Instant AttractionMy very first Compers News column appeared two years ago, and I thought that it would be a good idea to celebrate the milestone by revisiting that original article. Not only might this be helpful for newer readers, but it serves as a useful reminder to us all how the comping scene is forever evolving. Most of that first article remains relevant, although it was only when I began to re-edit it that I began to realise quite how much the ‘traditional’ instant win is a dying breed. A new generation of codes to text in or email seems to be the current trend, but in another two years – who knows? Although, in the main, comps as we know and love them will still be with us for many years to come, it’s always good to be aware of current fads and fashions. From the style of tiebreakers that are winning comps, to topical news stories that can be used in your slogans, right through to the type of competitions that are appearing. Whenever the industry tries something new, not only might entry numbers be lower at the start as the public decide whether they like it or not, or even understand a particular concept, but remember that the promoters are on a learning curve too. Which could all mean rich pickings for a comper with their finger on the pulse.
So then, time to get all misty eyed as we return to ‘The Art of Doing a Smid’ – the 2005 remix. The very first paragraph referred to my favourite book being ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’, I suppose now that I can tie my article in to the blockbuster movie of the same name instead, but apart from that, what else has changed over the last couple of years?
The instant win is a relative newcomer on the comping scene, only really taking off in the late Eighties. Heinz and Coke were the forerunners in the UK, having both successfully tried the concept in the US market. Since those innocent beginnings, this particular kind of promotion has multiplied and evolved to become increasingly contrived – and is very likely today to include additional tasks such as texting or visiting a website to verify a code. Thus, many ‘real’ compers avoid them and it’s not difficult to see why. The odds of winning anything worthwhile are usually outlandish. The number of prizes that “can” be won usually bears no resemblance to the number that actually are claimed. And the physical act of finding a message or code printed on the inside of a greasy packet, bottom of a can, or buried amongst various foodstuffs is messy at best – and sometimes downright degrading!
Having said all of that, I actually like instant wins! I’ve won thousands of instant prizes, most of them of limited use admittedly, but for me the thrill of the chase and trying to ‘crack the code’ of a particular promotion gives me as much pleasure as trying to fashion an unbeatable tiebreaker.
When I originally explained some of my theories on the subject on Chatterbox, it led to the whole ‘science’ of trying to beat instant win promoters at their own game being christened “doing a Smid”. So now all of you more recent readers know! None of what I do is rocket science, it’s more to inject a bit of fun into my supermarket visits than anything else, but sometimes I do actually strike gold and stumble across a sure-fire method of spotting a winning pack. Even if the outcome is not so certain, there are things you can do to swing the odds in your favour (albeit ever so slightly) whenever you buy an instant win pack.
My very first Chatterbox contribution concerned a coffee promotion, which warned that winning jars didn’t contain real coffee. All of which led (and, indeed, still does lead) us to the major key to unlocking “instant success”.
Instant wins where a promoter has to manufacture or print a totally separate ‘winning’ batch and then somehow slip them in with the ‘normal’ (i.e. losing!) products are always worth a closer look at the supermarket. The clue often lies in the label or packaging. A slightly different cut or colour shade if it was printed at a different time perhaps, or an unusual batch code. I’ve had many wins in the past just by choosing an item with a different batch code or best before date to the rest. This isn’t foolproof of course, because different batches can obviously get mixed up on supermarket shelves. But some classic examples that spring to mind are a Ribena promotion where every winning carton had the same printing flaw on the ‘best before’ date and so stood out a mile; Riva biscuits where winning batch codes all started with a 3 or 4, and the losers 1 or 2; Viscount biscuits where winners all had exactly the same batch code; Gulp milkshake where winning numbers were printed in a completely different font; and my all-time favourite – Wet Wipes – whose wrappers had a small W or L in the corner, cunningly indicating Winner or Loser!
More recently, winning Weetabix boxes were a slightly different shade and were embossed much heavier than losers, and winning Pringles Star Wars tubes included the letter ‘G’ in their batch codes. So, there may be fewer examples around these days – but the principle remains exactly the same. Throw in promotional labels that can easily be seen through, and products with increasingly bulky winning inserts that can easily be felt or seen with the minimum of effort, and close examination of goods on supermarket shelves will always improve your chances of an instant win.
In fact, I often think that promoters deliberately build in these flaws to keep us compers smiling. Those of us ‘in on the trick’ will be happy, thinking that we’re at an advantage. But the number of prizes issued is no different of course, so it won’t cost the promoters any more. In fact, the more winning packs we find, the more we’ll look for and buy, so in a perverse way it might actually benefit the promoters!
Look at the last three or four instant wins on Purina pet food brands, for example. Promotional cans “just happened” to have a clear white strip running around the top of the label. The winning message on the back of the label “just happened” to be printed directly underneath this white strip. Possibly accidental first time around, but the same design on every subsequent promotion? Make up your own mind! Conspiracy theory maybe, but I’ve seen so many ‘giveaway’ batch codes, transparent wrappers, see-through scratchcards etc. over the years that I can’t help but wonder. Then again, perhaps some promoters really are just careless!
The big tell-tale clues as to whether batch codes, best before dates etc. might give the game away may lie in the revised pack design when a promotion appears. If an exact best before date suddenly becomes just a month and year, or a batch code that previously appeared prominently on the top of a pack is suddenly relegated to a hidden area under a seam at the bottom, ask yourself why. I’ve seen winning packs that have had no codings at all simply because they haven’t been through the normal production line (Hula Hoops most recently), so always be on the lookout for ANY possible clue.
It’s often a good investment to buy a promotional pack at the start of a new competition anyway, probably a loser but never mind, just to get an idea as to where messages, codes etc. appear on the backs of labels and the like. This way you can sometimes ‘get your eye in’, even if it’s just knowing exactly where you can see the ‘Y’ of ‘SORRY’ through the label or something like that. Then, when you come across a label that doesn’t have that ‘Y’ in the same place, it’s worth buying! Experimentation is the key.
And here, briefly, are some other ideas. Invest in a powerful halogen lamp for all those scratchcard games where, for example, you have to scratch off ‘correct’ panels on the card. Many of these cards are very poorly manufactured, and a strong lamp will soon pay for itself many times over. If an item includes a time of manufacture on the packaging, only ever select one that’s been timed during office hours. An independent observer or company bigwig will probably witness the seeding and issue of really big prizes, and chances are they won’t do it in the middle of the night! Never buy a promotional pack expecting to win at the very start of the competition, as it’s a fair bet that the major prizes won’t be released straight away. And if ever you are lucky enough to come across a winning pack, note down the batch and date codings exactly and think seriously about going back to the shop and buying up any identical stock. It’s amazing how often winning packs appear en masse, seemingly having not been shuffled up at all!
Remember though, that the odds of finding a worthwhile prize in a typical instant win promotion are small, even if you know exactly what you’re looking for. A winning Pringles tube eluded me in their recent Star Wars promotion for example, even though I must have checked tens of thousands of tubes on supermarket shelves for that elusive winning batch code. So never underestimate the number of packs that a popular product sells during the course of a promotion, and never lose sight of the fact that you’re invariably going to be looking for a very small needle in a very large haystack.
If all else fails of course, there’s always the ‘No Purchase Necessary’ (NPN) route – at least until April 2007 anyway, when there will no longer be a legal obligation to provide this for on-pack competitions. So make the most of it while it lasts, indeed you can even try to weight this in your favour too. Spread out your applications over the entire promotion, but always make sure that you send in a couple of late entries right up to the closing date too. By then, promotional packs should have long disappeared from shelves, and promoters will have a clearer idea of how many prizes have been claimed. They may prefer to award more prizes rather than being left with a warehouse full of themed merchandise or – worse still – having to explain to irate customers why there were so few winners. Recent examples of NPNs coming up trumps include Grolsch hammocks and Comfort necklaces, both relatively low value prizes but still well worth the cost of a stamp.
A quick look at two recent promotions that really captured the imaginations of Chatterboxers – NutriGrain’s hourly draws and the current Walkers iPod game – sum up very well the direction in which modern instant wins seem to be going. No straightforward win or lose messages, but complex codes that need some extra effort to resubmit via text or web. We compers are at an advantage with this new generation of promotion, since most members of the general public are unwilling or unable to jump through the increasing number of hoops that promoters put in our way. But we must still display some care with these newer games. Will every code that’s entered go into a draw, with all prizes being given away? Or have ‘winning’ codes been pre-determined, and prizes only paid out if and when a winning code is returned? Take the current Walkers iPod promotion as an example. This is a straightforward, honest draw, with all codes having an equal chance at the time of entry and all 9,000-odd prizes being awarded. But under the present law, it would have been perfectly legal for Walkers to have decided on 9,000 winning codes beforehand, and only award prizes when those particular codes, out of the hundreds of millions in play, were redeemed. Worse still they could even have pre-selected a specific winning code for each 5-minute draw, and only paid out if that code was entered at its allotted time. Again, all perfectly legal. Such a tactic would have reduced Walkers 9,000 iPod payout to, most likely, none at all – but this interpretation of the rules is starting to creep in, so always be careful. If the comp blurb tells us that prizes “will” or “must” be won, then it’s most likely OK. But if prizes only “can” be won, or are available “to” be won, then think twice. And if the value of a prize pool seems ridiculously high, perhaps sometimes running into the millions, alarm bells should again start ringing. Remember the old adage – if something seems to good to be true, then it most likely is!
As comping fashions change, technology improves, and sales promotion techniques become ever more scientific, it’s impossible to know how relevant my original Smidding article, or even this update, will be in another two years time. I was reading just the other day that one of the most popular new gadgets in Japan, for example, is a mobile phone with a barcode reader that can be used to instantly enter competitions, print coupons and the like. Comping will always be with us in one form or another, indeed some people reading this might even be jumping for joy at the thought of instant wins biting the dust. We can never know what’s around the corner in this great, diverse hobby of ours. Which is one of the reasons why we love it so much!
Smid x
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