The What, Why, How and Win of Insured Prize Promotions
Want to spice up your golf tournament with a hole-in-one contest for a brand-new Hummer or a swanky four-bedroom house without worrying about the cost? How about splitting a million-dollar prize with a lucky donor at your next special event — knowing someone else will be picking up the tab?
If you’ve ever wondered how some organizations — and their sponsors — can risk the expense of giving away huge prizes, then welcome to the world of content and promotions insurance -- a powerful tool for building awareness, developing sponsorship packages and raising additional funds.
WHAT IT IS
If you’ve played in a fundraising golf event that featured a hole-in-one contest for a brand new car, you’ve probably seen contest and promotions insurance in action. Rather than risk handing over the keys to a new vehicle, car dealers frequently purchase hole-in-one contest insurance. Simply put, they pay a small premium, which is a fraction of the vehicle’s actual cost, and if a player aces the target hole, the contest and promotions-insurance company pays for the prize.
But contest and promotions insurance isn’t limited to putting contests, million-dollar fundraising shoot-outs or hole-in-one contests. These days you can insure almost anything involving a risk, at nearly any location, based on three things: the cost of the prize you give away, the probability of the event occuring and the number of attempts made to win the prize. The best part? When the event occurs, the promotions company pays for the prize.
WHY INSURE?
Why consider an insured prize contest? One of the top reasons is that the allure of the big prize is hard to beat when it comes to giving people an additional incentive to participate in your campaign. Along with increasing participation, these kinds of big prize promotions also are effective in capturing headlines and generating media attention. It’s amazing how the addition of a big prize, when placed on a press release or public-service announcement, captures more attention from the general public, and, more importantly, the media. Your poker run, duck race or chuck-a-puck contest suddenly takes on a new sense of urgency when a million-dollar prize is up for grabs.
WHEN IT WORKS
Along with grabbing additional headlines, insured prize promotions also are effective at dressing up existing special events and creating new ones. Your organization’s annual casino night can take on a whole new flavor when it becomes a “Rat Pack Party” with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr. look-a-likes running a craps table, where attendees can roll four-inch dice in a bid to win $1 million or a brand-new car.
Have a great MC and a sense of friendly rivalry amongst donors? Your celebrity auction can become your very own game show where contestants bid for the chance to come on down and open up a series of envelopes in order to win a new house, a few year’s worth of groceries, or a lifetime supply of pizza, pasta or tax preparations.
Looking for something fresh that will work with your particular theme or event but don’t feel particularly creative? No problem. Insured-prize promotion companies have staff members who can share what’s been successful at similar fundraising events and will work with you to develop a contest or promotion that will suit your event theme.
HOW IT WORKS
While the flexibility of insured-prize promotions adds to special events, it also presents creative, out-of-the-ordinary sponsorship and event opportunities. List any business, and chances are there’s a way to tie it into your existing event with an insured-prize promotion.
Let’s say you have a walk-a-thon and you’re looking for added media coverage and a way to involve the big local hot spot, Bob’s Bowling Alley. You might approach a local radio station with a great morning-show disc jockey named Larry, and Bob of Bob’s Bowling Alley with the concept of sponsoring an event called, “Bob’s & Larry’s $1 Million Bowling Shoe Drop.”
Advertising and press would direct donors to Bob’s to make a donation to your organization in exchange for a numbered bowling shoe. The station would help promote “shoe sales” at Bob’s, as well as other on-air promotions tied to the walk-a-thon event. A day or two before your walk-a-thon, the numbered bowling shoes would be dropped from the station’s traffic helicopter onto a target on a field during a live broadcast.
If any of the shoes falling closest to the target appear on a pre-selected list of “lucky numbered shoes,” the winner goes home a $1 million richer while the promotions company pays for the prize. In the event that there’s no big winner, Bob would provide quality consolation prizes such as gift certificates for food, beverage and free bowling for the “shoe owners” who got close to the target.
Don’t have a traffic helicopter in your town? A balloon or the cable, phone or power company’s repair truck can be used. Bob doesn’t have enough rental shoes? Use “mini-bowling balls” made of foam rubber. Don’t have a bowling alley? What about golf balls, ping-pong balls or mini-footballs? The possibilities of insured prizes are unlimited and they can be tailored to suit your location, audience, fundraising and sponsorship needs.
How much more creative can you get in 2005, knowing that if there’s a big winner, someone else will be picking up the tab?
Amy Fanter is a marketing writer for Reno, Nev.-based Odds On Promotions, which along with sister company Hole In One International provides prize coverage for more than 15,000 games, contests and promotions annually. Fanter is a former casino-marketing director and direct mail expert with more than 15 years experience in developing and running successful special events and promotions. She can be reached at fanter@hioi.com.
