Why the Fee?

We’ve been asked why we charge a fee to enter our sweepstakes. This comes from a long tradition in direct marketing of charging fees for products. We attempt to be as clear and straightforward as possible when marketing our merchandise.

First, there is no charge to enter the IAT sweepstakes—ever! Entry is free. Just fill out the registration form and send it back. If you win, you pay nothing. We award you the prize.

Second, we sometimes use the word ‘fee’ in our brochures but this is meant as the ‘purchase price’ or ‘cost’ for the promotional product. Only if you choose to buy the jewellery or some other promotional item do you pay this fee. You can send back the filled out entry form and your order at the same time. You only pay for the jewellery. Or, if you only want to enter the sweepstakes, you can just send the entry form.

Always make sure you read the rules and regulations before you enter any sweepstakes or lottery. You will note that all IAT rules say: NO PURCHASE OR CHARGE IS NECESSARY IN ORDER TO ENTER, NOR WILL A PURCHASE INCREASE ODDS OF WINNING.

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Sweepstakes as a Promotional Tool

Sweepstakes have been used as a legitimate form of promotion and advertising for many decades. Many merchandisers and Fortune 500 companies, from food to vehicle manufacturers have used sweepstakes. Without looking too far today you can probably find a promotional sweepstakes on a box of cereal, a candy bar wrapper, the back of a package, in a magazine, a mailed brochure and on a company website.

Sweepstakes have become an effective form of marketing for companies. By offering a prize, or prizes, sales and recognition of brands and products are greatly increased. A promotional sweepstakes is often tied into a product. When you receive this information you can read up about the product. Even if there is no immediate purchase, the product information will often stay with you so that when you decide to buy product X, you will often think of the information you already read.

You may be asked to do a survey or a quiz. These are other means of finding out how much you know about the products and what you think of them. Others will ask for a proof of purchase (such as food or healthy & beauty aids) to enter the contest though often the fine print mentions that you can enter without this requirement. What the proof of purchase information gives, is which products you’re buying and the percentage of customers who will read far enough to get to the sweepstakes information.

When you register for a sweepstakes many companies will then use that information to send further promotional products. Often, they have a spot that you can check as to receiving additional material. You might also receive a store-based promotion when shopping, which requires you to match pieces by either going to a website and checking the code, or by gathering other game pieces to form a word or match symbols.

The basic reason for any promotional sweepstakes is that by having a free prize give-away, combined with product information, the company gains more advertising, consumer awareness, sales and information. Sometimes, a sweepstakes will provide a person with the opportunity to buy a product for a modest fee. Just a sampling of some products in which you’ll find sweepstakes attached: software, hiking gear, auto manufacturers, jewellery, sports equipment, makeup, food products, movie theatres, clothing and airlines. And in all cases, you can’t win unless you enter.

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