As lawyers, we know that creating a successful one takes a lot of work by the business and the legal department, all of which will go to waste if the contest rules are not clear or if the sweepstakes runs afoul of state or federal laws. As consumers, however, most of us pay little attention to what goes on behind the scenes of a contest or sweepstakes. As consumers, I know that many of us have entered such games – filling out a form, dropping a business card in a fishbowl, submitting a photo, clicking on a link on Facebook, getting a “Monopoly” game piece at the supermarket, or just buying a “Lotto” ticket at the gas station. For many companies, these are their most effective forms of advertising. These games can be great promotional devices, generating excitement and interest in your company’s products and services.
If you’ve been in-house long enough and your company has a marketing department, you will at some point probably need to figure out how to deal with contests and sweepstakes. But, I love them a lot less when they show up at my office door wanting to launch a contest.
They are always very engaging and fun, and they have cool giveaways they will share with you.
