This is a strange time of year for comping. On one hand there are an ever growing number of Halloween themed prize draws but at the same time Christmas prizes are popping up almost daily now. If you head over to The Prize Directory then you’ll find that we have dedicated sections for both. Once we get past the end of October then all eyes turn to the festive period and of course the dreaded advents. Now you might not be thinking about advents just yet, but we are! Preparations are under the way to make sure everything is working for you guys but also to (hopefully) make life easier when it comes to finding and posting advents. Every year we have plans to dial down advent but then get swept up in the excitement of finding the various festive promotions. Anyway let’s worry about that a bit more in a few weeks and instead focus on Halloween and this month’s update. Remember brands do love a Halloween competition and often want to see costumes or pumpkin creations, so remember to take photos and maybe even video if you’re having a Halloween party, carving a pumpkin etc.
GoodLife+ Emails
Subscription prize draw sites like Omaze, WinMore and GoodLife+ have added to the comping landscape. Omaze obviously gives away a house every month but are seemingly upping their game with respect to prizes for subscribers thanks to exclusive draws. WinMore and GoodLife+ run regular draws for anything from cash to cars. We are an affiliate of GoodLife+ which means we may get a commission if someone follows our link, registers and takes out a subscription. It’s the kind of thing that helps keep the lights on. This month we were approached by GoodLife+ to see if we could do more for them. From a business point of view that would be good, but we think it’s a tough ask and we explained to them why. Many of you may have signed up for the free entry/free trial and from that you may have then received a “winning email” asking you to phone a number to get a prize. On phoning the prize is simply more entries into further draws and an opportunity to convince you to get a subscription. We told GoodLife+ that this isn’t a great idea as word gets around that the emails aren’t genuine. It makes the brand come across as a bit of a con and therefore something to be avoided. Who would spend money with a company who thinks free prize entries is a prize worthy of phoning up for? Will our comments change their approach? Probably not – but Comping Promoter 101 is don’t annoy your audience with “fake wins” and they’ve missed out that chapter. If people start doubting their authenticity then they’ve only got to look at themselves for using this horrible approach.
Guess Who’s Back – Back Again!
Just when we thought that the saga of Countdown Competitions had come to an end, then they return like a bad penny. After closing down the .co.uk version of the site, then launching and closing Splash Competitions (whilst denying that it was their site), Countdown Competitions is back but under the .com version of the site. It’s being run by the same person. That’s the same person who offered 4 x £50K cash prizes that were never paid out, faked winners and competitions before closing the site after being outed. It’d be great to say that he’s learnt from the error of his ways but early indications suggest that the modus operandi is the same. Considering the site has little social media interactions and no traffic, ticket sales look strangely healthy – everything seems to sell out too. Our view is that it’s a site to avoid. Now we have been monitoring the numbers but time is limited to go all out and expose their devious ways. So instead we’ve notified The UK Gambling Commission of our findings and have asked them to take a closer look. Whether they do remains to be seen. In the mean time if you’re thinking of spending any money on Countdown Competitions then maybe think again. However as a quick comparison – remember Award Competitions? They’re the ones who initially were The Family Diaries Blog on Facebook that gave away several free holidays. Since they became a paid to enter draw site they’ve sold around 10 tickets and half of them are on a free draw.
Gin It To Win It
We do regular searches across social media and Google when looking for new prize draws and competitions and naturally we come across various pay to enter prize draw sites. If they have a free entry giveaway then they may end up being listed on Loquax. Sometimes the siteowners get the hump and get all antsy about it, even as going so far as making legal threats. We’ve blogged about those in the past but for October we have something a little more positive. During one search we came across a site called Gin It To Win It. Firstly the name’s kind of cool but they also had a free draw to win a bottle of Hendrick’s Neptunia (all their prizes are gin related just in case you hadn’t realised). A few hours after listed we noted the siteowner had registered with Loquax and then received a message from them. Instead of the expected “please remove our comp” we had a lovely thank you from them. They’ve recently launched, are on a tight budget and were happy for that free advertising. With Google being a real pain in the butt these days it is harder for brands to get noticed and get traffic so prize draws are a useful tool – to a point. Pay to enter sites still need paying customers and that’s a tougher nut to crack. Anyway if you like Gin then take a look. There are four launch competitions on site, including one free prize draw. The site are also hoping to support Children’s Hospices Across Scotland with their endeavours.
UKGC To Clampdown On Prize Draw Sites?
The UK Gambling Commission recently published an article regarding their approach to unlicensed gambling. In the article they explain what they do to get sites closed down etc. although they don’t touch on the fact that high taxes and draconian rules has seen the rise of player interest in black markets. Anyway whilst the article is pretty uninteresting for most readers, one thing did jump out that could make life very interesting for pay to enter prize draw sites. In the “What Happens Next” section The UKGC explain “A new cease and desist process will be introduced to target the growing trend of ‘prize draws and competitions’, which has raised concerns across several departments, including HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), and the National Crime Agency (NCA)”. Concerns are also touched upon on a recent article about Omaze over at CityAM although it only skates upon the surface of the issues in our view. Overall though this is good news because it finally means that The UKGC is taking note of how these sites operate, the revenues they’re bringing in and how they potentially operate. Many sites use enticing images – e.g images more associated with gambling such as slot machines, reward grabbers or appealing to children – urgency with respect to sales and ticket pricing, have zero transparency when it comes to winners and little or no regard for responsible play. In our view – or at least it’s our hope – that this “What Happens Next” from The UKGC is the first step towards a better and safer environment for people wanting to take part in these kind of promotions. Hopefully it would also see an end to scammers taking advantage of players and/or sites utilising techniques to encourage play that are banned for bingo, casino and slots brands.
Are You An Aldi Superfan?
\Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No it’s Aldi Superfan! Aldi has launched it’s first Superfan Card and they’re going to give it away to one lucky shopper. Not only does that lucky shopper get a lovely card to carry around they also bag themselves a whole year of groceries too. That is worth £5000! For your chance to win this amazing prize you’ll need to “create a short application of no more than 250 words explaining why you are Aldi’s biggest superfan and deserve to win a year’s worth of free shopping”. Now you’ll need to be quick to sort your entry out as the deadline for entries is the 31st October. This isn’t an easy competition as entry is via email so it’s hard to make them stand out from the crowd. But you might want to think about maybe a poem or utilising a popular song but obviously making it about Aldi and why you’re the biggest superfan. The application doesn’t mention anything about including photos or pictures, but maybe it might be an idea to include even just one of you at your local Aldi. Maybe you’re wearing a cape? Helping shop for other people? Or just a regular? The competition is judged so it’ll be interesting to see if the panel go for something fun and creative or an entry that pulls at the heartstrings. By the way, if you do like creative comps then we have a dedicated section for them here on Loquax. We’ve adjusted our system so that the listings include Instagram comps that also require effort such as a photo or video upload.
Win Some Antlers
What’s the strangest thing that you’ve won from comping? We’re guessing that not many of you will say antlers! However that’s the prize that is on offer in this Cairngorm Reindeer Herd competition. Up for grabs are a pair of reindeer antlers – they used to belong to Sherlock the Reindeer and were removed in 2022. They weigh in at about 5kg. Now this is a pay to enter prize draw (tickets cost £10) but the draw is only open to adopters. You’ll need to enter your ID/membership number when purchasing a ticket. It’s an interesting prize although it does raise a couple of questions. Firstly how much do people actually pay to own reindeer antlers and secondly what the heck do you do with them once you have them? It turns out that antlers are quite pricey. A website called Antlers, Horns & Skulls sells sheeded antlers for around £280. Looking at the site we’re guessing that they’ll end up as some kind of wall feature.
Check Out The Latest Winners
Since our last update we’ve had some more Loquax winners sharing their successes on The Winners Post. There’s always a mix of platforms too with X/Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Magazines, Websites, Radio, Purchase Necessary and Text To Win comps all represented. You can find all types of competitions listed on Loquax. Anyway amongst the prizes are an Apple Watch, £1000 cash for the winner and a further £1000 for their chosen cause, £250 from a share of £5000 Mirror competiton, Shark Anti Hair Wrap Vacuum Cleaner, Yorkshire Scarefest prize, Personalised Henrys, Woodthorpe Park Weekend Break, 40in Smart TV, Loads of small wins from Minor Figures, Russell Hobbs Mini Cooler, Books, Theatre Trip, Beer and plenty more. We still think that more of you are winning but perhaps are a little shy in sharing on the forum. Staying with the forum we’re seeing a lot more contributors lately which is fabulous and a lot more interactions within the chat section too. Our win a house compers are also very active. If you ever want to find out the next Omaze property before everyone else then drop in to their discussions.