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Who can enter a prize draw?

By Sarah Burns on May 23, 2013

One of the most common mistakes we find when checking prize promotion terms and conditions is to do with geography. The CAP code 8.17.7 requires that promoters must make include any geographical restrictions in their terms and conditions so if a promoter wanted to only allow astronauts on the International space station to enter, this is acceptable within the code along as it was made clear upfront to consumers.

Most promoters however, simply want to exclude residents overseas from entering their promotion and this is where the error regularly rears its ugly head – promoters often seem unclear what constitutes the United Kingdom as per the following examples; ‘prize promotion is open to all UK residents and Northern Ireland’, ‘prize draw is open to UK residents excluding Northern Ireland’ – you’d be surprised at the number of variations we see.

Promoters please note: Northern Ireland is part of the UK. The correct term to use is ‘The prize promotion is open to all residents of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland)’.

If you need to exclude residents of NI – and there are legitimate reasons why you may need to do so, the Gambling ACT 2005 for instance, then your prize should be open to residents of Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales).

We hope this helps you get it right, too!

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Who won a visit from Ashleigh & Pudsey?

By Sarah Burns on May 20, 2013

We’re lucky to work on absolutely brilliant prize promotions here at Spark & Fuse and just recently a particular project brought great joy to our office. As part of a campaign to encourage the UK to get walking, Tesco Magazine launched a competition offering schools the chance to win a visit from Britain’s Got Talent winners, Ashleigh & Pudsey, plus pedometers for every pupil at the school!

It was our role to ensure the competition was compliant in the first instance and then oversee the judging process, providing an independent judge with just the right sort of experience to help select the winning entry. As we were also responsible for prize fulfilment, once chosen, we had to call the lucky winner – a mum in Brighton to tell her the great news; Ashleigh and Pudsey were going visit her child’s school! It was one of those phone calls where everyone in the office stayed really quite so we could all hear her squeals of delight.

Ashleigh & Pudsey entertain the winning school

And not only did we dispatch pedometers to the winning school, we sent pedometers to every pupil at three runners-up schools, too. Over a thousand children benefitted from this great competition.

You can read more about Ashleigh & Pudsey’s visit to the winning school here at Tesco Magazine online http://www.tescomagazine.com/blog/pupils-have-talent.html

Why I became a comper

By Spark and Fuse on May 16, 2013

Ever wondered what inspires someone to become a comper? We asked Jane Willis, competition expert and owner/editor of The Grapevine to share a little bit of her history with us and we loved her response. Here it is…

Why does somebody become a comper? Is it the lure of something for nothing, or the search for an inexpensive hobby, or is it something more ingrained than that? In my case, I think it was inherited from my grandmother. She was a comper, although if the word had been invented back in the 1950s, she’d never heard of it.

Thanks to her, I won my first prize, a pen, pencil and ruler set from the Wigan Observer, when I was just three years old. Grandma made comping fun-  I spent hours with her making as many words as we could from the name of a brand of toothpaste, for which we shared her prize of a postal order for 1/3d (about 6p), I whooped with joy with her when we opened a packet of crisps and found that the blue twist containing the salt also had a “Congratulations, you have won a case of crisps” note in it, and I helped her to spot the “mystery soap powder man” on Rhyl promenade to win a year’s supply of washing powder.

Competitors Journal

Competitors Journal

I learned to read from her copies of Competitors Journal (and Coats’ Guide to Pineapple Crochet which is probably responsible for my other hobby of crafting) and longed to be a winner like her when I grew up. Simply because it looked like so much fun!

She passed away when I was quite young, but I continued to enter the competitions in my comics, winning occasional small prizes. One of my favourites was a fluffy Harold Hare badge which had to be sewn on my dressing gown. But there weren’t many competitions for children, or at least without Grandma around to motivate me I couldn’t find them, so I gradually lost interest.

Then when I went to University, I made a friend who was always able to have trips to the cinema, meals out and new books when the rest of us, struggling on grants, couldn’t afford, although none of us envied the 104 tins of chicken supreme he once won. When we asked him how he managed, he shrugged and said, “I just win them.” Memories of Grandma came flooding back, and I started to enter again, winning a huge gift box of men’s toiletries with my first attempt at a tiebreaker -a limerick. Since then limericks have become a comping trade mark of mine and I enjoy setting and judging limerick competitions as well as entering them.

However I picked the wrong kind of husband for a comper – a  member of the army, serving in the Brigade of Gurkhas (although our honeymoon was paid for with money that HE won!) so for some years  we had a very peripatetic lifestyle and it was hardly worth entering any competitions as the chances were that by the time the prizes were sent out, we’d have moved to the other side of the world. I dabbled when I could, although living a lot of the time in Hong Kong meant that most entry forms were written in Chinese. I could read numbers, place names and the two vital words “toilets” and “beer” but that wasn’t going to see me through a lengthy set of terms and conditions! Nevertheless I won a few small prizes, mainly from a newspaper and chain of supermarkets that were aimed at English speaking expats.

In the mid 1980s my husband left the army, and we settled in the UK. Within a few weeks I’d won my first competition – a cuddly toy making kit from a craft magazine. Then I spotted a copy of Competitors Journal (sadly no longer published) in the newsagents and picked it up…. and from that day on was as hooked as my grandmother had been. And now every time I win a prize, whether it’s a paperback book or an exotic holiday, I silently thank Grandma for introducing me to such a fascinating, absorbing and wonderfully rewarding hobby.

You can follow Jane on Twitter @janesgrapevine, read her blog for advice or subscribe to her service to find details of lots of great opportunities to win prizes at www.compersgrapevine.co.uk - and she’s on Facebook, too www.facebook.com/compersgrapevine.

Prize fufilment – best part of the job.

By Clair Bodie on May 14, 2013

 

A prize trip into Space!

I regularly contact winners as part of our prize fulfilment service and last week I was given the exciting job of getting in touch with winners of the Tesco LYNX Space Academy National Challenge. I can honestly say that this is the most exciting project I have ever worked on! I must have checked all of their details at least ten times before finally having the courage to click ‘send’. But why would I be so nervous? Well it’s not every day that you get to tell someone that they might be going into space!

The lucky winners have been invited to the LYNX APOLLO National Challenge at a top secret location in London and will take part in physical and mental challenges to see if they have what it takes to reach the next round at a Global Space Camp in Orlando, Florida. They will then compete against other runners up for the ultimate prize – a trip to space.

Good luck to all of the competitors, and fingers crossed maybe one of the lucky winners that I contacted will find themselves hurtling into space!

Tesco Mum of the Year 2013 in our shoes

By Spark and Fuse on March 9, 2013

Melanie C Tesco Celebrity Mum of the Year 2013

Melanie C Tesco Celebrity Mum of the Year 2013

8 months work. 40 hours of meetings (possibly more). Extreme scheduling (don’t move unless we say so). Road closures and parking suspensions (thank you Westminster). Train tickets and taxis. Some very early starts (yep, 2am). Lots of time at The Savoy (such hardship). 180 guests and almost as many crew. Endless cups of tea. Some of our favourite celebs; Melanie C, Rylan, Denise Van Outen and Fiona Phillips.  One Spark & Fuser, gymnast Louis Smith and Hollywood’s Will Smith TOGETHER IN THE SAME LIFT! Fan stake out for Il Divo. Easy rider for the The Overtones (lovely boys). Secret doors and side entrances. Longest red carpet in the world (not official). A couple of gate crashers. Endless cups of tea. A few tears. Approx 6 blisters. 7 amazing and totally deserving winners. One TV show.

Highlights here http://www.tescomagazine.com/mum-of-the-year.html

Or see for yourself – C5, Mothers Day, 12pm.

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Baby Fuse!

By Sarah Burns on February 28, 2013

Baby Fuse

It seems only fitting as we prepare for Tesco Mum of the Year 2013 to be congratulating a new mum!  Yes, congratulations to our very own Fuse on the arrival of her baby boy, Otis. Isn’t he gorgeous! Rumour has it that Fuse recites the CAP code to him every night before he drops off to sleep…

Di Coke on Mother’s Day prizes!

By Spark and Fuse on February 27, 2013

We asked comping queen Di Coke (@superluckyDi) for her favourite Mother’s Day prize promotions… and this is what she said…

Here are my top ten Mother’s Day prize promotions for 2013. The easiest to enter are the prize draws, but if you have a photo of your mum and can write a few words about the special lady in your life, there are several more creative competitions you can enter too. Due to the effort involved, entry numbers will be low – and often the winner is chosen at random so you don’t need to worry about composing a masterpiece!

1. Win your Mum a Brazilian!

Viva Brazil has twenty prizes of a Mothers Day meal up for grabs in their draw – their restaurants are in Liverpool, Glasgow and Cardiff. Enter at www.vivabrazilrestaurants.com/events.asp before 7th March 2013.

2. Simply the Best

GoSeeDo have a tiebreaker competition at www.facebook.com/goseedouk. Tell them why your mum is the best and the entry judged to be the most inspirational will win a £50 experience voucher – you could take her to the Shard! Closing date is 8th March 2013.

3. A Meal Out for Mum

Vileda are giving away a bouquet, champagne and chocolates plus a £150 restaurant gift voucher to one lucky mum – to enter, upload a photo and a reason why your mum should win on their competition app at www.facebook.com/ViledaUK. This closes on 4th March 2013 and the winner is chosen at random.

4. Special Delivery

DHL are giving one mum a pamper hamper – say in 50 words why she deserves to win at www.dhlservicepoint.co.uk/hamper.htm. Winner will be drawn at random after the closing date of 10th March 2013.

5. Thanks a Bunch

If you could win any prize for your Mum, what would it be? Leave your answer as a comment at www.theprizefinder.com/blog and one entrant drawn at random will win a £35 Interflora gift card. This closes on 10th March 2013.

6. Be a Beauty Queen 

Here’s an unusual prize from Ocado: six lucky mums will win delivery of a beautician to their home on 7th or 8th March 2013 to provide a beauty treatment, plus an Ocado goodie bag. Tell them all about your #OcadoBeautyQueen at www.facebook.com/ocado - this closes on 3rd March 2013 and winners are picked at random. Note that the nominated Mum must live in an Ocado delivery area!

7. A Handmade Prize!

Win your mum a £100 shopping spree and a meal at Handmade Burger Co in their prize draw – simply enter your details and your local restaurant at www.handmadeburger.co.uk/mothersday by 10th March 2013.

8. Bouquets for Bumps

If you know someone special who’s ALMOST a mummy, check out www.funnyhowflowersdothat.co.uk, where every day until 9th March 2013 they’re choosing ten mums-to-be to receive a bouquet of flowers. This is a judged tiebreaker competition and you need to sum up in one fabulous word what flowers would do for her.

9. Pin-up 

If you’re a Pinterest fan, you can enter to win £100 to spend on jewellery with Sphere of Life -  create a ‘For my Mum’ board pinning at least one Sphere of Life item. Comment on their competition pin at http://pinterest.com/mysphereoflife/ with a link to your board before 3rd March 2013 and the most inspiring board will win!

10. Sweet Success

Finally, if you’re on Twitter then you could win a year’s supply of jam! Tweet a message to @duerrs1881 telling them what the best thing your mum has passed onto you is – use the #SpreadTheLove hashtag. Enter before 9th March 2013, and even though they’re calling this a prize draw, terms say the winner will be picked on merit.

 Good luck!

 For regular updates on where to find the best prize promotions, read Di’s blog at www.superlucky.co.uk

Tesco Mum of the Year 2013

By Spark and Fuse on February 25, 2013

Tesco Mum of the Year 2013 winners and ambassador Denise Van Outen

Only 6 sleeps until Tesco Mum of the Year awards (well actually 5 if you factor in the set up and rehearsals the day before) and of course, there really won’t be much sleeping…

Although it’s the eight time we’ve organised the event, for us this year it’s definitely the best because for the first time ever, the awards will be televised by C5 on Mother’s Day. We can’t think of a more fitting tribute to the amazing winning mums.

There were thousands of entries and the judging panel – which included Cherry Healey, Denise Lewis and Emma Forbes – chose six women for their outstanding achievements. Kate Hardcastle, Ann Maxwell, Margaret Aspinall, Claire Lomas, Mireille Williams and Anna Kennedy OBE with Melanie C selected as the celebrity mum of the year. You can read their stories here http://www.tescomagazine.com/mum-of-the-year/moty-blog.html

The awards take place at The Savoy in London and with only 5 working days left we’re co-ordinating car pick-ups, road closures, a red carpet schedule (we’ve possibly got the longest red carpet ever seen), menus , goody bags, rooms service, entertainment and so much more – we have schedules that could probably stretch around the world. Twice.

And we’re really excited – excited that months of planning is finally all coming together, excited that we’re helping to bring some incredible stories into the nation’s homes but most of all excited to have the honour of meeting some truly inspirational women.

Beat the January blues with these prize promotions!

By Clair Bodie on January 21, 2013

After all the excitement of Christmas everyone at Spark & Fuse HQ is in need of a pick-me-up to beat off the January blues and help us stick with our New Year resolutions. So we have pulled together some prize promotions to do just that.

Resolution 1:
If, like us, you are on a health kick in 2013 then visit yourhealthyliving.co.uk/win to be in with a chance of winning a selection of natural health goodies, register to enter online, or simply send an email or a postal entry – make sure you include the Free Draw Code. Closes on 28th February 2013.

Resolution 2:
Looking to get into shape this year? Then why not enter this prize draw to win a copy of Zumba® Fitness Core on Nintendo Wii™ and get kitted out in the latest vibrant  Zumba® apparel. Just answer a simple question and register to win. Draw closes 25th January 2013.

Resolution 3:
In need of a total makeover then enter facebook.com/niceneasy to win a two-night break in London for two people including travel, accommodation, a shopping trip with a personal shopper, a makeover with a top hairdresser, a professional photoshoot, dinner and £1,000 spending money. You will need to have a facebook account to enter and will need to nominate the person who has shared the best beauty tip to enter. Draw closes 31st January 2013.

Resolution 4:
Do you need a kick-start to your beauty regime after a little too much food and drink over Christmas? Then this could be just the thing – CN Traveller are offering one lucky winner a personalised skincare programme at QMS Medicosmetics’ flagship store on Sloane Square, London. Including a 60-minute deep-cleansing facial, a 90-minute ‘classic collagen’ facial to revitalise skin, and a 90-minute ‘oxygen’ facial to boost circulation. The prize also includes a three-month supply of QMS’ innovative nutricosmetics Intravital, a supplement that targets skin regeneration from within. Visit Condé Nast Traveller to enter and answer a simple question – there is a link to a clue if you are a little stuck – then submit your details online no later than 31st January 2013 for your chance to win.

No New Year resolution?
If you fancy getting away from the chilly weather then this is the prize draw for you. Visit Walkmag.co.uk and enter your details online to win a fabulous holiday to Dominica. The prize includes a five-night stay with breakfast at Castle Comfort Lodge, near Roseau, return flights and all internal transfers, excursions on the Waitukubuli National Trail with Experience Caribbean, whale watching and a guided one-day tour to local sites and attractions. Draw closes on 20th February 2013.

That’s it for this month and as always please let us know if you win anything! We’ll be back in February with our Valentines prize promotions.

Win spooky Halloween prizes

By Clair Bodie on October 12, 2012

pumpkin carving

Fuse's attempt at Extreme Pumpkin Carving

The nights are drawing in and at Spark & Fuse HQ we have been working hard on our Halloween costumes. The time is nearly upon us to eat loads of sweets, ahem, I mean give sweets to scarily dressed children who knock on our doors trick-or-treating. To help you get into the Halloween spirit we have found some prize promotions to get you ready.

If like us, you have a sweet tooth make sure you visit www.goodtoknow.co.uk to be in with a chance of winning a Haribo Halloween hamper, just answer a simple question. Closes on 17th October 2012.

For those of you who like to be spooked by ghosts then enter this prize draw for your chance to win a Halloween break in the Peak District and a set of two Ghost Walk books. Closes on 15th October 2012.

Looking to entertain your little ones? Then winning some Halloween Stamps could be just the thing. Courtesy of Stampin’ Up, CardmakingandPapercraft.com have six wooden sets to give away for frightening Halloween designs that are not for the faint hearted! Closes on 18th October 2012.

Or if your kids are Scooby Doo fans then you will need their help answering this simple question to win some spooky Halloween DVD’s  including Scooby-Doo and the Goblin King, Pooh’s Heefalump Halloween and Spongebob Squarepants Halloween. Closes on 27th October 2012.

For those looking for the perfect family Halloween day out then tickets to ‘Witches and Wizards’ Halloween at Blenheim Palace could be just the prize for you. Closes on 19th October 2012 (we think!).

Think you’ll need some help to recover after this year’s night of ghosts and ghouls?  Then enter this prize draw to win a Yankee Halloween Candle,  you’ll just need to answer a simple question in order to take part. Closes on 31st October 2012.

Feel free to send us pics of your costumes and pumpkin carvings  - can you better our very own extreme-pumpkin-carver Fuse’s attempt above?!

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