Digital: Winners that may be losing out

The growth of the internet has thrown up opportunities for brands, publications and data-capture companies to offer competitions online, fundamentally changing the activity. Not only is it quicker to put out a competition online than in print, but it is easier to pick a winner. But there are questions in some quarters as to whether digital is a good thing.

The growing popularity of online competitions has seen website theprizefinder.com's user database grow to 245,000, proving there is consumer demand. The site itself, which has been in business since 1998, acts as a link to other competitions and conveniently sorts them in terms of prize category. It offers around 200 competitions a day.

The site's marketing manager, Gavin Rubenstein, says its free subscription model is based on listing all competitions without charge. However, if you want your competition to take priority, then there is a fee, either fixed or based on results. The majority of companies that look to do this are data capture.

Use of competitions by data companies is big business and there are a large number of schemes in play. Many are also looking to diversify and become more sector-specific. For example, the market leader in data-capture competitions, PDV, has announced it is launching an online book club competition in addition to an existing DVD one. All data competitions, though free, insist on the entrant filling out a questionnaire and, in some cases, agreeing to take a sales call.

Data giant Experian has it own company - justrewards.co.uk - and counts American Express among its clients. Its head of consensus digital, Patrice Bendon, says: "We're completely transparent about what we are. We found that a lot of people just want cash. But the companies sometimes like to supply their own prizes, as there's already going to be an interest in that from the consumer and it helps promote the companies' own brands."

Many competition enthusiasts, or compers, steer clear of data-capture competitions, preferring to enter those created by consumer brands in the belief they are more trustworthy - that is, they are actually picking winners. Bendon points out that all its winners are published and adds: "We're Experian. We have to be whiter than white."

Still, concerns remain that the numerous competitions on the web are not what they seem. According to ISP chairman Clive Mishon, lack of compliance with the society's code is becoming a problem. The suspicion - shared by the comping community - is that some promoters running web competitions assume they're not subject to the same rules as, for example, those governing on-pack promos.

"The number of complaints we're getting about competitions is rising every day," says Mishon. "This is because there's a lack of compliance by the people putting them together." Speed may also be part of the problem, as competitions can be thrown together online. "There might have been fewer in the past but people used to be professional about it."

The rise in online competitions has also proved unpopular with compers, who have historically preferred a postal mechanic. This can allow the sender to create standout around their own card - some even perfume them - in an effort to lower the odds. Online, the picking is usually done randomly by computer. Jo Hardern, editor of comper magazine Winner's Friend, says: "The compers I speak to all prefer postcard entry and comps that require skill. That said, they are moving towards entering more comps on the internet and by text, and do win from them too."

Many may like the idea of searching out postal competitions requiring tiebreaker catchphrases but times appear to be changing. Hardern says: "With the cost of stamps going up and people becoming eco-friendly, perhaps compers will see the benefits of digital marketing as well as the promoters."

WINNERS' GALLERY

December saw the creation of winnersgallery.co.uk, a website jointly launched by Winner's Friend and the ISP to provide greater transparency in competitions. The site was designed to save compers the trouble of writing to a brand or company for proof that a competition had been won.

The decision to launch the site followed last year's outcry over TV phone-in fiascos. Talk on comper forums suggested some people were considering contacting the media over promoter non-compliance with advertising regulations.

In mid-May, there were about 100 winners featured on the site. Considering Prizefinders offered more than 200 competitions in one day in May, it would appear winnersgallery has not been that effective thus far. Winner's Friend editor Jo Hardern says it is still being picked up as a central source by FMCG players and other companies. "It takes a while to build relationships. It's just gradually beginning to be used," she says.