The Scoop on PromotionsProject Support Team Blog

April 19th, 2011

What’s the Catch?

The highlight of any Sweepstakes, Game, or Contest is the prizes offered. So when you notify a winner of their windfall you’d expect they’d be overjoyed – no? Half the time, yes. The other half, understandably, is suspicion before the joy, which it’s hard not to be in this day and age.

There are a few ways a consumer can validate the legitimacy of a promotion, and a few red flags to look for in a scam.

What to do:

1. Who’s calling you? Either the Sponsor will be contacting you directly, or their promotion administration agency. In either case, they should be providing you with a direct contact name/number for questions. Call it back, look it up online, or whatever other means to make sure they’re calling you from a ‘real’ location.

2. If you’re being contacted from a promotion administration agency, check out their website. Most have a list of past projects and current clients – review the list as a way to help validate the relationship between the agency and the Sponsor and the promotion you’ve won.

3. Check out the promotion that you’ve won. Do you remember entering? Oftentimes, consumers who have won via an automatic purchase-based promotion may or not be aware the campaign is going on since the entry mechanism is so passive. More often than not now, the promotion is advertised online so you can visit the microsite directly to review the details. If not, ask to see a copy of the Official Rules. Even when consumers enter promotions directly by filling out an entry form or by playing a game, they may forget entering – the Sponsor/agency contact should be able to walk you through the program details to help jog your memory so you’re making a well-informed decision before accepting a prize.

What not to do:

1. A legitimate promotion will never require you to pay to receive a prize. You also will never be asked to provide your credit card or other account information. Throw up the red flag if you are being pressured for this information.

2. Keep in mind that in compliance with Federal law, Sponsors are legally required to file a 1099-MISC tax form for all winners receiving prize(s) valued over $600 (winners will be required to pay taxes to the government in the year the prize is awarded). With this, winners will be required to provide their Social Security number on their Affidavit of Eligibility & Release, so it is key to make sure you’re comfortable your information is going to a secure, legitimate source before replying.

3. As a Sponsor, making sure your general Customer Service Representatives are apprised of your current promotions is key to making the winner validation process as smooth as possible. It is alarming when a consumer calls to validate a program and the 800# representative is unaware of the program. If they cannot validate the programs directly, make sure there is a process in place for agents to redirect such calls to the main marketing/promotions department to handle directly.