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Contest
junkies
A contest is the new
marketing mantra as brands try new, innovative ways to lure customers.
By Leher
Kala
On
a Sunday afternoon, 23-year-old executive Namrata Nayyar was browsing in a
music store, going through her favourite CDs. While paying her bill she
spotted a contest form that said "Meet Mariah Carey". For a lark
she filled it in -- simple questions like the name of Carey's latest
album. Two weeks later Nayyar received a call from the music company that
she'd won an all-expense paid holiday to watch Carey live in concert in
Singapore! "It was unbelievable," gushed Nayyar. "I never
imagined that people actually won these things." A whirlwind two day
trip with box seats to watch Carey was an out-of-the-blue treat for Nayyar,
and sponsors Sony ensured a customer for life.
Increasingly, youth- oriented brands like Pepsi, Smirnoff and Kelloggs are
using interactive and fun ways like contests to ensnare and earn a
customer's loyalty. "Brands
hold contests because it involves the consumer directly," says Neeraj
Roy, CEO of Hungama.com, a contests website that claims over a million
hits per month. "Through the response they can immediately gauge
whether their money has been well spent or not," explains Roy. Music
lover Indranil Chaudhury, 27, entered a contest to meet his favourite
singer, Carlos Santana. The question he had to answer was on who was the
singer of The Smooth in Santana's album Supernatural. "I won his
personal guitar autographed by him," says Chaudhury. "I am
thrilled because I'm his biggest fan and I'll bet the guitar is worth a
fortune," he insists, awestruck.
But the wackiest, most creative contests are undoubtedly on music channel
MTV. The "Auntie Corruption Contest" timed around the elections
took a potshot at venal politicians and their false promises. Winners got
a free trip to Switzerland to open their own benami bank accounts. Says
Managing Director Alex Kuruvilla, "Our contests usually have a social
message and the youth relate to us. We receive over 10,000 entries per
contest."
The concept of contests as a marketing medium was not popular in India
till quite recently. In fact, consumers viewed them with suspicion. A few
years ago, a prominent soft drinks company put up a dispenser at Delhi's
international airport and consumers had to fill up a form before getting
their free drink. Surprisingly, passengers steered clear of the counter.
"Earlier Indians were suspicious of free stuff," explains Vikram
Raizada of MTV. "Now that big brands are holding contests regularly
it has put the faith back in marketing." The Internet has given
contest enthusiasts a big boost because sending answers by e-mail is
hassle free. Says Alok Kejriwal, an avid contests fan himself and CEO of
website contests2win.com, "I started my website because I never got
around to sending a postcard with the answer. Through the Internet it's
instant."
Do contests generate sales for a brand? Explains Raizada, "Brands
hold contests to create excitement, generate some noise, but it's
difficult to establish a direct correlation to sales." It works for
the company because all entries received are recorded for a database and
future consumer studies. But the lucky strikers are delirious. Student
Amreesh Dutta, 23, recently won an I-Mac computer on Channel V's "Tea
With V" contest. "All I had to do was record the number of times
the 'Fatman' appeared on screen between 4 and 7 in the evening,"
grins Dutta, who enters over 40 contests per year. In the past he's won
T-shirts from Provogue and jeans from Webley. Similarly, printer Saravjeet
Singh, 28, went to watch the premiere of a Bond film and happened to be
sitting on a "lucky" seat. He waltzed off with an Omega watch
worth Rs 1 lakh. Die-hard contest addict Payal Caprihan Chopra, 28, has
entered over a hundred contests so far. She finally got lucky on website
chaitime.com where she had to answer questions on Bollywood. "I hope
to win a ticket to New York," she beams. Chopra has already sent in
entries for upcoming TV serial Kaun Banega Crorepati which is based on the
same concept.
But can these contests be rigged? "Never," says Malati Puranik,
pr head of
Channel V. "The selection procedure is based on pure
luck." Organisers, however, are not averse to promising the moon and
not delivering. Like Nayyar who was assured she would be put up at a
glitzy hotel. Instead, it turned out to be the YMCA. Well, you win some
you lose some.
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