Food for thought?

demon_princezz

Just thought I'd throw this into the forum as something to chew on - a friend of mine works on a monthly magazine which usually runs a competition.

She told me that they never usually received more than 100 entries for the issue and a couple of months ago, found that their inbox was swamped with entries one day. They goggled the name of their publication + competition and found that it had been posted on a site (she didn't say which one) with the question, answer and email address to send it to.

She said that they were quite annoyed that this had been done as it seemed to them that the people who had emailed in were not 'real' readers of the magazine, and as such, shouldn't be allowed to win, and so automatically discounted the entries that had been received from that day on.

Maybe worth considering if you only enter comps via the comps ending list?

wendy+5

They're hardly likely to get any new readers now, are they?

NoNameWoman

Is it actually legal for them to discount certain entries? What if a "real" reader emailed them on that day???

aggie

That is very naughty as a lot of genuine readers would have entered on or after that day. If they're concerned about only having genuine readers entering they should have a postal only competition using a coupon in the mag. They are at fault if they make the comp one that anyone can enter.

Also, having the comp on these sites generates a certain amount of advertising for the company. I've discovered and used lots of companies that I would never otherwise have heard of.

EverDecreasingCircles

Thank you. The truth is, we never really know what happens 'behind closed doors' and your post just proves that things aren't always done in the appropriate way.

I'm sure there are plenty of companies out there who do do things honestly though, as this part of the forum shows.

Your point about the comps ending threads is a fair one though.

Jen x

trader_girl

does it say no purchase necessary in the comp rules?
if it does surely the applications should be valid or the mag is breaking its own rules?

kisto

demon_princezz wrote: »

Maybe worth considering if you only enter comps via the comps ending list?

But this doesn't quite make sense because while they would receive a lot of entries in a short space of time, if the comps was listed on the comps ending list, likewise they would probably also receive a bulk load of entries when it is first originally posted.

For example with this post - it was posted at 4:22pm - 2 hours later and it's already been thanked by over 80 people and viewed by over 200.

Also competitions are pretty much always used as a marketing tool. This magazine has missed a trick by not embracing the 100's of extra entries and using it to increase the readership/brand awareness of their magazine. Deleting those entries is most definitely their loss.

PasturesNew

Clearly a company run by a couple of chattering wives who don't know the first thing about growing a business and marketing and probably run it between hair salon appointments and having their nails done.

They should stick to Church Newsletters and produce little booklets on jam recipes to sell at the WI Fete.

How small minded - and probably illegal.

azp74

I'm with everyone else - that sounds illegal, especially as they'd have no way of knowing who had entered from the site and who hadn't. They might seriously want to review that practice as someone will find out the name of this magazine and dob them in (I know I would, whether or not a friend worked there!).

geranium72

Isn't there some regulatory body (ISP?) which would have major words with them if that was known or reported

They should have very clear terms and conditions on any comp and if it is open to all, it is open to all, regardless of readership

demon_princezz

kisto wrote: »

But this doesn't quite make sense because while they would receive a lot of entries in a short space of time, if the comps was listed on the comps ending list, likewise they would probably also receive a bulk load of entries when it is first originally posted.

For example with this post - it was posted at 4:22pm - 2 hours later and it's already been thanked by over 80 people and viewed by over 200.

Also competitions are pretty much always used as a marketing tool. This magazine has missed a trick by not embracing the 100's of extra entries and using it to increase the readership/brand awareness of their magazine. Deleting those entries is most definitely their loss.

True, but in this case it's quite a niche magazine and the prizes aren't like holidays or TVs that would generate much interest when it was first posted I would imagine, so may likely have been skipped over on first glance and then had a load of entries from the people that only use the comps ending list or lurkers that would just enter anything...

Certainly not every comp organiser is going to act in this way, but no one really knows what goes on behind closed doors - I'm just not going to rely on the comps ending list and will try to enter all the ones I really want to a couple of days before they end just in case...