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Loquax Competitions Update - February 2025

Start date 11th February 2025
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Welcome back to another round up of Loquax and online competition news. This week, well around the 7th or 8th, Loquax turned 27 years old (27!!!) which isn't a bad feat for something that we didn't expect to last more than a few months. It seems odd to think that Loquax actually existed before Google, iPhones, Facebook, Instagram, Influencers etc and the idea behind the site was simply to try and get a job doing stuff on the internet. And yet here we still are. Not sure that there are that many internet companies that are this old and still with the original owners. The original plan for Loquax wasn't even competitions. We actually started with a plan for a shopping site that featured the latest online offers but got bored with the idea very quickly. We're that old there wasn't much in the way of voucher codes, discounts or latest deals back then either. But there were competitions and prize draws, and the rest as they say is history.

Iceland Chief Chicken Officer

Occasionally we do spot a few competitions that are worthy of more than just a listing. Unfortunately time often gets in the way and we forget to blog about them or highlight them. However we did spot the latest competition from Iceland just in time for our update. How would you like to become their Chief Chicken Officer? That title might not appeal to everyone but how about a £5000 cash prize? Now you're intrigued. To enter the competition you'll need to answer three questions: (1) What’s your ultimate chicken flavour combination, and why would it rule the roost? (2) If you could create your own Iceland chicken product, what would it be, and how would you market it? and (3) What’s the wildest or funniest chicken-related story from your life? The terms state that it's a maximum of 100 words per question so you'll need to keep your answers concise and to the point. According to the terms, all entries will be judged based on humour, passion for chicken and creativity. The winner will receive £5000, a year of chicken (paid out as a £500 Iceland Bonus Card) and a trip to Iceland head office to be inducted as Chief Chicken Officer. The trip will take place on the 9th April 2025 and the winner consents to any photography, recording or video involved with this visit. Entries need to be in by the 10th March 2025.

Auto Trader Treasure Hunt

Every month Auto Trader run a car competition but for February they're running an extra promotion. From the 24th February 2025 they're running the Auto Trader Car Hunt. Toy cars will be hidden across 10 UK cities on different dates: Manchester (24/2), Edinburgh (25/2), Bristol (26/2), Leeds (27/2), Glasgow (28/2), Birmingham (3/3), Liverpool (4/3), Cardiff (5/3), Newcastle (6/3) and London (7/3). 100 toy cars will be hidden in each location and you have until the end of the promotion (9/3) to find one. Clues will be given about the location of cars via Auto Trader's Instagram. Find a car and you'll then have to scan a QR code and enter a prize draw. Your entry gives you the chance to win a brand new Hyundai IONIQ 5 N worth over £65,000! This competition is obviously skewed to people who happen to be in those locations on the specific date but it might be worth planning a day out if you fancy a bit of fun. We suspect that the vast majority of cars will be found very quickly - although it'll be interesting to see whether that is the case - will Auto Trader make the cars easy to find or will some never be found? We did wonder whether the QR code could be shared with others, so people could enter without finding a car. However each car has a unique code and the entrant needs the promotional toy car and its location for verification purposes. Anyway it's always good to see a competition running via Instagram that's not just tag as many friends as you can.

Win A House For 5p

Last month we told you that Elite Competitions were giving away a house and that tickets were 9p each, making it the cheapest ever win a house pay to enter prize draw. Well that was until their latest house competition which has tickets for sale at just 5p. As before you can also get a 10% discount on this draw (and indeed any of Elite's prize draws) by using the discount code 'loquax' at checkout (#AD). The property on offer this time round is a two bedroom recently renovated bungalow in Lancashire worth £200,000. Alternatively the winner can opt to take a £170,000 cash prize. We don't know if Elite Competitions will launch another property prize draw immediately after this one closes or if they'll make it even cheaper. However sales are slow for this one - currently 20% sold - which equates to a lot less revenue in compared to the prize value. It'll be interesting to see how ticket sales go in the final week of the draw. It closes on the 18th February. Sticking with our win a house section, we did make a few adjustments to make the listings look better on mobile devices. If you haven't popped in for a while then you'll find Tramway Path are back again and there are soon to be new house prizes from Omaze and Raffle House. There's also the general house chat thread there too.

Love Is In The Air

Finally don't forget that it's Valentine's Day on the 14th February and that means plenty of lovey dovey prizes to be won. We have a dedicated Valentine's section that pulls out prizes that feature Valentine's, Galentine's, Roses or Romantic goodies. It's not conclusive because it depends on the prize description posted by the contributor but it's a good starting point. Scanning through the list there are plenty of Afternoon Teas, Romantic Meals for 2, Hotel Breaks and even Valentine Hampers for your pet. Now in theory you'd expect promoters to run their promotions so that prizes could be sent out in time for the 14th, but no. In comping terms that just doesn't happen. So for example Dishmatic will pick a winner for their Valentine's Hamper after the end of February! By the way we strongly advise not banking on a prize, whether won or not, to give to your Valentine on the 14th!! Finally our pick of the bunch is a trip for 2 to Lisbon. The prize includes flights and two nights at the Hotel Lisboa Plaza. Enter online at Brightsun Travel plus pick up extra entries via Instagram and referrals (our link is not a referral btw).

The Top Prizes Of 2024

If we asked you for your top prize, whether you won it or not, of the last year you might say cash, a car, a holiday or perhaps even a house. Interestingly none of them popped up in an article from PrizeShark, an agency that offers "a comprehensive solution for prizes, rewards, partnership opportunities, and cost savings". In the article they explain that they "sourced prizes and planned and managed promotions" and for 2024 the top prizes of the year were in fact eco products! These include things like bamboo water bottles, battery chargers and House of Marley Bluetooth Speakers. Branded drinkware, custom clothing, health and wellness products and reusable tote bags also get in a mention amongst the top prizes. Did you win any of those prizes during the past 12 months? Would you rate it as a top prize? Are these prizes you'd have on your wishlist? Obviously PrizeShark are approaching the article with what has worked for their clients and promotions. The listed items may not be what we'd call the top prizes but it's still a fascinating insight into the promotions and agency part of the comping world. We'll keep an eye on the PrizeShark blog throughout 2025 for other interesting articles.

"Prize Draws Gambling Ahead Of Bingo & Casino"

The competitions landscape has changed considerably in the last few years with the arrival of pay to enter prize draw sites such as That Prize Guy, Elite Competitions and Omaze. They are marmite to compers. Some absolutely hate them because of the gambling aspect whilst others embrace them as another option for the chance to win prizes. Entries to these competitions can be a lot cheaper than sending a postcard or purchasing products. Elite Competitions' current house prize draw costs just 5p a ticket! We think there are issues that need resolving within the sector and have documented our thoughts over numerous blogs. Weeding out the bad apples and responsible play are two of our biggest concerns but not a lot will change until The UK Government take some kind of action. When that will be remains unknown but it might be sooner rather than later. In a speech at ICE 2025, The UK Gambling Commission's Chief Executive, Andrew Rhodes, noted that "Lotteries remain the largest area of participation with sales now for large society lotteries over £1 billion annually, but large prize draws, which are not regulated as gambling, have a very large presence in terms of participation and are just behind betting and far ahead of bingo and land-based casino". If that "large presence" continues to grow and there are issues with problem gambling, money laundering, using credit cards to gamble and advertising in a way that bingo/casino/betting isn't allowed then something will be done. Stories such as though featuring Royalux Competitions and Level Up Giveaways also add fuel to the growing fire. That said the wheels of The UKGC turn slowly so who knows where things will go in the next 12 months.

"The Ultimate Radio Competition Advantage"

Whilst scrolling through Facebook one afternoon we stumbled across a page called "2Win Alerts for Radio Competitions" and decided to take a look. The page links to a website called 2WinAlerts and that states it offers the "Ultimate Radio Competition Advantage". From what we understand, they listen to the radio stations that run competiitons for you and they'll send you notifications (SMS or Email) to remind you to enter as well as letting you know the phrase that pays. At time of writing the site is looking for Beta Testers for Heart Radio's Make Me A Millionaire. We don't know much about radio competitions so can't say whether this service would be of any use or actually offer an advantage. What we can say is that we don't know who's behind the service. There are no contact details or company details and that's always a concern. Furthermore it looks as though - at some point - payments may be involved as the terms indicate "users can select the number of alert days, starting from one day up to the end of the competition. The service cost is displayed at checkout". But is such a service really needed? Is it really solving a problem that's worthy of payment? We think there are better solutions. For example if you have a mobile number specifically for competitions then if it rings you might well be being contacted by the radio station - especially if you know you've entered. If you're not sure about what's required from a radio station when they call then you could tape a little crib sheet of the "phrases that pay" on the back of your phone or on your phone cover as a reminder. Finally if you know of other radio compers then grouping together is always a good way to help each other out. Radio competitions are listed on Loquax and discussion on these is always welcome.

Ask Us A Question

And so it's onwards towards our 28th Birthday in 2026 - we don't intend in changing how things run but as ever are looking at ways to make our lives and your lives easier. Actually the former rarely happens because we keep thinking up new things to do. Anyway we're often aware that people do have questions about how to use Loquax but for some reason don't ask us direct. They'll post on other groups which is fine but we don't want to be doing customer services on someone else's doorstep. So we've set up a Facebook thread and Forum thread for anyone who wants to ask us a question about Loquax. Perhaps you want to filter certain competition types or would like the listings to do something for you but you don't know how. Quite often it's just a case of putting you in the right direction - so please don't suffer in silence. We are here to help you!!! Finally thank you to everyone who kindly commented on social media and the forum about our 27th birthday and thank you to everyone who continues to support us. See you next time!!