You have got to be in it to win it!

Have you come across a competition in a newspaper or magazine and thought to yourself ‘how many people really enter these things?’ Well, you might be surprised to learn that the answer is in often many thousands.

Running a competition and giveaway programme as part of a new product launch or promotional offer can be a great way to secure valuable page space in target media (whether in print, online or even TV and radio) for a much smaller cost than the display advertising equivalent. Furthermore, it can also be possible to purchase, or in some instances receive free of charge, a list of entrants (including email addresses) of those who have opted-in to receiving third party information.

MCC International recently managed a campaign across the gadget magazines and woman’s lifestyle publications on behalf of one of its software clients and the response has been phenomenal.

An attractive prize bundle of a laptop, digital camera, MP3 player, USB stick and some software provided to be to very enticing indeed for many readers and Stuff magazine alone generated more than 8,000 email entries. Meanwhile, Take A Break magazine has caused the desks at Winchester House to be swamped with almost 4,000 postcards, arriving in all shapes and sizes and ranging from old birthday cards, cut out cereal packets, to a home made teddy bear! And the competition still has a few days left to run.

I has certainly made for an interesting, varied and full mail bag every morning.