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5 Things to Consider About Promoting Around Sporting Events

Brands and retailers might shy away from running promotions around licensed events such as the Olympics or World Cup. While these events' owners do protect their licensing rights vigorously, a company's promotion can still take advantage of an event as long as it doesn't infringe on any licensed material. Want to run such a promotion? Here are five important things to consider:

Business owners must not let their own likes and loyalties drive their sponsorship decisions. Many 22-year-old, female customers may not share a business owner's love of motor sports. Check the demographics and make sure the sporting event fits the target customer. Not sure how? Ask your local media rep.
Skill-based, on-field promotions are the first thing most people think of when tying into a sporting event. Other ideas work too. Thinking creatively can build an engaging promotion that is fun for the consumer while driving traffic. An example: have fans take a selfie at the game with the scoreboard in the background, and text the photo for the chance to instantly win the Grand Prize and other guaranteed prizes. All entrants will receive a store coupon via return text good immediately after the game. That drives traffic and sales. Mobile promotions are convenient for the consumer and can create the behavior you want to encourage.
Contest sponsors sometimes aren't sure what words they can legally use. This is trickiest with college sports. For example, describing the University of Texas as simply "Texas" is fine. Using "The Texas Longhorns", "University of Texas" or "UT" is not. For the pro football season, it's pretty easy: City names are ok, player names are ok, and game results and stats are public record. Using video and photos you don't have the broadcast rights to is never ok. Unsure? Spend $1000-$1500 in advance for a legal opinion on licensing rights to avoid paying tens of thousands later.
Every promotion needs clear, concise rules that flow from the design. Rules include how the promotion works, the promotion dates, who is eligible, how to win, the prizes and their retail values, odds of winning, and how to claim the prize.
Sports fans live on social media. Make sure to use it alongside traditional media to advertise your promotion. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others spread the word about your sports promotion at little or no cost. If you are a team sponsor, ask the team to post it on their website and send an email blast to their fan groups. Fan groups are a great source of no-cost viral marketing.

Promotions are a great way to spotlight your product or business. Sporting events allow you to join in consumers' interest and enthusiasm. Make sure to cover all your bases so your promotion will be a home run!

Julie Davis is the Research & Development/Sr. Accounts Manager for SCA Promotions of Dallas, Texas. With 30 years of experience in advertising and promotions, she is a promotions consultant and speaker working with clients on local, regional and national programs. SCA Promotions is one of the world's largest prize promotion companies, creating and underwriting results driven B2C and B2B promotions.

The 5 Most Common Mistakes with Sweepstakes and Contest Rules

Contests and sweepstakes are great tools to engage an audience, and it can be an easy sell to business owners and executives on their effectiveness. However, there are many steps that go into ensuring your contest has what it needs to really succeed, before it is launched. One of the most vital parts is determining the contest rules, and of course, that’s where many marketers and contest administrators fail.

1. Not making any rules

Novices can come up with many rationalizations to go without any rules for a contest. Just to name a few:

The prize is too small
The contest is straightforward
The promotion period is short
The launch date is too soon

The bottom line, though, is that not providing rules for a contest is always wrong. The audience you want to participate needs clear instructions, and if they decide to enter, they want to be sure that they’re doing it correctly. And, your company needs to be legally protected. It’s up to you to provide that information. Here are a few areas to consider when creating your rules:

Prizes available and odds of winning
Age and location eligibility
How entries will be accepted
Possible disqualifications of entries
Location eligibility
Selection process
Relatives or employee entries

2. Typos and grammar

Noticeable grammar and spelling errors are quick ways to establish negative associations with your brand in any situation. If you personally create the outline and content for the sweepstakes or contest, have multiple people read it over for you. After spending so much time and effort scanning the content, fresh eyes are needed to pick up on what you might have missed. Proofreaders are valuable to ensure that you’re not sending out the wrong message, which leads to our next point.

3. Confusing language

Your campaign should not be overly complicated if you want people to enter successfully. Your proofreader(s) also have the responsibility to make sure that the directions are clear, concise and simple. If you’re creating a high-stakes sweepstakes or a contest with a large prize amount, you’ll typically need to involve a legal team to create official and abbreviated rules that comply with state and federal laws. Always make sure you’re answering at least the 5 W’s and an H.

Who can enter?
What exactly do you want your entrants to do?
When should they do it?
Where can they go for more information?
Why should they?
How can they enter?

4. Copying or reusing rules from past contests

No matter how many times you’ve duplicated a contest, copying or reusing the rules is a serious misstep. Just because your campaign hasn’t changed, that doesn’t mean the people and outside platforms it involves have also stayed the same. Many brands choose to run campaigns on Facebook, and it has its own guidelines for how promotions (eg. a contest or sweepstakes) can run. Changes on Facebook happen frequently and brands have to follow suit. The demographic and geographic definitions of your contest may change as your business shifts or refocuses its marketing efforts, as well. It’s important to remember that these and other conditions can and do change. So never assume that copying will do the trick, and never simply copy from a competitor or unrelated business’s promotion. That could present entirely more difficult problems.

5. Mixing up the definitions of a contest and sweepstakes

In the public eyes, a contest and a sweepstakes are the same thing, but for marketers there are clear differences. A contest is a competition where entrants perform a task (submit a photo, follow a social account, share content, etc.) and are subsequently judged based on the results of that action. A sweepstakes is a way for sponsors or brands to give away prizes based on luck of the draw. The entrant typically enters with only their name and contact information. Both are very popular, but it’s vital that the rules establish the difference.

Want more information on how to make an eye-catching contest and sweepstakes? SCA Promotions is here to help! Reach out to us, toll-free at 1-888-860-8805. Also, read The 5 Basic Rules to Any Promotion.

How to Plan Your Exhibit Booth Location

Ask anyone who has exhibited at a tradeshow and they’ll tell you there’s more to it than placing booths in neat rows. For exhibitors, location matters. And, many times, location placement is selected behind-the-scenes by the show organizers. However, there are various strategies exhibitors can implement to ensure their location is perfect for traffic and engagement.

High Traffic – The Good & Bad

What’s great about high traffic areas? You get more eyes on your booth. The bad? A lot of that traffic is just trying to get past the traffic. It’s common to think that the best spots in a tradeshow are down the center aisle where most of the traffic will funnel in and out of. If you’re interested in simply handing out a lot of cards and materials, then be prepared to do just that. The center aisle may get the most traffic, but that also means you’ll have difficulty holding meaningful conversations. You don’t want to miss out on qualified clients because they can’t reach your booth or because the flow of the crowd causes them to miss you entirely.

Look for Opportunities

Plan Your Exhibit Booth

Prime booth location is usually determined by seniority, space needed and, of course, money. If you end up in an undesirable location, don’t start to panic. Cancellations by other exhibitors can give you an exit strategy out of a bad spot. Follow-up with your event organizers about cancellations and cross reference new spots with your current one to evaluate whether it’s truly the best move.

Look for spaces surrounded by multiple traffic avenues. This means that there are more than two ways for traffic to flow to and from your booth, so you don’t have an area that is congested. You should familiarize yourself with entrance and exit points, bathrooms, food courts and lounge areas. Remember, attendees will take the time to travel the floor, but you shouldn’t rely on a directory to send traffic your way. What you ultimately need is a way to command your audience’s attention – a solution that connects with their needs and interests.

Stand Out

Regardless of the size or location of your booth, it should make a statement. What is your company about? What do you offer? Why should people stop? These are questions, also known as unique selling propositions (USPs), you should answer in your exhibit planning phase. The answers present the foundation for any creative element you want to employ.

Interactive event promotions are crowd favorites and can be customized to fit your booth space. Table tops and floor space can all be transformed to a game arena for attendees to play games with head-turning prizes ranging from a Ferrari 360 Spider to cash or destination trips.

Tired of having tradeshow conferences pass you by without quality leads and sales? Transform your booth space with an interactive element from SCA Promotions. Contact us today and let us help you plan, execute and evaluate your next tradeshow strategy.

November Promotional Marketing News Round-Up

With the year coming to a close, marketers are already planning for 2014. This is a compilation of some of the most interesting headlines from November that marketers should be paying attention to. From future predictions to promotional marketing mistakes, last month produced a variety of learning opportunities to help your next campaign turn into a success.

SCA Promotions Releases Promotion Times 2013

SCA Promotions wrapped up projects with Haggar, the Georgia Lottery, and Marinela among others in November. The individual divisions of SCA combined to distribute considerable amounts of prize money and drive considerable engagement in game show style contests, social media sweepstakes, and hole-in-one games.

Make Your Incentives the Icing on the Cake

Coupons and discounts are not enough to drive the interaction you want from customers. They’re looking for something more enticing. With more shoppers turning to their mobile devices, promotions need to be adaptable to continue a seamless shopping experience, as well. As you develop your promotional strategies, think about how you can add personalized options, build loyalty, and implement social coupons.

Experiential Marketing: How can it Grow Your Business?

What is a consumer experience? The answer to this question goes beyond a consumer watching a video or looking at an ad in a magazine. It’s an active connection with a company or brand. Marketers use experiential marketing at tradeshows, festivals, pop-up shops, traveling shows, and more. SCA Promotions has helped grow businesses and produce results through experiential marketing promotions from development to implementation to review. As the market has evolved, so have our strategies and technical platforms to provide engaging and dynamic solutions.

The Future of Marketing: 4 Things You Need to Know

SCA Promotions knows how to play the odds, but accurately predicting the future is a stretch beyond our capabilities. However, it’s always interesting to read how today’s trends will impact next year’s marketing strategies. Geoffrey James from INC.com provides his insight on four main areas that will change in 2014.

Gillette Gets Set for the World’s Largest Shave Lesson

Movember and Gillette are a match made in partnership heaven. To raise awareness for men’s health, Gillette held an event to style and cut the facial hair of more than 380 men in a Guinness World Record attempt. In the U.S., the brands decided to shave off the beards of a few Red Sox players and then put the facial hair up for auction. Designated hitter David Ortiz’s whiskers sold for more than $10,000!

The Joy of Six: When Sports Promotions Go Wrong

Not every good idea for a promotion turns into a perfectly executed campaign. In fact, some of the biggest mistakes have happened with big brand names partnering with sports teams. Russell Jackson of The Guardian outlines six of the worst promotional ideas and the disastrous results.

Check back with SCA Promotions for upcoming news! You can also contact us directly at 1-888-860-8805.

How to Match a Promotion to the Right Basketball Team

What is the purpose of timeouts and halftime? To give the players and officials a break from running up and down the court, right? Fans want the most out of their experience at sporting events, and breaks in play disrupt that experience. Promotions are a great way for teams, brands, or companies to fill in that gap with engaging contests that keep energy levels high and eyes focused on their brand.

Whenever you’re designing a promotion, you always want to tailor it to the event and audience as much as possible. We created five categories that describe the offensive ability of basketball teams and matched them with on-court promotions that will launch your brand or company.

High-Powered

Teams in this category are exciting to watch and will keep fans on the edge of their seats. From high-flying dunks to fast breaks to buzzer beaters – these teams reel in fans by the thousands every season.

You can match the intensity of these teams with a promotion that puts it all on the line: a single or timed sequence half-court shot. This is a fan favorite! During the halftime of a Miami game last season, fan Michael Drysch drained a shot worth $150,000 and the arena (and social media) exploded immediately and for weeks following the game!

Dynamic and Creative

These types of teams take the basics to a whole new level. The players have no problem throwing no-look passes and shooting from anywhere on the court. These teams do it all offensively.

Follow the energy of these teams with a Shot Sequence promotion. The fan must make a lay-up, free throw, top-of-the-key and half-court shot within a given amount of time. You choose whether the contest is timed or untimed.

Veterans

The players on this team have been in the league long enough to see a little bit of everything. They’ve had plenty of time to perfect their skills and be called ‘clutch’ when the game is coming down to the wire. Some players have a signature move that fans expect to see each game.

That’s why we paired the veterans with the classic Around the World promotion. The selected fan is given five places around the three-point line to shoot from. The contestant wins if he or she makes all five. For the ultimate fan experience, veteran players stand at each of the five places coaching and cheering on the fan.

High Scoring

Not only do teams in this category keep the game interesting, they accumulate points quickly, performing like a well-oiled machine. Players get on a shooting streak that makes the crowd noise deafening for the visiting team. They make shooting from anywhere on the court as easy as a layup.

The Pick a Spot promotion is the best match for these teams. The fan must make two shots in the same spot on both sides of the court. Two made baskets equals a grand prize winner.

From Beyond the Arc

Winning teams have at least one beyond the arc shooter within their ranks. When these players shoot from the three point line, you’re looking for the swish of the net and the three fingers in the air signal from the official. They’re just that good.

You can give your fans the opportunity to earn more money with each shot from long range with a timed 3-Point Shootout promotion. The contestant will have five stations evenly positioned along the three-point line. For every shot made, the prize money earned is compounded at the rate of your choosing. (1^st - $100, 2^nd - $500, 3^rd – $1,500 etc.) How much the fan wins depends on how fast he or she can sink the basket and move onto the next station.

No matter if the contestant wins or loses, your brand or team will still be the center of attention during the game. SCA Promotions offers these promotions and more, as well as promotional risk coverage, allowing you to offer large prizes without financial risk. Contact us at 1-888-860-8805 or send us an email at connect@scapromo.com to learn more.