*LEARNING THE RIGHT RULES OF THE GAME (ARTICLE BY JOHN DONOVAN PUBLISHED BY MARKETING WEEK MAGAZINE IN OCTOBER 1985)
Promotional games can be a powerful friend to today’s marketer – or a deadly enemy if mishandled. John Donovan picks his way carefully through a potential minefield
Games are one of the most powerful promotional weapons available.
But when they make headlines, it is no always good news – as the Mirror Group Esso, Asda and Cadbury Typhoo found to their cost recently when their games had to be curtailed or withdrawn. The media take a disproportionate interest in such disasters, often giving them front-page coverage to the exclusion of more important events.
It is still not clear what went wrong with Esso’s Noughts & Crosses game, but reports indicate that too many prizes, big and small, were claimed in the first days of the launch, and a printer’s error is thought to be responsible.The AsdaCash game seemed to have a flaw on the Cashcards, and syndicates of competitors ”broke” the Typhoo Cashpot game.
