Promotions
“You Could Win a Mercedes Benz” delivers more wow factor and provides more consumer motivation than “You Could Win a $5 Gift Card.”
How a consumer values a prize (the prize-value relationship) has been represented by economists as a theoretical equation:
Simple, Right!?!
Sparing any complicated mathematical interpretations, the consumer prize valuation boils down to this: The attraction to prize offers all has to do with anticipating the possibility of winning and enjoying daydreaming about it regardless of how likely or unlikely it is to receive the prize. Winning is just one aspect — anticipation and fun play a role as well as the social aspect of discussing the dream of winning with friends and family.
Numerous authors documenting the behavior of lottery players have shown that lottery ticket sales nearly always increase along with the size of the jackpot. There is also a phenomenon known as the halo effect, which occurs when lotto ticket sales are unexpectedly high for a period after a jackpot has been won. The publicity following the award of a jackpot is said to influence consumers to buy lotto tickets later despite the fact the prize is no longer available to been won.
While lotteries and promotions can’t be equally compared, investigating peoples motivation to participate in lotteries offers significant insight into how and why big prizes drive overall interest and participation.
The Wow Factor
The evidence surrounding the consumer prize-value relationship gives credence to the notion that big prizes get marketing messages working harder. For example, You Could Win a Mercedes Benz delivers more wow factor and provides more consumer motivation than You Could Win a $5 Gift Card.
A global study released by the Ogilvy Group showed that 30 percent of shoppers around the world wait until they’re actually in the store to decide which brand they’ll buy. Rick Roth, global CEO of OgilvyAction noted, "We all know the point of sale is the ultimate moment of truth for brands today."
Marketers have proven with results that the wow factor associated with big prize promotions can help marketers succeed at generating consumer interest throughout such ultimate moments of truth (whether its in-store point of sale or via a website, direct mailer, or email campaign.) Big prize promotions cut through the clutter and get consumer attention.
Big Prize Promotions
The task for marketers during sluggish economic times (and any time) is to generate more bang for their marketing buck without spending more. Accomplishing that feat simply boils down to smarter marketing — using simple and proven methods that produce good results.
Big prize promotions can help marketers do their jobs well in tough economic times. They increase brand visibility, boost participation and add value for consumers, particularly in the last few feet of the purchase cycle.
Most important, budgets can be leveraged up to 25 times to create bigger prize pools and higher-impact promotions overall. Generally we can obtain insurance for 5-10% of the value of the Big Prize. So your cost to offer a $25,000 new car as an inducement to visit your retail location or event, for example, can cost as low as $1,250!
BIG PRIZES can be built into a variety of promotion formats, and delivered online, offline or integrated:
- Instant Wins (Web Decoder, Traffic Ticket, etc)
- Sweepstakes
- Chance Games
- Collect & Win
- Skill-Based Event (half court basketball shot, hole in one, fishing tournament, more)
Big prize pools are designed around the mathematical odds of a participant achieving a specific feat or skill, such as clicking the correct three of nine areas on a game board, collecting letters to spell a word, kicking a field goal, or redeeming an instant win prize. Based on the odds of accomplishing that feat, a prize budget can be leveraged up to 25 times. This means your $1,000 prize budget can be leveraged up to a prize offer worth over $25,000.
We are experienced in handling all the details of an insured big prize promotion for you – procuring insurance, legal requirements, fulfillment, etc. Please contact us for details.
