At Halloween, many of us get a thrill from visiting a haunted house. We get to put ourselves into a controlled kind of scared, something that we can turn off when we have had enough. But what if you start something you can’t turn off? What if your promotion becomes a victim of being at the wrong place at the wrong time? Now that’s scary. Here are our top three scary promotion scenarios. They have all of the thrills, and if you take our advice, none of the chills. The Three Scariest Promotion Scenarios You May Ever Face are:
Scenario #1 When Werewolves show up in suits and ties
There is a great scene from the classic movie An American Werewolf in London. After leaving the Slaughtered Lamb Pub, nice name right, the owner warns our victims. “Beware the moon and stay on the road.” Do they listen? NO! Do bad things happen? Yes!
This is most basic set of instructions you need to follow when running a sweepstakes promotion. Beware the issue of consideration and stay on the right side of federal lottery laws. So don’t ask someone to make a purchase for an entry into a chance promotion unless you offer an alternate means of entering. If you don’t, you are running an illegal lottery. Don’t forget to include the no purchase necessary clause in your rules. If you forget your rules are not compliant! Here is a quick refresher on the basic legal issues you need to be aware of. If you are deemed to be in violation you’ll face some serious fines. Just ask A&P supermarkets about their recent settlement.
Scenario #2 When Your Social Media Promotion turns out like Frankenstein’s Monster
Innovation in social media platforms and mobile technologies is occurring at a dizzying pace. Like Victor Frankenstein, marketers are hell bent to experiment with the latest technology hoping to create some new, never been done concept. The first mover advantage is real in this new “earned media channel” and senior editors at Mashable have their radar turned on high for truly unique ideas. But in the race to be first, the possibilities of things going horribly wrong gets overlooked. This article on social media fails is required reading for just how horribly wrong things can go when lightning strikes your promotion.
Like Frankenstein’s creation these results are truly grotesque. Can the risks be stripped out of social media promotions? Not entirely but they can be minimized. Should you avoid them? Not at all. It begins with planning correctly. Don’t be too loose in what you are asking from consumers to do. Then be vigilant by using experienced moderation to corral unintended content from being published.
Scary Scenario #3 When data collection starts out like Dr. Jekyll but ends up like Mr. Hyde
There is genuine goodness when a promotion sponsor offers a chance to win high value prizes. Take the case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The doctor was man you can trust, evoking a sense of goodness to all around him. Consumers enter a promotion in the same way, on the basis of trust in the sponsor of the promotion. Without this trust someone would never willingly give up personal information. And not just data, like name and address, but even photos of themselves, or their children, even their medical history. When you sit and think about it sponsors have a pretty amazing responsibility to uphold.
Why then do some promotion sponsors become Mr. Hyde? Hyde had no restrictions, no boundaries and no conscience. Are you building an application to keep personal data secure and using it for only the stated purpose like Jekyll would do? Or are you spamming your users or worse contemplating selling it like Hyde? It is also about knowing the mandatory rules for collection and management of data. COPPA (children’s personal data) and HIPAA (personal health info) are just two of the most widely recognized category and segment specific sets of rules.
Before it is too late to turn off your scary scenario turn to an experienced resource. If you have any questions we are always happy to help. Please reach out to us at expert@mardenkane.com.