Ticket contest ideas are a proven way to inexpensively market your event and raise awareness. The hot new trend of incorporating social media is being put to excellent use by events like the US Open, but any type of event can get the same value...
Heineken's US Open Ticket Giveaway
Everybody loves a good ticket giveaway contest. Ticket contests have been a staple for advertising since the advent of radio in the 1930s. The very latest example of the tried and true ticket contest is Heineken's high profile giveaway for US Open tickets. Heineken has put a decidedly modern twist on the venerable ticket giveaway by making it a virtual scavenger hunt using the popular social photo sharing service Instagram.
The contest, called 'Crack the US Open', is segmented into rounds to maximize the number of opportunities to win, as Petpixel explains:
The beer company has some tickets to the US Open Men’s Final to give away, but instead of using the old “pick a random Facebook fan” method, Heineken has taken to Instagram and created a whole new account exclusively for this purpose.
The account is called @crack_the_us_open, and on it, Heineken has painstakingly uploaded a massive panorama of the US Open crowd. Using your smartphone and the Instagram app, you can turn your phone into landscape orientation and actually scroll through the account’s feed and see the panorama as it was meant to be seen.
The challenge is to find specific photos/people in the crowd, leave a comment with the given “codeword,” and find the next clue. The first person to find the right photo and leave the codeword is given a pair of tickets.
A previous post that looked at ticket contests did so specifically for restaurants and food fairs, but the business value of contests in general comes from the free advertising spread by participants. But one need not have the big budget of the US Open and Heineken to conduct a successful ticket contest - but some clever ideas are a must! The clever Instagram scavenger hunt contest works well for events of any size. The House of Rock in Corpus Christi, Texas recently ran their own ticket contest for one of their live shows.
Important - No matter what type of ticket contest ideas you come up with, fulfillment is critical. Not delivering on a promise is a sure fire way to spoil the excitement your ticket contest winner feels. As soon as you pick a contest winner, make every reasonable effort to get that person their tickets right away (aka "fulfillment"). How fulfillment is performed is up to you so long as the winner isn't left completely empty handed.
If it is practical, have them stop by the venue and pick up the tickets, even if the event is weeks away. If an in-person pick-up cannot be made to happen right away, then politely ask for some form of contact information, like an email address or permission to send a Twitter direct message. Using email, you can send a coupon redemption code, or generate a $0.00 sale using your ticketing software, and get those tickets out to the winner.
Time is of the essence! The sooner you make the connection with your contest winner, the sooner they can start sharing the news with their friends - and that is more awareness for your event!
Ticket Contest Ideas Start With The Ticketing Software
Coming up with clever ticket contest ideas is step one and choosing the right ticketing software for fulfillment is step two. ThunderTix has the tools you need to get the prize winner their tickets within minutes. Sending a coupon code via email, or use our box office PoS functionality to print out thermal paper tickets for in-person pick-up. The choice is yours!