Sweepstakes prizes are a great way to get people excited about your contest. Who doesn’t love the chance to win something amazing? But what should you give away as a prize?

If you’re looking for something unique and exciting, why not consider giving away experiences instead of items? In this article, we will discuss how to give away experience prizes for your sweepstakes.

Why Give Experiences as Sweepstakes Prizes?

A well-positioned experience prize is almost certain to gain media attention, be referred to by other businesses online, and almost be highlighted on social media by the winner(s). It also allows you to build content for your own marketing channels that can be utilized during, after, and in future contests or sweepstakes.

Check out this example by MarketStreet Lynnfield on Instagram: 

Tips on How to Give Away Experience Prizes

If you are thinking of giving a gift experience as the prize for your next giveaway, here are some tips to get the most out of it:

Make Sure that Your Sweepstakes is Legal

This is a critical moment. Experience rewards differ greatly from physical products and require specific sweepstakes or contest rules as well as more intensive monitoring. Make a note of everything that’s included in the promotion so there are no legal ramifications later on.

Remember that participants should not be required to pay anything to get an entry. 

Also Read: 7 Sweepstakes Laws for Brands

Make It a Sweepstakes Prize for Two (Or More) 

When you are giving away a dinner or a holiday experience, it is essential to allow the winner to bring at least one other person with them. Individuals are more likely to share it with their friends and relatives if they are doing it with someone else. Sharing joy is an excellent way of demonstrating your appreciation for what others do for you.

Give Participants Swag

When rewarding a winner with an experience, offer them company swag. This might be a t-shirt, a cap, or anything as simple as a lanyard that will become visible throughout any photographs or videos taken during the event.

Be Social Media Ready

You would be shocked at how many businesses overlook the opportunity to leverage an experience giveaway. Send a photographer with the winner. Take videos, photographs, and comments during the event or the prize awarding ceremony. Or just as the winner to share photos of the experience with you. 

Take advantage of different content forms and repurpose it to all channels you have a presence on. Think Pinterest, TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, email list, SMS subs, and even your website’s hero section.

Make sure that all the legal aspects of content usage and distribution rights are covered!

Media Attention Might Be Needed

A premium experience prize may be an excellent platform for your business to get in the news. Prepare your press contacts ahead of time and give them information about the event as it starts to take place. 

Experience Prizes Examples

What kinds of events might you give as a contest or sweepstakes prize to get all the advantages outlined above? Here are some suggestions for you.

Events

Events can be a fantastic method for people to get a feel for a city’s nightlife or distinct culture. It might be a concert, traveling circus, sporting event, musical theater, or virtual reality escape room, among other things.

Food & Wine

If you’re looking for something a little more high-end, you could also consider giving away gift cards to some of the best restaurants in town. Who wouldn’t love a free meal at a fancy restaurant?

Eating out is a popular activity among friends and couples, and it may make for a memorable experience if your brand is linked to the hospitality sector. Consider giving dinner certificates, romantic meals, food sampling, or even high tea relaxation as part of your marketing mix. Just keep in mind that alcohol can not be awarded as a prize.

Classes

Learning a new skill with a buddy, family member, or group might create an epic tale that your customers will remember for years. Cooking lessons, surf classes, and even flying lessons may be fascinating to your target audience.

Always keep in mind your target audience so you can pick a prize that is appealing to them and can rake in more qualified entries for your business!

Also read: Most Popular Sweepstakes Prizes: What to Giveaway

Conclusion

A well-positioned experience prize is highly likely to receive media attention, be referred to by other businesses online, and almost certainly be highlighted on social media by the winner(s).

However, experience prizes differ significantly from physical items and need distinct contest or sweepstakes regulations, sponsor protection, and monitoring. We recommend that you hire a sweepstakes administrator like Sweeppea to assist you with running a legally compliant and successful promotion.

Need help with sweepstakes or contest management? Call 305-505-5393 or email us with your questions.

The post Sweepstakes Prizes: How to Give Away Experience Prizes appeared first on Sweeppea Blog.

We keep a close watch on the top sweepstakes prizes brands are giving away in sweepstakes and contests. If you need help finding the perfect sweepstakes prize for your next sweepstakes, we’ve got you covered.

As we’re approaching the end of 2021, we take a look at all of the trends that prevailed in sweepstakes prizes this year. The most popular sweepstakes prizes come in many different varieties, ranging from large cash prizes to branded merch prize packs for instant win sweepstakes.

Choosing the right sweepstakes prize for your sweepstakes requires that you focus on what’s working best for brands now. So, we’ve researched trends, gathered sweepstakes campaign insights, and used our experience to bring you the top sweepstakes prizes for 2021:

Large Cash Prizes

Large cash prizes are always a popular sweepstakes prize for brands. However, this year giving away huge cash prizes became a trend as government and healthcare-related businesses rolled out their COVID-19 vaccine sweepstakes in order to encourage people to get vaccinated.

These sweepstakes prizes often topped $1 million in order to attract as much attention as possible to the promotions and trigger a sales boost from excited sweepstakes entrants turned customers.

In addition, some promotions offered extra chances to win even more cash on top of the original sweepstakes prize with drawing games.

Car Sweepstakes Prizes

The inventory issues and price spikes for vehicles during the pandemic have made cars a hot commodity this year. Buying a car right now is not only a difficult process, but it’s also expensive. As a result, car sweepstakes prizes attracted a lot of attention this year for brands as consumers looked to sweepstakes to try for a chance to win a car for free.

For a car sweepstakes, you’ll want to give away the latest models of cars, or older but modified cars or choose classic cars that appeal to car collectors. Some brands are also giving away other vehicles, such as motorcycles and ATVs as sweepstakes prizes.

As to why car sweepstakes are so popular, who wouldn’t want to win a car for free?

Car sweepstakes not only attract attention and can trigger a sales boost, they have also brought new audiences to brands thanks to the massive social media engagement that they create as entrants share the promotion with their friends.

Outdoor Adventure Sweepstakes Prizes

Camping gear, backyard BBQ party, and tailgating sweepstakes prize packs have topped the list of trending sweepstakes prizes in 2021 as people returned to having gatherings and enjoying sports events. Outdoors sweepstakes prizes attract a lot of attention from entrants because they are a sweepstakes prize that the entrants can enjoy with friends and family safely amid the pandemic.

Even better? Outdoor and adventure sweepstakes prizes contain items that are reusable, such as canopies, tents, grills, and backpacks, so your sweepstakes winners can enjoy them over and over again while keeping your brand in mind!

Merch Sweepstakes Prize Pack

Merch sweepstakes prizes are excellent for product launches and raising brand awareness. They have been popular this year with brands that run recurring instant win sweepstakes. They are also easy to deliver (just ship to the sweepstakes winner via mail) and require far fewer winner eligibility verification steps than most other large sweepstakes prizes. Merch sweepstakes are also a great way to thank customers for their loyalty.

The merch sweepstakes prizes that produced the best results for brands this year are the ones that featured custom merch that sweepstakes winners can show off on social media. These are targeted sweepstakes prizes that appeal directly to a brand’s audience and are also less likely to attract sweepers and non-fans to the promotion.

Also Read: Money or Merch: Which Is the Better Sweepstakes Prize?

Next Steps

Selecting a sweepstakes prize for your promotion is only the first step when it comes to ensuring that you can deliver the prize. Other steps include:

• Obtaining prize indemnity insurance for large cash prizes
• Registration and bonding (if the promotion is available to residents of FL and NY states and Prizes exceed $5,000 in value)
• Requiring sweepstakes winners to sign an affidavit of eligibility/publicity release

The exact steps will depend on the sweepstakes laws that apply to your promotion. The requirements and rules for sweepstakes entrants and winners must be included in your official rules.

To ensure that you’ve covered everything, we recommend that you request a sweepstakes official rules review from Sweeppea before your sweepstakes goes live.

Need help with sweepstakes or contest management? Call 305-505-5393 or email us with your questions.

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Choosing a sweepstakes prize can be tricky and picking the right option is critical to maximizing your sweepstakes results. If you’re giving away money or merch as a sweepstakes prize, there are a few things you need to consider first.

Here is how to decide whether money or merch is the better sweepstakes prize.

Why Would You Give Away Money?

1. Fast Results

If you need to create a fast buzz for your brand, offering money as a sweepstakes prize can help you go viral quickly. Everyone wants to win free money and you’ll have no shortage of participants.

2. You Want to Attract a Lot of Attention

Cash sweepstakes always attract entrants. However, you may find that the entrants may not be from the target audience that you’re trying to reach or interested in your company at all.

Also Read: How Do Fans Find Your Text Sweepstakes?

Cash Sweepstakes Tips

Before you launch your cash sweepstakes, you should know that money only works as a sweepstakes prize if you follow these guidelines:

• Large cash prizes attract more entrants. The sum of money that you give away must be large enough that it’s worth the effort for entrants to go through the signup process for your sweepstakes.
• People must trust your brand. Entrants need to trust that your brand will actually give away the money prize and that the sweepstakes isn’t a scam.
• Registration and bonding. A sweepstakes that offer a money prize of over $5,000 will also need to be registered and bonded in Florida, New York and Rhode Island. This may mean additional setup time and costs to ensure your sweepstakes follows all applicable state and local laws.

Bottom Line: Cash sweepstakes attract just about anyone from customers to sweepers. If you are giving away cash as a sweepstakes, request a sweepstakes review from a sweepstakes company. Do this before you launch your sweepstakes to ensure that it’s legal.

Also Read: Which States Require Sweepstakes Registration and Bonding?

Why Would You Give Away Merch or Your Own Products?

1. Brand Awareness

You’ve just launched a new product or service and you want to celebrate with a sweepstakes. By giving away merch as a sweepstakes prize, you can attract existing customers and people who are interested in learning more about your brand.

Once you have their attention, you can then use the sweepstakes to introduce them to your new product or service and explain to them why they should buy.

2. Extend the Value of Your Brand

When sweepstakes winners wear your merchandise, it shows others that they endorse your brand and sparks conversations within their social circles. This gives you the word-of-mouth exposure that your brand needs to reach new audiences.

3. Extra Revenue

While you are required to give away the merch for free if you use it as a sweepstakes prize, what about non-winners? In fact, those sweepstakes entrants that did not win may still want to buy your merch.

By using merch or products as a sweepstakes prize, you can spread the word about your branded merch line with the goal of ultimately using it as a new source of revenue.

Win Merch Sweepstakes Tips

• Give away custom merch. With custom merch, sweepstakes winners can show their passion and support for your brand in their daily lives. Giving away custom merch in a sweepstakes is a great way to create brand awareness well after the sweepstakes has ended.
• Run multiple giveaways. Unlike cash, custom merch is relatively inexpensive to create. As a result, you can host multiple giveaways throughout the year to create a steady stream of traffic and leads from sweepstakes.

Also Read: How Often Should You Run a Sweepstakes or Contest?

Bottom Line: Merch as a sweepstakes prize helps promote your brand and will attract more participants from your target audience.

Need help with sweepstakes or contest management? Call 305-505-5393 or email us with your questions.

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Are you wondering how to do a sweepstakes for a non-profit organization and make it a success? Creating a non-profit sweepstakes is a great way to raise awareness about your non-profit organization and attract donations.

While creating a sweepstakes for a non-profit organization might seem difficult, there actually isn’t much difference between a non-profit sweepstakes and a traditional sweepstakes. Follow these steps to learn how to do a sweepstakes for a non-profit organization, step-by-step, using our sweepstakes company, Sweeppea.

1. Plan Your Non-profit Sweepstakes

Before creating a non-profit sweepstakes, you need to make a plan. Choose a primary goal for your sweepstakes campaign and make sure that your campaign is designed to achieve that goal.

For example, you might decide to do a non-profit sweepstakes to…

• Attract donations
• Attract sponsors
• Raise awareness about a specific cause
• Brand awareness for the organization

Once the plan for your sweepstakes is set, running a successful sweepstakes for a non-profit will be much easier.

2. Choose a Sweepstakes Prize

For a non-profit sweepstakes, you should be sure to pick a good prize that will attract a lot of entrants. Some of the most popular sweepstakes prizes for non-profit organizations are:

• Car
• Cash
• Travel

Choosing the right prize is an important part of how to run a successful non-profit sweepstakes.

3. Sweepstakes Compliance for Non-profits

The next step of running a successful non-profit sweepstakes is to make sure that you have all of the necessary legal concerns covered. These are namely:

• Free method of entry. Every sweepstakes must offer a free method of entry. You can award entries based on donations but there must be a way to enter without donating to ensure legal compliance.
• Official rules. These are the written rules that govern your non-profit sweepstakes promotion.
• Registration and bonding. Certain states require you to register and bond your sweepstakes, if the prize is worth more than $5,000.

Can You Require Entrants to Make a Donation in Order to Enter?

A big question that many non-profit organizations have is that they want to know if they can require entrants to make a donation in order to answer the sweepstakes. The short answer is ‘yes’. However, your non-profit sweepstakes must also comply with Equal Dignity Laws, namely that entrants will receive the same number of entries regardless of whether they enter for free or by making a donation.

In other words, ALL methods of entry provide THE SAME CHANCE of winning. No method of entry gives the entrant more entries than the others.

Need help with sweepstakes or contest management? Call 305-505-5393 or email us with your questions.

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There’s a lot to love about sweepstakes and contests. Not only do they attract loyal fans to your brand, they also bring in leads and sales. But what about entrants? How do sweepstakes and contests make them feel?

Here are the top things that entrants love about sweepstakes and contests.

The Build Up

The best sweepstakes campaigns keep entrants fully engaged from start to finish. From the viral advertising that attracts people to enter to the announcement of the winner, entrants never know what’s going to happen next.

Even if an entrant doesn’t win the grand prize, the best sweepstakes campaigns surprise non-winners with something special, such as a deal or discount just for participating.

Gives People Something Cool to Share

It’s actually quite rare for someone to enter a sweepstakes or contest and not share it with their friends and family members. Sometimes this is done because the entrants can gain additional sweepstakes entries by sharing the campaign.

On the other hand, as a sweepstakes company we have learned that people also like sweepstakes and contests because it gives them something cool to share online. Plus, they can enter from virtually anywhere (SMS, web, social media) so sweepstakes are also simple and convenient to share in the moment.

Pro Tip: If you want to increase the shareability of your sweepstakes campaign, make sure that you choose sweepstakes prizes that will really wow your audience.

Customers Get a Chance to Talk to You Directly

Brands always ask customers to leave feedback and reviews. However, many don’t because it’s either too time-consuming for them to do or they don’t feel that it would really make a difference other way.

However, with a sweepstakes or contest, your customers have a direct access line to you. They want to be able to share ideas for new features or changes to your products and services.

If you make someone available on social media to manage incoming messages and questions about your sweepstakes promotion, you just may find that there are at least a few customer concerns amid the sea of entrants that should be addressed.

The Prize

Last, but not least, the prize is one of the top things that entrants love about sweepstakes and contests. Whether the prize is life-altering like a $100,000 check or a limited edition action figure from their favorite movie, the prize is always meaningful to winners and non-winners alike.

It’s Fun

At the end of the day, sweepstakes and contests are all about having fun! Whether entrants love watching the sweepstakes promotion in its entirety as it unfolds or simply want to see if they’ve won a prize or not, keeping them entertained all the way is a surefire way to attract the audience that you want to target.

Need help with sweepstakes or contest management? Call 305-505-5393 or email us with your questions.

The post Here’s What Entrants Love About Sweepstakes and Contests appeared first on Sweeppea Blog.

A non-profit sweepstakes is a sweepstakes in which the winner selects a charity to give the sweepstakes prize to. However, there are specific rules that you need to follow in order to ensure that your promotion is considered as a legal sweepstakes and not an illegal lottery or raffle.

Here is what you should know about using a donation as a sweepstakes prize.

List All Eligible Charities in Your Sweepstakes Official Rules

Prior to the start of your non-profit sweepstakes, you are required to list all of the eligible charities in your sweepstakes rules that you would be willing to donate the sweepstakes prize to. Once the sweepstakes ends, the sweepstakes winner will be required to select one of these charities to give the sweepstakes prize to.

Given that the charities are listed in the official rules, the charities may not be changed once the promotion begins. If there is a change to the charities, this is considered as a change to your official rules, which we strongly recommend against doing.

The Sweepstakes Prize Must Be Given Away

Every sweepstakes winner has a choice as to who they want to give the sweepstakes prize to. Sometimes winners choose to donate their sweepstakes prize to a certain charity that aligns with their personal beliefs. Regardless of the charity that is selected, one of the charities mentioned in the sweepstakes official rules will need to receive the sweepstakes prize.

The winner is not permitted to change the charity to one that is not listed in the official rules. Nor is the winner permitted to keep the sweepstakes prize. Not following the official rules during prize delivery is considered as a breach of the “sweepstakes agreement” between you and the sweepstakes entrants and could potentially open your promotion up to legal concerns.

Not Contingent on Sales or Donations

You may be tempted to entice people to enter your non-profit sweepstakes by stating that they can improve their odds of winning by donating or buying a product or service. By doing so, your promotion will be considered as an illegal lottery.

As with all other types of legal sweepstakes, you are required by law to include a “NO PURCHASE NECESSARY” (in this case, “no purchase or donation necessary”) clause in your non-profit sweepstakes official rules.

Final Tips

Yes, you can have your sweepstakes prize be a donation. However, you need to clearly define in your sweepstakes rules the charity that the sweepstakes prize will go to. Then just make sure to follow the official rules during your promotion to ensure your non-profit sweepstakes is legal and compliant with sweepstakes laws. If you’re not sure about what to include in non-profit official rules, contact us for a Sweeppea official rules review before your promotion goes live.

Need help with sweepstakes or contest management? Call 305-505-5393 or email us with your questions.

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After a year of stay at home orders and lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic Americans are looking to cure their cabin fever by getting out to travel. In response, brands are starting to reintroduce the travel sweepstakes prize and hungry consumers are eager to win!

If you’re planning to offer a vacation as your sweepstakes prize, you may have wondered if it’s okay for you to skip the airfare and just cover the cost of the vacation stay. Here what you should know about vacation sweepstakes prize packages with airfare included to help you decide what’s best for your campaign.

Skip Paying for Airfare With a Staycation Prize

One major reason that we see brands asking about whether sweepstakes law allows for them to skip paying for sweepstakes vacation airfare is because staycations are becoming more popular. Not only are staycation sweepstakes prizes cheaper for companies to fulfill, companies also won’t face the same challenges as they might when fulfilling traditional vacations due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.

Staycation prizes are also being offered so that there is a lower chance that winners will reject the prize due to unavailability or unwillingness to travel long distances.

Be Upfront About Airfare Not Included

While some brands are sticking to staycations for now, other companies are attempting to get back to normal by reintroducing traditional vacation prizes. Regardless of the destination, your sweepstakes rules must clearly state “Airfare NOT Included” in the official rules if you don’t want to cover the cost.

If the prize will be fulfilled in the winner’s state of residence, where it’s assumed that airfare would not be necessary for prize delivery, you should make it clear in your sweepstakes rules that the winner will be responsible for all travel expenses incurred (e.g. gas, car rentals).

Why Should You Exclude Airfare From a Sweepstakes Prize?

If you aren’t sure whether to cover the airfare as part of your sweepstakes prize, there are several pros and cons to consider. First, the sweepstakes winner will naturally be more satisfied if they don’t have to spend any money in order to take delivery of the travel prize.

That said, the airline industry is currently facing significant challenges as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the possibility of requiring vaccinations for travel, fluctuating fuel prices, and ongoing travel restrictions in certain countries.

Therefore, the value of the airfare estimated as a part of calculating the approximate retail value (ARV) of your sweepstakes prizes may not be enough to cover the cost of airfare when it’s time to fulfill the prize. If you want to avoid running into this type of issue, not including the airfare in the sweepstakes prize is your best bet.

Need help with sweepstakes or contest management? Call 305-505-5393 or email us with your questions.

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The Super Bowl is the biggest annual sports event of the year. It’s also a seriously competitive event for advertisers because the Super Bowl attracts thousands of fans.

As a result, you may be wondering if it’s possible for you to give away Super Bowl tickets as a sweepstakes prize. Here is what you need to know.

Can Companies Give Away Super Bowl Tickets?

The short answer is ‘no.’ The National Football League (NFL), like all other professional sports leagues, is highly protective of their marks. As a result, using their brands to promote your offer would imply that they are sponsoring your promotion. So that you don’t commit trademark infringement, you must become an official NFL sponsor first.

Are You an Official NFL Sponsor?

Official sponsors of the NFL are recognized by the NFL directly. These companies have entered into agreements with the NFL in order to create promotions that incorporate the NFL brand and individual team brands. The list of the NFL’s official sponsors is available here.

Are Super Bowl Tickets the Best Sweepstakes Prize for Your Brand?

If you aren’t an official sponsor of the NFL, don’t be discouraged that you can’t give away Super Bowl tickets. Instead, consider whether or not Super Bowl tickets will really attract fans to your brand or if they will only enter in order to win the tickets.

If you are unsure about this, consider some other options for a big sweepstakes prize: such as a years’ supply of your product, a tailgating party for 10 guests, or a brand new TV to watch the game on.

Read More: What Are the Most Popular Sweepstakes Prizes?

Before the Big Game…

If you still like to proceed with Super Bowl tickets for your sweepstakes promotion and you are an official NFL sponsor, we can help you design a promotion that will keep the excitement going up to the day of the game. We’ll also recommend follow-up messaging to keep your new fans engaged and always ready to buy!

Need help with sweepstakes or contest management? Call 305-505-5393 or email us with your questions.

The post Can I Offer Super Bowl Tickets As a Sweepstakes Prize? appeared first on Sweeppea Blog.

Transforming your “mini” giveaway into a “mega” giveaway by increasing the value of your sweepstakes prize can significantly boost user engagement with your sweepstakes. While your original sweepstakes prize might have only brought in 1,000 entrants, a better prize could mean 10,000 entrants or more.

Here’s what you can do right now to transform an ordinary sweepstakes prize into an awesome one.

A Year’s Supply Prize

What’s better than giving away one of your products, a year’s or several month’s supply of your product! Not only does this get people excited to win the first time that you deliver the prize, the excitement will come back over and over as they receive their prize delivery again and again. It also has the potential to transform your sweepstakes winner into a long-term customer.

Product Bundle Prizes

If you want to increase the value of your prize, try bundling your products together as a single prize. This will not only make your prize worth more, it also attracts a wider variety of entrants to your sweepstakes more so than a single prize would. You can also create a product bundle prize by bundling your products with those of another brand through a partnership.

Accessory Prizes

If you plan to give a prize that really requires some accessories in order to fully enjoy the prize, don’t hesitate to include these items in your prize bundle. For example, if you give away a gaming system, your entrants will also appreciate receiving gaming headphones and a gaming chair as a part of the prize package.

Turn Prize Delivery Into an Event

Receiving a shipment in the mail with the prize is pretty mundane when it comes to sweepstakes prize delivery. If you really want your fans to get excited about winning, turn the prize delivery into an event.

You could announce the delivery of the prize during a live stream and ask the winner to join you for an unboxing of the prize. You could also ask them to post a photo or video of them using the prize for the first time to your social media page.

Personalized Sweepstakes Prize

Creating a unique prize that is just for the winner is another way to increase the value of your sweepstakes prize. You could have the winner’s name printed on a t-shirt or other merch.

Popular Products

Giving away a product from a popular brand will attract a lot of attention from a wide range of people and increase participation in your sweepstakes. Trending and newer products work best to drive maximum engagement. Make sure to mention the brand of the prize and that it’s the latest release of the product in your promotions.

Brand Collaboration Prize

You can collaborate with a brand to come up with a limited edition version of your product or a brand new product that will only be given away via your sweepstakes. By only making the product available for the first time via your sweepstakes, you can attract people who are fans of either your brand or the brand that you are partnering with.

Be Creative

Increasing the value of your sweepstakes prize doesn’t always mean that you have to spend more money. Just be creative in how you design your promotion and deliver your prizes and you’ll surely attract more excited and happy fans to your brand.

Need help with sweepstakes or contest management? Call 305-505-5393 or email us with your questions.

The post How to Increase the Value of Your Sweepstakes Prize appeared first on Sweeppea Blog.

If you launched a sweepstakes prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, chances are that your sweepstakes prize is undeliverable now thanks to travel restrictions and social distancing. The coronavirus crisis isn’t only affecting businesses in terms of sales, it’s also making it harder to administer and fulfill sweepstakes prizes.

If you are in the midst of a sweepstakes promotion or you were just about to launch a sweepstakes, here’s what you should do now.

Don’t Change the Rules If You’ve Already Launched Your Sweepstakes

If you have already launched your sweepstakes, don’t change your official rules. Not only is it a violation of the law if you’ve already registered and bonded your sweepstakes, it may also create significant blowback from customers which will hurt your brand.

Furthermore, a rules change could also mean that you’ve changed the odds of winning or created an unfair advantage or disadvantage for the entrants who entered your sweepstakes prior to your announcement. Changing the rules may significantly increase the chances of a dispute being brought against your company or the sponsor.

How to Change Your Sweepstakes Rules If You Absolutely Have to

If making a change to your sweepstakes rules is unavoidable because of a COVID-19 cancellation, here’s the right way to do it:

1. Add a date/time stamp atop of the Official Rules document explaining the need for the change. Ex: “mm/dd/yy and 00:00 [ time zone] Update: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Championship Game has officially been canceled. In lieu of two tickets, the grand prize winner will receive a check for $XXXX. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your participation.”
2. Notify all entrants immediately that the Official Rules have changed.

If you’re running a sweepstakes promotion in Florida, the State of Florida has indicated that for the short-term, they will allow sponsors to substitute a trip or sports-related prize for another prize due to coronavirus. Make sure to contact local regulators first for clarification before making any changes.

What If I Can’t Deliver the Sweepstakes Prize?

For example, if the prize you originally offered was a vacation to a location that is now under travel restrictions, your official rules likely already have “force majeure” clauses in place that will allow you to substitute this prize with another prize of equal or greater value.

Sweeppea helps clients create Official Rules that ensures that your promotion has the flexibility you need when it comes to prize delivery so that you’re covered if you need to make changes to your prize.

Need help with sweepstakes or contest management? Call 305-505-5393 or email us with your questions.

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