There’s been a lot of negative comment about the Winning Moments mechanic now being used in many prize promotions. But is the problem with the mechanic, or how promotions are being explained to consumers, asks Steve Berry of Emirat

Following some negative press about the overall odds of winning and the number of actual winners in some recent prize promotions, frozen food company McCain has become the latest brand to announce that they won’t be running any more Winning Moments-style prize promotions in the future.

The complaints about Winning Moments, and the strategic reaction by many promoters to them, lead many to ask if this reflects how all consumers feel. Is everyone losing faith in Winning Moments? I would argue not.

The average consumer would more than likely take a promotion in the spirit it was created – as a bit of fun. I am certain that McCain in no way set out to do anything other than inspire and delight their consumers with a fun and attractive promotion.

I don’t, in truth, know the facts – I didn’t work on this promotion – but I would guess McCain, working within a set budget, used fixed fee or promotional insurance to stretch that budget and provide the opportunity to win as many prizes as possible. Their intent ultimately would have been to make it more exciting, more appealing and to get a better response.

Compliance with the CAP Code

If this promotion was set up and implemented in accordance with the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) codes, the rules which govern all marketing activity in the UK, which I imagine it was, then all the prizes which the public were told could be won were in fact available to be won.

Therefore, the fact remains, had more people played, more prizes would have been won.

Let’s not forget, the whole idea of a promotion is as an enticement to purchase, the end goal being that you purchase the product, not enter a promotion. Furthermore, not all promotions guarantee a reward in exchange for this purchase, and they are not intended to. It’s a bonus, an add-on, a supplement to the product which is, most importantly, what you are actually buying!

The bag of chips cost no more than usual, therefore it hasn’t cost anything to enter this promotion. What then is there to feel disgruntled about? It’s not like buying a lottery ticket where you are actually paying to enter a competition. But again, with this too, you are only given a chance to win and no guarantees are given.

So why then, in the context of a promotion, which you are not paying to enter, does the idea that someone ‘could’ win seem to be an alienating concept all of a sudden?

I have read a lot of criticism and cries for promotional prizes to be ‘guaranteed’; but before promoters react, I would ask that they put this into context. While a promotion might guarantee prizes and therefore winners, it doesn’t dictate any differential in the ultimate appeal or number of participants that engage in a promotion. More winners, yes. More entries? Sadly, no.

Having a small number of guaranteed prizes can actually harm your promotion and objectives. This is due to the fact that the average consumer will perceive that, with only a few prizes to be won, they have very little chance of winning and so won’t bother to take part.

Worse still, they may not even buy the product, or in the frequency you are looking for, which is the whole reasoning for running the promotion in the first place!

The prizes are then only won by those that bother to take part, who perhaps aren’t the target audience that the promotion is aimed at.

I have seen for myself the same pool of participants winning prizes repeatedly during a promotion and in lots of cases, across a variety of promotions. These people are naturally the first to criticise a promotion with longer odds and no guaranteed winners because, frankly, they aren’t winning.

Your average consumer probably wouldn’t have the same view and it’s a shame for any brand to shy away from a Winning Moments promotion because of the view of a minority.

Winning Moments – indeed, all prize promotions with a ‘chance’ element – have their benefits. They allow for more inspiring and exciting promotions, which we all know have a far greater marketing impact, reach and ROI than your average free prize draw. They can help facilitate the creative, fun and fabulous promotions that we love to see on the shelves, by making them affordable and exciting at the same time. I don’t want to see promotional marketing like this disappear, especially when it really doesn’t have to.

In all fairness, though, there are perhaps two sides to this argument. You could argue that if you usually buy a different brand and made a buying choice solely based on the ‘chance’ to win something, do you deserve better odds? Maybe a guaranteed reward? I can certainly see the point to this argument.

Striking a happy medium

Perhaps, then, there has to be a balance with these things, a way to offer a fantastic promotion and keep the odds reasonable; by being just that.

Here, in my humble opinion, is how to go about striking that balance:

• Create a good ratio of packs to wins – 100m packs and a few prizes that ‘could’ be won isn’t a good ratio to go on. Decide what would be reasonable for your customers, what you’d expect to see as a consumer and go with that.
• Guarantee some of the prizes – put aside some of the budget to ensure you have winners.
• Use the other part of the budget to cover additional prizes and have ‘winning opportunities’. This will allow for the budget to go further and the promotion be as exciting as you’d like it to be!
• Mop Up – have a prize draw after the close of the promotion to compensate for late entries and entrants who’ve entered during the promotion and not won.
• Limit the number of winning individuals – so that the same people don’t get all the prizes and it’s fair for everyone.
• Don’t scrimp! The promotional website shouldn’t cost more than the promotional prizes! If it does, you probably need to look at it again.
• Be upfront. If you’re clear about the prizes and the odds, the choice for consumers is easy – buy and take part or don’t. It’s not about misleading anyone, ever!
• Choose your words carefully. Transparency is key; ‘’to be won’’ isn’t the same as ‘’could be won’’. Make sure you’re using language that can’t be misunderstood.

Steve Berry is managing director of fixed fee and promotional risk management company EMIRAT.

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Household towel brand Plenty is collaborating with Disney ahead of the hotly-anticipated launch of the Disney∙Pixar film Incredibles 2, which will be released in UK cinemas on July 13^th.

Manchester-based marketing agency Blue Chip has created an on-pack promotion for Plenty which runs across two million Plenty ‘The Stylish One ‘packs. The activity aims to recruit younger families into the category by offering the chance to instantly win one of 10,000 Incredibles 2 plush toys. Plus there is a prize draw to win an adventure holiday for a family of five to visit Queenstown, New Zealand.

To enter, consumers must visit www.plentywins.co.uk/incredibles2 and provide their full name, contact telephone number and a genuine email address along with the unique code found on the inside of every promotional pack. There are 10,000 Disney∙Pixar Incredibles 2 plush toys to be won instantly online. The toys are around 7 inches tall and represent the main characters of the Incredibles 2 film – Bob Parr (Mr Incredible), Helen Parr (Elastigirl), and their children Dash, Violet and Jack Jack.

Winner selection is via ‘winning moments’.

In addition to the instant win, everyone who enters their unique code online at the microsite, whether they have won a toy or not, will be put into a random prize draw to win a holiday to Queenstown, New Zealand for a family of five.

There is a No Purchase Necessary entry route for Northern Ireland. In the Republic of Ireland, where the law requires that brands operating prize draws where consumers have to buy a product to enter must partner with a charity which has been granted a lottery license, Plenty is working with LauraLynn Children’s Hospice.

The promotion went live this week and will be supported with a full media campaign including TV, social and in-store throughout the summer months.

Jess Harper, Account Director at Blue Chip, says: “This promotion will really inject some fun and excitement into the Household Towel category, not only by adding value with every pack, but also through recruiting younger families into the category and ultimately driving incremental volume.”

The release of the Incredibles 2 film sees Helen (voiced by Holly Hunter) being called on to help bring Supers back, while Bob (voice of Craig T. Nelson) navigates the day-to-day heroics of “normal” life at home. Meanwhile, a new villain hatches a brilliant and dangerous plot that only the Incredibles, working together, can overcome.

Consumers can enter on the microsite until 30^th November 2018. All valid entrants will be submitted into the prize draw for the holiday prize, the winner of which will be drawn on 3^rd December 2018.

The Plenty brand is owned by Essity, formerly part of SCA, the giant Swedish paper products group. Other Essity brands include Cushelle paper towels and the TENA range of personal hygiene products.

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Ribena has launched a major summer on pack promotion, ‘Pick Your Own Gig’, offering customers in the UK and Republic of Ireland an opportunity to win tickets to a Ticketmaster event of their choice – with runner-up prizes of free music downloads and free bottles of Ribena.

The campaign was created by activation agency tbk and is its first project for the brand.

Pick Your Own Gig builds on Ribena’s musically-distinctive ‘Ribenary/Zoobydoo’ advertising, and aims to use events to build even greater relevance amongst its consumer heartland, 16 – 24 year olds. It also references the brand’s historic advertising, which traditionally emphasises the quality and provenance of the blackcurrants picked for making Ribena.

Featured on more than 20 million bottles, the fully integrated campaign is being supported through digital, Out of Home (OOH) and a national sampling campaign.

The promotion runs until August 31st 2018. The daily prize pool includes a £200 Ticketmaster egift card, two £100 Ticketmaster egift cards, five £50 Ticketmaster egift cards, 2,000 £1 Amazon egift codes and 7,993 Free Ribena 500ml Coupons. Winners will be selected through daily ‘winning moments’ prize draws, and not all prizes will necessarily be won.

Consumers in mainland UK have to buy a promotional pack and then go online to www.ribena.co.uk/win/ and enter the last four digits of the pack barcode and their personal details. There is a ‘No Purchase Necessary’ route for entry in Northern Ireland, while in the Republic of Ireland consumers have to answer a skill-based question to enter.

Ribena Marketing Controller Charlotte Flook says: “Ribena is growing up, and events offered us the perfect platform to engage with our young adult audience”.

Andrew Ryan, Head of Brand and Partnerships at tbk, adds: “Taking Ribena on a journey into the events space gave us great opportunity to contemporise the brand while still acknowledging the brand’s tremendous heritage and tradition through the language of ‘pick your own’.”

tbk is an award winning brand activation agency that works with clients including Lucozade Ribena Suntory, Krispy Kreme, TUI, Carphone Warehouse and Wickes.

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Cadbury’s second phase of its partnership with the Premier League kicks off this month with a ‘Win a Legend’ promotion targeting consumers across the country.

Running from January 1st until March 31st 2018, the new promotion offers consumers the chance to win an experience day with a Premier League legend (Thierry Henry, Ian Wright, Jamie Redknapp or Michael Owen) plus thousands of instant win prizes, including pairs of match tickets and Cadbury Premier League merchandise, when they purchase a ‘legendary’ product from the Cadbury Dairy Milk range.

Cadbury says the Legend experience days will be tailored as much as possible to the winners’ wishes but might include one of the Legends visiting a winner’s local football team and supporting it from the sideline (including a half time team talk with players and a meet and greet with players and spectators) the chance to watch a live Premier League match with a Legend (including transport to the match, hospitality tickets with family/friends, opportunities for photos and autographs).

To enter, consumers need to purchase a Cadbury Dairy Milk core single or tablet (Cadbury Dairy Milk, Cadbury Dairy Milk Caramel, Cadbury Dairy Milk Fruit and Nut or Cadbury Dairy Milk Whole Nut), then visit www.CadburyLegends.com and upload a digital photo of the product, clearly showing the Cadbury logo, to the site.

The promotion is open to anyone aged 18 or over living in the UK and the Republic of Ireland (who is not connected to the promoters). It runs from now until March 29th and entrants must have Internet access, an e-mail account and the ability to take and upload a photo.

Tier 1 prizes include four Premier League Legend Experiences (up to the value of £2,000). There is no guarantee which player the experience will be with. Tier 2 prizes include 10 pairs of tickets to a Premier League match for the 2018/19 season. There are 2,000 Tier 3 prizes including Now TV Sky Sports one month passes, scarves, footballs and football bag and water bottle combinations.

Tier 1 winners will be selected in a random draw to take place by April 6th from all entries received throughout the promotional period. Tier 2 and 3 Prizes will be allocated according to random pre-determined ‘winning moments’ across the promotional period.

There is a No Purchase Necessary route for Northern Ireland.

Supported by a £4m full-brand campaign, including Out of Home (OOH) and digital plus POS, the promotion aims to help drive penetration and frequency both in the singles and tablet categories of the confectionery market.

Katrina Davison, brand manager for Cadbury Dairy Milk, says: “Mondelēz International has been a great contributor to incremental growth for chocolate singles, particularly within the first quarter of the year. Last year, our Cadbury Dairy Milk ‘flavours’ campaign in Q1 drove +5% ROS and reached 91% of adults 10.9 times. What’s more, our first and broadest on-pack promotion with the Premier League is driving excellent results – double digit growth in grocery channels and Mondelez is driving penetration gains across the market.”

Davison adds: “We’re eager to push growth even further with our latest promotion. We’ve focused on our core range, which are legends themselves within the confectionery category, and coupled it with strong support so we expect demand to be high.”

The Cadbury brand is owned by Mondelēz International, the global snacking company with 2016 net revenues of approximately $26 billion. Mondelēz is a world leader in biscuits, chocolate, gum, candy and powdered beverages, with global Power Brands including Oreo and belVita biscuits; Cadbury Dairy Milk and Milka chocolate; and Trident gum.

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Energy drink Carabao has launched an on-pack promotion to celebrate its three-year deal with the English Football League, which sees the Thai brand getting naming rights on the EFL Cup, now known as the Carabao Cup.

The company’s colours will adorn the ribbons of the trophy and the match ball as well as Carabao branding featuring in stadia at every match – including at Wembley on ‘Carabao Cup’ final day.

The on-pack promotion offers consumers the chance to win tickets to matches, including the Carabao Cup Final on February 25th 2018, as well as mini footballs and instant cash every 90 minutes.

To enter, consumers must find a code on the ring pull of 330ml promotional cans and enter it on the Carabao competition website.

John Luck, chief marketing officer at brand owner Intercarabao, says: “Our partnership with the EFL is central to supporting the continued growth of the Carabao Energy Drink brand in the UK and internationally.”

Shaun Harvey, EFL Chief Executive, adds: “This is a significant agreement for both parties and I’m delighted to welcome Carabao on board as an official title sponsor of the EFL Cup.”

The promotion runs until February 25th 2018. There are a total of 1,280 pairs of tickets to Carabao Cup 2017/18 games, 800 £10 (or euro equivalent) cash amounts and 2,392 Carabao branded mini footballs. Prizes will be allocated using a ‘winning moments’ system.

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Premium blended Scotch whisky brand Chivas Regal is again collaborating with high-end Danish consumer electronics company Bang & Olufsen to ‘amplify’ off-trade sales.

The on­pack promotion, which is running on bottles of Chivas Regal 12 Year Old, offers consumers the chance to win one of 10 £10,000 vouchers to spend on Bang & Olufsen’s audio and video products.

Additionally, a Bang & Olufsen BeoPlay S3 speaker will be awarded as a prize each week for the 18 weeks of the promotion until the campaign ends.

The promotion is running until June 4^th 2017. To participate, consumers have to buy a bottle with the promotional outer wrapper, go online to www.chivaspromotion.com, enter the unique code found on the sleeve then provide a range of personal information including a valid e-mail address and phone number.

There is a No Purchase Necessary route for Northern Irish consumers.

Prizes will be randomly allocated via a ‘winning moments’ mechanism. Winners will be sent a ‘Special Redemption’ envelope and will have to return this with till receipt (which must predate their entry), proof of age and confirmation of their address.

Magin Trewhella, head of marketing (Dark Spirits) at Pernod Ricard UK, says: “With our shared commitment to creating high­quality, luxury products, we believe that this is the perfect partnership that allows consumers to enjoy a dram in the comfort of their own home with great entertainment to accompany.”

Chivas Regal and Bang & Olufsen ran an almost identical promotion a year ago.

The Chivas Regal brand is owned by Pernod Ricard. The brand sells 4.6 million 9L cases annually in more than 150 countries across the globe.

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Pringles is celebrating its 25th birthday with a promotion offering the chance to win tickets to an exclusive live gig with singer Olly Murs in May. Guests will also be able to meet Murs personally at the Pringles-branded live event, which will take place in London on May 19th.

The savoury snack brand is offering 50 pairs of tickets to the performance, one pair a day for 50 days. No purchase is necessary; UK consumers just have to visit www.partywithpringles.com or www.pringles.com and register their details to enter. Residents of the Republic of Ireland will also need to correctly answer a skill based question before they can enter.

Prize allocation is via ‘winning moments’, and the entrant who is first to submit their details on or after the randomly selected time will win that pair of tickets. Winners will be told instantly if they have won.

The prize also includes accommodation and travel to London.

The competition is being supported with a fully-integrated campaign including shopper, in-store, digital, radio and TV. Promotional videos featuring the singer will appear online on sites including Snapchat, Spotify and Facebook.

Wolf Brand Experience has been working with Pringles on the campaign.

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Pernod Ricard’s Brancott Estate brand is marking its 40th anniversary with a major on-pack promotional campaign in the UK’s off-trade, offering wine drinkers the chance to win a wine cooler cabinet from premium Swiss manufacturer Liebherr.

There are 40 of the cabinets, which have a retail value of £849, on offer and prize winners will also receive a case of six bottles of Brancott Estate wines.

Bottles from the New Zealand winery will feature neck-collars promoting the prize draw; consumers have to go to www.winwithbrancottestate.co.uk and enter the unique code from the back of the neck collar to enter an instant win prize draw. Prizes have been allocated by ‘winning moments’, and the first person to enter a code on or after that time will win.

There is a No Purchase Necessary route for Northern Ireland.

Brancott says its consumer research suggested that wine storage was a key issue for its audience, making Liebherr an ideal partner for the promotion.

The neck-tag is designed to stand out at point of purchase and drive sales through the campaign, which launches at the end of February and will run for four months.

Brancott Estate is the UK’s most popular brand of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc in the off-trade, according to figures from Nielsen for the year to end January 2nd 2016. Sales are currently growing by 13% in both value and volume.

Toni Ingram, head of wines and Champagne at Pernod Ricard UK, says: “It has been 40 years since the first Sauvignon Blanc vines were planted on the Brancott vineyard and this a great time to celebrate Brancott Estate’s fantastic achievements following another year of impressive growth for the brand in the UK. As the UK’s best-selling Sauvignon Blanc and the first winery to plant Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc in 1975, we are confident our on-pack promotion will have great traction with shoppers.”

Promotional bottles will be available from all the UK’s leading multiple retailers, as well as across the impulse sector.

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Kettle Foods has brought back its Taste of Luxury on pack prize promotion on its 40g handy packs of Kettle Chips for the third year running. This time, the grand prize is a two day trip to Monaco for two, including 5 star accommodation, Michelin restaurant meal and a private yacht trip.

Consumers have the chance to “Win a Taste of Luxury” by looking out for the codes that appear on Kettle Chips’ 40g range, including four price-marked packs. They then have to go online to www.kettleluxury.co.uk, register and enter the codes printed from each promotional pack to be in with the chance of winning one of hundreds of prizes. People can enter as often as they want, but each code can only be used once. Residents of the UK, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands have to buy a pack to enter; there is a No Purchase Necessary entry route for residents of the Republic of Ireland.

All the prizes except the Monaco trip are being awarded via ‘winning moments’ – a computer has randomly selected a time and a specific prize, and the first person to enter a valid code at or after this time will win that prize. People can only win one ‘winning moments’ prize.

‘Winning moments’ prizes include two night European city breaks, a luxury shopping tip to Harrods, Champneys Spa breaks, Michelin dining experiences, Ray-Ban sunglasses, Mulberry handbags, a personal chef cooking at the winner’s home for four people, Apple iPad Air 2s, lunch for two at the Ritz, a London Eye experience, cases of champagne and free Kettle Chips.

The ‘winning moments’ promotion is running until 23.59 GMT on August 31^st 2016. The Monaco prize entry closes at 23.59 GMT on November 30^th 2016, and all valid codes loaded on to the promotional website by then will be entered into a draw for the trip.

The website and the online redemption are being handled by digital loyalty and marketing specialists Hive.

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