Contest Marketing

Organizing an online contest is an effective method for a marketing operation that aims at user involvement, customer loyalty, or simply the promotion of new campaigns.

Creating this type of content is not that simple and requires a thorough knowledge of the existing regulations in this area.

At the moment, the law in force in Italy regarding the regularization of contests is the D.P.R. 430/2001 and provides for a fairly complex process to be carried out every time you want to proceed.
Trying to simplify, specifically, the organization of a contest must today include:

• The drafting of an official competition regulation and the compilation of the Prema Co / 1 form to be sent 15 days before the start of the contest;
• The payment of a deposit at the Provincial State Treasurer;
• The involvement of a notary or official of the competent chamber of commerce in the area, to draw up the assignment and closing minutes

Finally, it is necessary to send appropriate communication to the MiSE (Ministry of Economic Development) to undertake planning and carrying out the competition.

Very difficult, you say. Well, not necessarily!
In fact, there are some particular forms of contest that can exclude this bureaucratic process.
In fact, the Ministry does not consider these cases to be subject to the code provided for by the Presidential Decree:

• Competitions that deal with the production of literary, artistic or scientific works or presentation and industrial / commercial studies if the awarding of the prize corresponds to the recognition of the winning work as personal paternity merit;
• Radio broadcasters presenting live contests without promotional purposes for outside companies;
• If the prizes consist of promotional products or coupons, spend them in the same company points of sale;
• Prizes considered to be of modest value, ie below the € 25 threshold;
• Competitions in which the prizes are intended for charities or associations with social purposes

The same regulations described also apply to social media in Italy. In this case, however, there may be specific rules for each platform.
For example Facebook allows you to:

1. Comment or post to proceed with the registration for the contest by the user;
2. Use likes and reactions for the evaluation;
3. Send direct messages to confirm your participation in the competition;

The obligation to share content or the tag of a contact to allow participation in the contest is not valid.
The contests on Instagram have been a great success.
One of the best known case histories is the Pirati in Viaggio contest.

The German online travel agency has in fact asked its users to insert a template with the wishlist made up of three destinations in the stories.
Up for grabs the possibility of being extracted and leaving for the destination of the heart with a companion.

The initiative met with extraordinary success, contributing to the exponential growth of the profile’s followers and attracting the attention of other companies for this type of content and similar initiatives.
Contest Marketing can therefore be an excellent strategy to increase brand awareness and a way to give visibility to the company’s services or products in a rather short time.