indulgefashion.com.au presents an on-line competition like its recent “Win $500 worth of Arianne Lingerie”.

Online promotion of magazine-based competitions

Retailers also present competitions through their own secondary channels of consumer communication. For example, Woolworth’s AGT Magazine regularly runs competitions, usually of the 25 words-or-less variety, for which no product or magazine purchase is required and no store visit needed, as many competitions are accessed via the AGT website.

Answers on a postcard? Not any more

As well as the mail entry in-store coupon, some competitions direct entrants to a website, an email address, a 1900 number or an SMS number. Some competitions give the opportunity to enter via multiple channels like mail, phone or SMS. A good example is the Coles “Easter Bun” competition where entrants collected barcodes from hot cross buns and either mailed the evidence in or SMS’d the barcodes to a dedicated number.

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About the author

Steve Ogden-Barnes

Steve Ogden-Barnes (BA, MA) is a Program Director in the Australian Centre for Retail Studies, Monash University. Steve specialises in global retail trends, consumer evolution and retail marketing strategies.