504 CHAPTER 15 E-COMMUNICATIONOnline contests and sweepstakes
Related to online games are the Internet versions of contests and sweepstakes. Th ey are particularly
eff ective for generating enthusiasm, building brand recognition and rewarding long-time
customers. Online contests oft en have an offl ine component, for instance in TV or radio ads
to get attention, or on packaging, leafl ets, etc., to communicate the contest. For easy access to
the brand’s website a QR-code can be added. Scanned via a smart phone it leads the consumer
directly to the site. Sometimes other codes such as access codes or lottery numbers are dis-
tributed either in or on packaging but relate to the brand’s (promotional contest) website. A
contest should arouse a customer’s interest and demand interaction. E-contests can just draw
winners at random (sweepstake) or ask for a certain skill or creative involvement (contest).^74
For example, Heineken celebrated its 140th birthday by off ering the design community the
chance to create a limited edition bottle via Facebook. Part of the competition required the
designer to pair up his or her design with another designer through Facebook.
Heineken received over 30 000 entries across 100 countries. Th e top 100 designs were
presented to a jury in New York where they were judged on their creativity and also their
complementary pairing. Heineken produced 1 million bottles of the winning design for
worldwide sale.^75 Just like advergames, online contests seem to be growing in popularity. Keys to
success are an appropriate play value of the contest and appropriate incentives to participate.
Th e latter is determined by the business a company is involved in and the goal of the contest.
For instance, if the objective of the contest is to create a customer database, a company should
off er one of its products as a prize. Th is relevancy will attract the right entrants, since pro-
viding an incentive to people who can and will buy your products and services should be the
goal. A contest or sweepstake with a high number of participants might look successful at fi rst
sight but, if it attracts the wrong people, namely those who enter any contest just to win
something, the campaign will not be eff ective and customer acquisition costs will rise. Prizes
should also create a sense of value, uniqueness and emotional appeal to winners. If the prize
is large enough or attractive enough, people will take the time to enter and fulfi l requirements
such as registration and they will even share the contest with their friends and colleagues. Of
course, contests and sweepstakes will only work if people know about them, and if you want
people to come back regularly, it will be necessary to award prizes on a daily or weekly basis.^76E-sampling and e-couponing
Companies (especially those in the consumer packaged goods business) can use the Internet
as a means of promoting their products by sampling or couponing, for instance banner
advertising leads consumers to a data-capture page where they leave their details to receive
samples or coupons. Traditionally, brands had few options for reaching consumers with a
sample: sampling at events, on street corners, in the mailbox, with newspapers or magazines,
on door hangers and in-store sampling. Th e Internet adds a new way of sampling (combined
with mail addresses) at a lower cost per converted person because of the opt-in request.is in line with the reinforcement of primacy and recency effects principle: both the first and the last elements in a
list result in a higher impact in comparison with all other elements in the list. Other studies on sequence bias in an
online environment have found evidence for primacy effects,^71 recency effects,^72 and primacy and recency effects
reinforcement.^73
After reading the reviews, potential buyers retain some of the review information in their short-term memory.
This recalled information forms the basis of their attitudes and behavioural intention towards the reviewed object.
When people perceive the reviews to be more useful, their impression towards the reviewed object becomes a
stronger predictor of their attitude and behaviour than when they perceive the reviews to be less useful. These find-
ings are also consistent with the accessibility–diagnosticity framework.M15_PELS3221_05_SE_C15.indd 504M15_PELS3221_05_SE_C15.indd 504 6/6/13 8:55 AM6/6/13 8:55 AM