The Forgotten Art of Winner Communication
PromoVeritas are proud to handle all aspects of winner communication for numerous global brands. From start to finish we set up dedicated phone lines, text and email responses, send written communications and direct phone calls to let lucky entrants know that they are winners. But why are winner communications such a pivotal part of delivering a promotional prize?
Having a dedicated, confident and articulate team to deliver the good news, and then the prizes to hundreds of winners across the globe can be challenging, but handled correctly and professionally, there’s no stopping the positive outcomes of great customer service in relation to your brand and its reputation.
But winner communication doesn’t just stop once we put the phone down. We stay involved right until the end of the promotion. A recent survey of Compers found that 50% of prizes are sent without branding, meaning that the Promoters are missing a trick in making friends with winners. This is why every prize that PromoVeritas send out, goes with a personally signed letter on brand headed paper. This simple touch encourages winners to engage further with the human side of the brand.
And don’t forget that informing entrants that they have not won this time should be handled with the same consideration – it is all about creating connections with your brand. As our MD always says “Start with the end in mind” – so whether your objective is to create positive connections with your brand or simply promote sales, treating all entrants with the utmost care, whilst reflecting your brand’s personality and sense of enthusiasm for the promotion is essential.
Doing it with flair – different styles for different promotions
O2
For O2 Priority a recorded phone line was installed to capture winner communications to use for marketing and reaffirm that despite the mass scale of their promotions, there are genuine winners being delighted by our phone calls every day. This aspect encourages further engagement from the public – here’s a clip of Jess from the PromoVeritas Operations Team making dreams come true:
https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/youtube.com/watch?v=whyEfb6qITE
Golden Frubes
Winners of 10 gold frubes hidden inside special packs called a dedicated claim-line where a team informed them of their prize of a £1,000 dream day out for their family and asked them to go and decide what they would like to do. Once they had made their minds up, the team set about organising the prize days which included theme park visits, football stadium tours and a theatre and dinner trip in London – all done with the infectiously fun spirit of Frubes.
Foot Locker
For Foot Locker’s regular multi-country Adidas Yeezy campaigns it is essential to let winners know immediately that they can go and buy a pair of the popular limited-edition footwear from a specific store within 24hrs. A dedicated team sends out personalised email communications and texts that capture the spirit of the promotion whilst delivering good news effectively.
Cadbury Creme Egg
The annual Cadbury Creme Egg campaign is an opportunity to incentivise retailers to display the eggs and promotional POS prominently during the busy run-up to Easter. Winning eggs contain a golden ticket announcing cash prizes of £1,000 of pounds for customers and the same amount will then be awarded to the retailer where the egg was purchased. A dedicated Cadbury phone line informs the retailer of their lucky win and then manages the prize process carefully.
What mechanics are winner communications needed for:
- Instant Wins – For Golden Ticket / Willy Wonka style promotions winners will find a winning message inserted into the pack or product after purchase and will need to call a specialised promotional phone number in order to redeem.
- Prize Draws – When selecting winners, initial direct messages or emails need to be sent in order for the winner to know that they have been selected.
- Competitions – Whether judging photos, recipes or designs don’t forget to handle all winner communications with genuine care – most entrants have spent a lot of time on their entry and should be informed if they have won or not with the greatest respect!