Make sure everyone wins

I am one of those people who never won anything at any contest! I've collected thousands of soft drink caps, looked behind loads of tea labels and searched below paint boxes to find the magic numbers,... numbers that would make me win something... anything!!

Well, wait a second... I did win something once, yes, I can recall at age ten I was trying to look for the jackpot numbers under Pepsi bottles that would earn me a ticket to go see the finals of the cricket world-cup in South Africa, but instead the numbers I got, entitled me only to an A3 poster of the players.

Now whenever I sit around with friends and the topic of contests or lotteries come up, I tell them this story. Why?? because I actually managed to win something once, even though it was a lame poster!

So my point is, if you have an event or a corporate gala, don't give out everything as freebies, package some of the things in such a way that it means something to the recipients. This will make them remember that they 'won' something rather than just 'receiving' it. And make sure ‘everyone’ wins, as this increases the chances of getting the story to people who weren't there. Be clever with it. But How? There are tons of ways you could do that. For example at a television game show ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’, car manufacturer Hyundai surprised everyone by deciding to give all ten participants (not only the winner) a car each at the end of a game show rather than investing an equivalent amount in a couple of commercial breaks for a certain episode.

Now that’s clever marketing! because that is a story, and people like telling stories. And it works, especially if you have even one winner like me, who just won a poster once and now goes around town telling his story and unintentionally increasing the brand awareness of Pepsi!