Microsite competitions can run in many ways depending on several factors, such as prizes on offer, value of prizes, the campaign timeframe, the target audience, and the required engagement levels.

Winning moments

A winning moment competition is one that randomly assigns an exact time and if you’re the first person to enter after one winning moment, and before the next, you win a prize. If it’s a closed campaign though, that moment is closed after a few seconds and no prize is won. So if the top prize is a car and there are potentially 10 to be won, you need to consider the fall out if no cars are won.

A more common approach is to offer hundreds of prizes that WILL be won. A winning moment passes and the first person to play beyond that will win a prize.

Prize Draws

Another option is to run a prize draw. All entrants are put into a draw at the end of a competition and winners are drawn at random. This is a simpler approach but doesn’t have the surprise and delight of a winning moment campaign.

Combination of mechanics

A common concept is to mix mechanics. Running a winning moment campaign but with some prizes kept aside for a final draw from all entries at the end. It offers an excuse to engage with the consumers again to inform  them of their additional chances of winning.

Fixed fee ‘Lucky Number’ algorithm

Fixed fee in detail can be explained here. But in essence it is an insurance style algorithm and policy that protects the budget of the campaign so prize aren’t redeemed. One of the calculations that fixed fee / risk management companies work on is related to how many promotional packs are on shelves in total (The Universe). The odds are then set as the number of prizes against the universe.

For example, if there are 1 Million promotional packs in retailers and there are 1000 prizes to be won, then 1000 numbers are activated as winning numbers. When someone plays the promotion, they are allocated a number within the universe. If that number has been selected as one of the 1000 prize winning numbers then the player wins.