Using Sweepstakes to Benefit Your Brand

In a recent issue of PR Week, Beth Krietsch offered information how on-line sweepstakes can help build a brand’s personality. Krietsch believes online sweepstakes are a “simple, yet often overlooked, method that PR pros can use to draw attention to a brand or product.”

Sweepstakes can spark media and consumer attention while offering an outlet for product messages in an easy-to-understand way. According to Gregg Alwine, the Co-President of Promotions.com, “companies can implement sweepstakes to encourage consumers to revisit the Web site, exposing them to the message or brand more frequently.”

Sal Cataldi, President of Cataldi PR, adds that sweepstakes “can actually give a personality and a cachet to the brand. The monetary value of the prize isn’t supremely important. It is more imperative for the prize to have some sort of unique appeal to the target consumers.”

For example, Cataldi PR recently managed public relations for a fine-art-focused television network and incorporated an on-line sweepstakes with a unique prize of a painting by infamous art forger, John Myatt. This reward fit well into the sweepstakes program because according to Cataldi, it “tapped into the unique interests of the consumer, and was at least as big of a draw as the monetary prize.”

We found the idea of using sweepstakes to be a creative and interesting way to add a twist to your brand and product outreach and thought we should share it. For more information on how to draw attention to a brand or product with an on-line sweepstake, read Beth Krietsch’s article Sweepstakes bring excitement, personality to brands.