Promotions 2.0Blurring the line between interactive advertising, promotions and social network marketing.

January 16th, 2009

5 Steps to Successful Consumer-Generated Contests

This year Super Bowl advertisers including Doritos and Samsung are integrating Consumer-Generated Contests (CGC) into their campaigns because of their ability to generate buzz & deeply engage consumers with their brands, but CGC can also be a nightmare for brands if they aren’t executed correctly.

While you can’t control what consumers might say about your brand, there are a few things you can do to ensure your consumer-generated contests stay on track.

1. Make sure it’s Legal
First, make sure you have a legal promotion. Check with legal counsel or make sure your agency does — but remember, if you have all three elements of prize, chance and consideration, your promotion is illegal. Don’t forget that allowing viewers to vote on submissions can create chance so make sure your promotion is structured correctly.

2. Create Comprehensive Rules
The contest rules serve as the contract between a sponsor and the entrant, and therefore will provide you with a greater degree of protection against claims from participants if the rules are drafted correctly. With UGC, you are going to want to be as specific as possible in terms of what participants can and cannot submit. The rules should also provide the sponsor with the right to use the submitted content if you plan to use it as part of a marketing or viral campaign.

3. Limit Content (when Necessary)
To limit any potential liability for violating third-party rights, many sponsors are providing specific content that can be used in submissions, including music, photos and video clips. In these instances, the sponsor licenses the content for the promotion in advance, and requires entrants to use only that content.

4. Screen Submissions
Screening will help you avoid embarrassing situations like the one Chevrolet experienced a couple of years ago in connection with its Chevy Tahoe UGC promotion that let individuals create a 30-second spots for the Chevy Tahoe. Unfortunately, the most widely circulated ads were merciless attacks, highlighting the gas guzzling SUV’s as environmental threats.

5. Generate Buzz
In order to generate traffic to your contest you will need to aggressively promote it across multiple channels, such as e-mail, Web sites, social networks, and other media. Also make sure to add Social bookmarking tools into your site to ensure participants share their content with others.