Eagle eyed viewers may have noted that there’s been a few changes on the Loquax Blog recently. We’ve been blogging on/off since 2007 and the blog hasn’t had much TLC in recent years. So for 2022 the blog has had a makeover and a serious spring clean. Although a lot of old content has been dropped there’s still quite a decent amount of comping news from across the years. For example we’ve been highlighting compers in the news from as far back as 2009 when “the secret world of comping” was a feature on Radio 4’s Womans Hour. You can actually still listen to that particular show today! Comping is of course far from a secret and there are always articles popping up featuring successful compers. Not everyone is a fan of these kind of articles or of the people who feature in the articles but they’re not exactly new and we still question just how much they actually influence newbies. If anything the articles are more for the promotion of those who feature rather than designed to encourage a mass influx of wannabe winners. Anyway let’s take a look at the most recent comping in the news articles.
How To Win Big
In February 2022, Metro published an article on how to win big by entering competitions. The article features bloggers from Emma and 3 (who incidentally was a subject of our ‘Meet The Bloggers’ series back in 2009 – see we have been busy spring cleaning) and BeeMoneySavvy. What we like about this particular article is that they do include promoters in the round-up. OK it’s one promoter (@manisafelondon), but they do explain that “offering prizes helps companies raise awareness of their product” and that they have “developed some wonderful relationships and advocates of my brand thanks to competitions”. Another plus point is that Loquax gets a mention which is always nice. Beyond that there’s nothing particular revealing as all the usual bases are covered. Enter plenty of competitions, get a new email address, use free sites, beware of scams and think local are just some of the tips offered.
Top Comper Win £17.5K A Year
The UK’s most famous comper, Di Coke, features in another comping article from The Daily Express. It’s headlined “Top woman comper wins £17,500 a year by entering competitions – anyone can do it”. We’re not quite sure why the headline has to reference the top woman comper? Does that mean there’s a top male comper lurking in the background? Is he doing better than Di? Is there a league of top compers? Unlike the Metro article where entering lots of prize draws is the top tip, Di explains to The Express that she “boosts her chances of success by focusing on effort-based competitions”. Joining Di in offering tips to compers is Jeremy Stern of Promoveritas. Their tips include focusing on everyday stuff rather than the biggies as the “little wins add up”, make sure the promotion isn’t a scam and the comping mantra of “be in it to win it”. As with The Metro article there’s nothing here that’s not been said many times before. Likewise a similar article, again with Di and in The Daily Express about Money Making Tips and comping.
The Comper’s Willy Wonka
Jeremy Stern crops up in another comping article, this time in The Sun. I’m A Real Life Willy Wonka describes the work that Jeremy does for his company Promoveritas – a company that brands use to make sure their promotions are run fairly. It’s quite an interesting read especially when it comes to planting instant win prizes in packets etc. However one Loquax user (thanks Polarbear) did make a very interesting observation. In the article it explains that how Promoveritas “distribute prizes depends on the value, how many they’re handing out and where the biggest number of consumers live”. The example they give is that if 70% of sales are in Birmingham then 70% of winners would be from there. Whilst statistically the odds of winning should be the same regardless of location it kind of suggests compers in big cities will be taking home the prizes versus those who live out in the sticks. Perhaps in future it’s worth keeping an eye on where winners live for these kind of promotions. If you live in an area where sales of the promotional product are small and Brenda has recently won the competition then you might be better off buying something else.
Will There Be More Comping Articles?
There will always be interest in comping and successful compers, especially those who for whatever reasons are happy to speak to the media. We’ve done it in the past and maybe we will again in the future because it can be useful to raise the Loquax profile. Going back to the 2009 post we made, The Womans Hour chat mentioned the recession and comping. Fast forward to today when inflation is up to 7%, there’s Brexit, bills are increasing all the time and money is short that will only mean one thing! So look out for articles on how to make money by winning competitions and selling prizes, how to win the little extras that can make life a lot more fun and whether more people are now comping because of rises in the cost of living. We are living in tough times – and they don’t seem to be going to get any easier any time soon – so comping also has the beauty of escapism. It’ll be interesting to see if these kind of things get mentioned when we next review a round-up of comping in the news.