Again, they asked NHA to produce a batch of 710,000 tags with unique numbers hidden by a latex scratch-off panel with a small hole drill-punched at the top so they could be attached to the product.

At short notice they needed 90,000 tags to accompany their Tatty Puppy range. Each tag to have an individual number which the buyer could register on the web site for extra goodies. The main issue was going to be delivery – shipping to China is never a quick option.

Normal production time for scratchcards is around two weeks but we managed to twist a few arms and despatch them within 7 days – narrowly meeting the target date so the tags could be applied to the Tatty Puppies and be sent back to the UK in time for Christmas.

A further 30,000 were produced and despatched to China a month later for the follow-up production run.

Update: And another 19,ooo in November. With yet more in January 2012 – another 12,000.

The user feedback has been very positive which is just as well. Without it we could easily have concluded there just isn’t the demand.

It’s a simple promotional scratchcard system that replicates the interactivity of a conventional printed scratchcard but does it online. It’s a lot cheaper than a printed promotion, can be set-up within a matter of hours and can be delivered via a link on a website or via e-mail so there are no distribution costs to consider either.

We’ve tried all the usual marketing activities: Email campaigns, direct mail, word-of-mouth, networking – but none has shown a significant return.

What makes it even more frustrating is the reluctance of people to accept that they can actually win something for nothing. As you would imagine each of our campaigns features one of our own scratchcard promotions with several prizes of discounts against promotions and a handful of main prizes of a completely free promotion.

Of the five big winners in the past six months, only one has taken up the offer – very happy with the results they were too. So much so, that they have since paid for a second promotion for another of their products.

When compared against the accepted industry practice, the e-mail campaign stats are the most puzzling. We’ve tried an assortment of message combinations: with and without images; html against plain text; alternative colour schemes. The results have been pretty consistent with between 8 and 13% openings and 3 to 5% click-throughs. So the messages are obviously presented in a way that encourages people to, at least, look at them, and often play the game.

So it must be something to do with the system itself. Is the idea incomprehensible? Is it a lack of imagination as to how a promotion can be used? Is it all too much trouble or too technical?

Have a look for yourself, try the system out and let us know what you think: http://www.promotionalscratchcards.co.uk

The problem: increasing productivity without spending a fortune or upsetting the status quo.

One solution: an online scratchcard promotion

We’ve developed an online promotional scratchcard system that fits the criteria to a “T”. Scratchcards can be delivered via e-mail or a web page link and have the same promotional benefits and user enjoyment as a printed one yet cost significantly less (and are less messy!).

The game can be completely personalised and branded so they make an ideal way to broadcast internal messages.

People do like a scratchcard – it’s to do with the interactivity – and the chance of winning something. So, using an online scratchcard promotion to motivate your staff increases the likelihood of a successful result.

You can try our promotion for nothing to see how it works – the main prize is a free promotion so you could end up getting yours for nothing. Give it a go>>

For more information on how it works >>

A few ideas for using them:

• Incentivise your sales force
• Say “Thank you” to your employees
• Transmit corporate messages in an entertaining and involving way
• Motivate employees to become stakeholders

Because of this we receive many more enquires than orders – so now we’ve developed a promotional scratchcard system that can be played online. And can be delivered at a fraction of the cost of a conventional printed scratchcard.

A promotion can be delivered to your target via a link on your website or in an e-mail and can be used for any number of things:

• target new business prospects
• remind lapsed customers of your existence
• incentivise your staff
• promote a new product or service
• boost traffic to your website

The promotion can be fully branded and customised to reflect your brand values and design themes.
Read more

Scratchcards or Scratch Cards?

Why Scratchcards?

1. Interactivity: for a start people just love them; give someone a scratchcard and they’ll have the latex off before you can blink, especially with the added frisson of winning something for nothing.
2. Memorability: interactivity provides an attractive bonus in the form of memorability. People just appear to be better able to remember a promotion/brand when they’ve had do something mechanical
3. Adaptability: with nothing coming “off the shelf” the game, the design and everything else can be tuned to provide a completely personalised promotion to support any marketing activity you like and enhance brand values.

They’re Cheaper than ever

Historically small print runs of just a couple of thousand cards have looked disproportionally expensive. There are three separate processes involved, each with its own minimum charge, so economies of scale didn’t kick in until you produced 5000 or so cards.

The introduction of more modern machinery and techniques has seen the production costs fall so that the minimum cost is now getting on for half what it was ten years ago.

Nowadays you can have your own personalised scratchcard promotion, with a game tailored to your exact needs for well under £1000.

Well here’s a good place

I’m discussing short runs of between 1,000 and 50,000 copies in this article as once you get into much bigger quantities the machinery required to produce them economically requires a different approach.

Size

Anything you want!

In real life A6 (148 x 105mm) and A5 (148 x 210mm) are the most popular sizes, entirely due to economics. The cards are printed on sheets that are multiples of the basic A4 size so there’s less wastage with these sizes.

Colours

Anything you want!

Again, real life normally limits this to the hundreds of thousands of shades available with 4 process colours but if you really must have a lurid lime green or “that” particular pastel colour then any printable colour is available.

The most common combination is to have full colour (from the process colours) on one side and then just black on the back for the dreaded Ts & Cs.

The Game

Nearly all games are derived from a very simple “match the pictures” formula. This is ideally suited to promotional cards as brand values can be enhanced by using the product itself.

For example, we produced a batch of cards for Eurofighter to be used at the Farnborough and Berlin air shows and the game featured a series of different pictures of the plane itself so it didn’t matter which scratch-off was removed there was always a pic of the plane waiting underneath.

Exactly the same idea can be used whether you’re promoting a bar (match the bottles anybody?) or a comedy festival.

Winners and Losers

As the cards are printed on much larger sheets, the relative quantities of winning and losing cards can be carefully controlled and monitored. Cards can be either randomly shuffled together or kept separate.

Terms and Conditions

These follow a formula: “The British Code of Advertising and Sales Promotion” established by the Advertising Standards Authority. Apart from restrictions on what you can and can’t promote to children, there are two broad categories: with or without a required purchase.

Once we know which category the promotion falls within it’s out with the boilerplate and time to fill in the gaps so it’s not something you really need to worry about as we can lead you through the whole process.

And that’s about all there is to it!