Bill Gray’s 2 Cheeseburgers 2 Custards 4 Tuesday – WHAM-TV
*2018 Second Street Award – Best Sweepstakes Winner
A local restaurant chain was looking for more business, increased branding in their community, and to start an email Birthday Club. WHAM-TV pitched a weekly sweepstakes with the prize of a meal for two at the restaurant. The registration page included a sign-up for Bill Gray’s Birthday Club which WHAM-TV is managing for the restaurant. The sweepstakes campaign brought in $8,000 for WHAM-TV in 2018, and the station has already booked $24,000 for 2019.
Mattress Firm March – KRIS-TV
The local Mattress Firm wanted to understand their current market’s mattress buying preferences. This sweepstakes offered a valuable but relevant prize – $1,000 shopping spree to the store. On the registration form, the station included multiple lead-gen questions based on information from Mattress Firm. After the campaign ended, KRIS-TV was able to create tailored emails on Mattress Firm’s behalf to entrants based on their answers to the lead-gen questions.
Win a Hurricane Party Prep Package – Post and Courier
As Charleston, SC prepared for the hit of the latest hurricane, the Post and Courier had a clever idea for a sweepstakes. The paper put together a Hurricane Party Prep Package including a gift cards to both a grocery store and a liquor store as well as a few household emergency items. The paper secured $3,000 in sponsorship revenue from the local HVAC company.
12 Days of Christmas – HaysPost.com
HaysPost.com put together this successful holiday campaign featuring 12 sponsors in 12 sweepstakes over 12 days. Each day, they announced the new contest via email and the winner was announced on a live, on-location spot for the sponsor. Thank-you emails were sent after each contest including coupons for participating businesses.
Win a Free Semester of College – Record Journal
A local college wanted an opportunity to show community goodwill and identify potential new students. The Record Journal pitched the idea of a sweepstakes giving away a free semester of college to a lucky student. With lead-gen questions on the registration page, the school identified hundreds of potential leads. The paper was able to secure $5,500 in sponsorship revenue, and the college has already signed on for a contest the next semester.
Explore Right Out Your Back Door – KRTV-TV
With summer on its way, Montana State Parks wanted to identify potential visitors before their busiest season. KRTV pitched a sweepstakes perfect for families who were looking to enjoy the outdoors! The state parks paid a $5,000 sponsorship investment while the station was able to secure Northwest Energy to provide the prize. With lead-gen questions and an email opt-in, the Montana State Parks has a list of leads to reach out to with summertime offers.
Heiser Snow Stick Sweepstakes – WITI-TV
For viewers of WITI in Milwaukee, WI, winter means a lot of snow. The station ran a sweepstakes offering viewers the chance to win a WITI snow stick marked for measuring snowfall. The station secured a sponsorship for their contest with a local auto dealer. Lead-gen questions on the registration form lead to 157 people asking to be contacted by the auto dealer.
MegaWatt Solabration Sweepstakes – KXLY-TV
Taking a tip from KYTV’s $1.25MM solar panel sweepstakes, KXLY worked with a local solar panel company on their own solar sweepstakes. With the prize of a full installation of a solar panel system, brought in over 1,000 entries. Plus, lead-gen questions and an email opt-in, Eco Depot had a big list to reach out to afterwards.
Bank of Sullivan Bash for Cash – KYTV-TV
For five years running, the Bank of Sullivan Bash for Cash just keeps getting better. This clever contest ties into the local baseball team – in order to win, the team needs to hit a home run in the seventh inning of a KYTV televised game. Throughout the season, this means participants have nearly a dozen chances to win $500 from the Bank of Sullivan. More than 7,000 people signed up for their chance to win, and KYTV was able to secure $6,000 in sponsorship revenue.
Hot Wynning Wheels – WDDJ-FM
WDDJ-FM was in need of growing their email list. The station reached out to a local auto dealer about running a sweepstakes to give away a new vehicle. In exchange, the dealership would get a list of qualified leads based off of an email opt-in for the dealership and lead-gen questions from the sponsor. The contest brought in 3,200+ email opt-ins and $5,000 in sponsorship revenue for WDDJ and over 1,500+ people asked to be contacted by the dealership.
This year’s top sweepstakes truly showed that value of consumer data. While sponsorship revenue is great, understanding your audience better is invaluable.
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Liz is the Senior Director of Customer Success and has an extensive background in media. She is a huge advocate of the power of promotions for every department within an organization, including sales, marketing, audience development, and editorial.