A competition or a contest (in the business-consumer context) generally involves some sort of action on the behalf of the consumer, such as submitting in their ideas, publishing a piece of writing or uploading a video of themselves to the Internet. An example of this would be the frequent promotions on shows shown early weekend mornings, in which children are encouraged to send in their answers to questions or prompts, the finest ones being rewarded with prizes like toys and computer games. Skill therefore comes into it, as the judges select which entry that they feel is the most competent. The disadvantage lies in the fact that it requires an effort by the consumer in order to win something, and as a result many of these competitions are shunned by customers who cannot be bothered thinking of a witty phrase that describes a company “in 25 words or less” or take a video of themselves doing their “craziest Michael Jackson impersonation”. However the fact that less people enter them as opposed to mass promotions increases an entrant’s chance of winning; there is also the added benefit of the winner being recognised for their entry rather than being the “lucky” winner of a reward. Winners of short story and poetry competitions portray this very often.

The increasing trend, however, is to utilise sweepstakes (not the lottery or horse-racing form). These mass promotions offer the chance of winning a prize for virtually no effort at all, and consequently appeal to many; they do not require anything other than for customers to enter their details for a “chance to win”. An example is the set of competitions on sites like www.freestuff4free.com, which often involve nothing more than filling in entry forms. However, many require that entrants subscribe to newsletters and emails as a condition of entry, such as promotions on CNET.com and Coca-cola.com. More and more promotions today are following the sweepstakes style of mass promotion, whereby the simplicity of the process allows for a mass reach into a particular audience, i.e. teenagers or middle-aged men. Given that there are so many competitions offering any type of prize, there has certainly never been a better time for surfers to win cash, items, free stuff or even holidays for little more than 5 minutes of their time. With the advent of the Internet and websites organising these competitions into ordered lists, there are so many opportunities to win. To maximise their chances of winning, one should enter as many competitions as they can, because the chances will logically increase with the number of competitions entered. Furthermore, a customer should enter an equal number of sweepstakes and conventional competitions, as this provides a wide breadth of possible prizes. So rather than going out and just buying that new iPhone outright, have a look on your drink bottle label, the brochure that came in the mail or competition websites; chances are that you will find a competition that suits you and the more you enter, the more you increase your chances of winning something substantial.

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