Everyone seems to know the Channel Five 'Gadget Show' competition, and lately we've noticed a spike in the number of clients looking to replicate it.
As you can imagine, there's a number of boxes to be ticked if this type of prize offering is going to work for you. Certainly you need to know your audience... and build a prize bundle that's going to appeal. Better to build a mix of prizes aimed squarely at your demographic, than offer a broad spread of prizes that capture the imagination of no one in particular. With the Gadget Show, the theme is technology, but this notion of finding the unifying theme for the audience would equally apply for any of our broadcast or print clients.
Knowing the size of your audience is all important too - it enables partnerships to be put in place with brands interested in being part of your prize bundle.
You may well be able to reduce the prize costs by illustrating the value of the media space to partners, but that's only possible if a) you know our audience, and b) you know the size of it too. And then there's the issue of the coverage itself. Getting brands in place is only half the battle... it's important to keep them too. You shouldn't promise the Earth if you can't deliver - not if you want to keep them as long term partners. With an objective of agreeing long term partnerships, it remains essential to present the opportunity correctly, and to manage expectations. Make recordings of transmission available, and keep contacts informed if their product is going to get a particular mention.One more thing - some of those brands may need a little tough love. It's great when they agree to donate the prizes in a contra deal, but some need chasing a little more than others when it comes to actually getting the product from them. No doubt you will have a deadline to get the prizes to the winners - sometimes the brands need reminding of that.
Get it right and you'll have a prize offering that viewers look forward to, and they might just remember as an editorial part of the show.
New Trend in Prizing - The Prize Bundles