When you?re at a loose end and don?t know what to do, why not go on an entry form safari. Or after reading this, perhaps you?ll decide not to bother.
Now you?ve heard of hunting for elusive forms, but my latest safari takes some beating. Unless you know different of course.
Wearing my "Sherlock Holmes" hat, I set off to track down some elusive entry forms, to maximise chances of winning prizes.
Searching on top of freezer cabinets and peering in between display racks or the side of the check out, is all part of "the fun of the chase".
The more "elusive?" a competition, the less entrants, therefore the better your chances of winning a prize.
My friend won a fabulous holiday to Egypt by being observant combined with a bit of luck. She noticed some tiny forms tucked down by the side of the check out till in her local store. Reading the text, all she had to do was complete her details and pop into the in-store box. Finding the box was like searching for a needle in a haystack. Eventually, she located it ? on top of a high shelf.
Donning basketball player skills, she retrieved the box and noted there were about nine entries in there. Obviously another nine "would-be winners" like herself. She dropped her form in the box. The next day the store manager phoned.
"Do you remember entering our competition to win a trip down the Nile?" he quizzed. "Yes." "Well I?m delighted to tell you you?ve won first prize."
Now the interesting thing about this story is that there was a holiday to be won every day for ten days. By the tenth day, the prize box was located at the front entrance to the store, where you couldn?t possibly miss it - and there were literally thousands of entries in there.
My friend?s odds of winning were ten to one. On the tenth day her odds were several thousands to one.
But back to my entry form safari. Having toured up and down aisles, looking in obvious and not so obvious places for entry forms, it never crossed my mind to include the manager?s office or "out of bound" drawers under cosmetic display stands.
I could just imagine his or her face, if you poked your head round the door, and grabbing a pile of papers off the desk, said with a cheeky grin: "Don?t mind me. I?m just looking where you?ve hidden your latest competition".
Probably at some time or other, you?ve asked staff at the customer care stand if they have a particular entry form, only to be met with blank looks as though you?re from a different planet. Or perhaps a helpful member of staff has ventured forth into the manager?s office to "have a look for you", only to return empty handed.
Now I was aware that a well-known cosmetic manufacturer had organised a free prize draw to win a fantastic holiday to Brazil in a promotion which featured a new movie at cinemas.
So I ventured into a well-known high street store to check out their cosmetic display stand. No entry forms.
However there was a small compartment in the stand which held some leaflets. Whilst taking one out the whole lot tipped over and an assistant immediately rushed to my aid to help me put them back and enquire what I was looking for. I mentioned the competition.
"Oh I know the one you mean", she beamed at me.
Oh good, I thought. "Have you got an entry form I could have please?"
"Sorry," she continued, "I've put them to throw out".
"Throw out?" I queried in sheer amazement, "but it doesn't close for another six weeks."
"Oh it does," she said, "it closed last week."
I asked if she had a form.
"Think I put them in the back office," she said. "No, wait a minute, they may be in this drawer", and reaching into the drawer under the cosmetic stands she whipped out a whole pile of entry forms.
"There", she said, pointing to last week's date.
"Oh, but that's the date the film comes out on release", I said, "look here's the closing date - at the end of next month".
"Are you going to put them back on display then?" I quizzed.
"No", she responded, "there's no room. I had put them in there", she pointed at the slot which housed the forms I'd almost tipped on the floor, "but when the manufacturer sent this new promotion", which incidentally wasn't a competition, "I had nowhere to put the Brazil entry forms", she explained.
"Couldn't you put them at the end of the check out?" I queried. "No. That's where we put all the nappy promotions."
"Well", I pursued this line of reasoning, "how about on the end of that counter there."
"No room'" she said.
"So what" I asked, thinking this was getting us nowhere, "are you going to do with that pile of entry forms?"
Closing the drawer she said, "I'll leave them here for a while, then throw them away."
Telling her I could pass those entry forms onto people who'd love to enter, I asked if they were destined for the waste bin, could I take them.
"Of course", she replied.
Opening the drawer, she handed me the lot. You'll be pleased to know they didn't go to waste and were subsequently distributed to eager compers.
Now let's look at this through the eyes of a promoter. They have taken the time and effort to design the entry form, have it printed and distributed to stores, to place in the compartment on their cosmetic stand for customers to take one and enter. Now if you can't see the forms, how can you enter?
Organising a competition or promotion as they are referred to, is another form of advertising. It may be that the promoter wants you to buy and try their product, so they offer the chance to win a fabulous prize in their tiebreaker slogan competition. In the UK the Law states that if a purchase is required to enter a contest, it must be one where winning depends on your skill, as in a tiebreaker competition.
Or perhaps, as appears to be in this instance as it was a free prize draw to win a holiday in Brazil, they simply want to draw your attention to a new film at the cinema, and a new colour in their cosmetic range. Entering the prize draw, you're also reading about their product.
Promoters know how many entry forms are distributed and may take into account a variety of reasons for low redemption figures. Yet I wonder if they count `no one entered because the forms weren't available' as one of the reasons.
Imagine had this competition had one major prize and a runner-up prize in every store, what the local result would have been. No prizes for guessing.
Recently, visiting another city, I spotted an entry form to win a hi-fi system in a "one prize in every store" contest. Enquiring at my local branch, I was told they'd not heard about it. Asking every day at the customer care department eventually resulted in forms appearing - wait for it - on the last date of the promotion. I entered. I wonder if it was the "luck of the draw" that my entry was picked. Or may be I was the only entrant from my store! Makes you wonder doesn't it?
I wonder if you're ready to venture for your first entry form safari - after all, its great if its fun you're giraffter!
Lynne Suzanne is a freelance writer and author of Win With Lynne Intaslogans, Pun-ch Lines! and Win Your Fortune in Prizes. FREE Win With Lynne - How to Win guide. http://www.win-with-lynne.co.uk
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