contests….
Every now and then i get into a fad called “enter every contest/sweepstakes alive” I have been doing this since i was high school and i’ve been ever since. It’s only a couple times a year when magazines have a billion contests. Before i go on…i have only won one item through out my crazy contest faze. it wasn’t even a good prize. it was a stinky(smelled real bad) lip gloss, but i was sooo happy i won it i used it. I think i do this because:
1.i like getting mail and if i ever do win something freakin’ awesome and i get it thru the mail i would be so pumped. i like surprises.
2. when im bored i go on Allure, Marie Clarie, Jane, Seventeen, etc. and enter all the contests. Some are soo lame but i fill it out anyways! you really never know.
I found myself doing this on Monday of this week at school in the computer lab. And i was thinking of allllllll the contests i have ever entered and i only won one thing. How can i be that unlucky? and Do they even award prizes? are they trying to get your info for spam? I personally do not know anyone who has won a (better than lip gloss) contest prize.
I’d guess that 95 percent of all contests are simply ways of gathering information about consumers so the company can target their ads better.
But, people do win actually them. To support that statement, I’ll point you to one of my previous blog posts:
http://www.seanhenri.com/sean_henri/2007/06/my_plans_for_th.html
Although this contest was through a radio station, not a magazine.
So keep on entering, as long as it doesn’t bother you that you’re participating in marketing research.
PS – I spot my name in that ad above…
No more?