• "this is the best site!!! i am on it every night. i won the last zanzibags comp and me and my three teenages fought over the bag" (Sonia - Swan Hill, VIC)
• "Great site, best one I have found for competitions and always up to date. Congratulations!" (Marie - Browns Plains, QLD)
• "All the work you guys put into this site is awesome and keeps me entertained daily, thankyou" (Jenean - Carrum Downs, VIC)
• "Yay! Thankyou so much! I really didn't think i'd ever win anything. Great website!" (Bernice - White Gum Valley, WA)
• "A great place to visit and the Competitions - The Book is become like a bible to me." (Kim - South Melbourne, VIC)
• "This is my favourite website and it's just so easy to use!" (Kalyani - Palms Beach, QLD)
• "I just won a tote bag!!! I think this site is great!!!!" (Jo - Rawarth, NSW)
• "I love entering competitions and I love the easy to follow format of your website" (Jacquie - Deniliquin, NSW)
• "I won a prize from the PRIMPED website. I won a body pamper pack worth $98, I never win anything! Thanks so much!!!!! Your site is amazing, I'm hooked!" (Bianca - Rostrevor, SA)
• "Hi! Great news! Thank you so much. Looking forward to my prize" (Jenni - Cronulla, NSW)
• "Didn't realize how many competitions are available and how easy they are to enter" (Lisa - Northam, WA)
• "Well finally a site where competitions are sent to me, I dont have to look for them ..brilliant work!!!" (Caroline - Terranora, NSW)
• "Thank you so much for selecting me as the prize winner, keep up the fantastic work you do on the web site, I love it" (Jan - Dudley Park, SA)
• "Just read the book - very helpful and easy to read" (Tanya - St Leonards, NSW)
• "It’s so time consuming to find competitions on a search engine. That’s why I love this site, the searching is done for you" (Teresa - Wodonga, VIC)
• "Easily the most convienient way of finding out about competitions!" (Grant - Newtown, NSW)
• "i love this site i have already won 12mths subscription to super foods" (Ursula - Fairfield Heights, NT)
• "I couldn't believe it when I read your email . Thank you all so much" (Brenda - Moama, NSW)
• "Great Book, I'm reading it again in case I missed any hints the first time." (Margaret - Donnybrook, WA)
• "Love your website - I've already won a competition. Thanks for making my days fun." (Kellie - Berowra, NSW)
• "The great competition listings....and that's not the best part....all this with FREE membership!!!!" (Agnes - Kelvin Grove, QLD)
• "Fantastic news, I'm going to be smiling all day if not for weeks to come....." (Rick - Fairfield Heights, NSW)
• "Thankyou for the awesome prize!!" (Rach - Wynyard, TAS)
• ""I read Competitions The Book today, and was thrilled to find it was written with integrity and honesty" (Judi, Koroit, VIC)
• "The only tiny thing I dislike is the fact I've still not won anything" (Kristy - Hinchinbrook, NSW)
• "I love how clearly everything is set out, I love that it's free and that there is a wide range of comps and prizes" (Kym - Bundaberg, QLD)
• "Thank you for all the great advice and the book is priceless" (Tanja - Mill Park, VIC)
• "I was thrilled to once again receive your email to say that I had won a prize. This shows that anyone can win if they put their mind to it. Thanks for the great site . Love it." (Brenda - Moama, NSW)
• "Thank you so much, we have received the pizza oven ....... we love it, we love it, we love it!!!!!" (Peta - Denistone West, NSW)
• "I tell everybody about this site and forward it to everybody. Winning the Nurofen Promotion to Egypt made a huge difference to my life. " (Anne - Wetherill Park, NSW)
• "Loved The Book Thanks So Much" (Gail - Loganholme, QLD)
• I won my first prize the other week and I was absolutley stoked!" (Nicol - South Penrith, NSW)
• "I have a fetish for competitions so this site is like a one-stop-shop for me" (Deb - Darwin, NT)
• "The array of competitions on offer is astoundingly good and varied!" (Maneesha - Carlton, VIC)
• "Keep up the great work! I love your site! Its very addictive =)" (Kimberley - St Clair, NSW)
• "The range is terrific and synopsis of each competition accurate and informative" (Odette - Yallourn North, VIC)
• "Someone else has done all the hard work chasing up the competitions" (Mary - Toowoomba, QLD)
• "I adore and am addicted to your website." (Mandy - Carrum Downs, VIC)
• "Great reading definitely gave me some food for thought when entering competitions especially from an insiders point of view" (Sharon - Kambah, ACT)
• "I love the new feature that enables you to tick whether you have completed competition or not. Great idea!" (Tegan - Sefton Park, WA)
• "I don't have to wade through expired listings or broken links, which is often the case with other sites" (Belinda - Burnie, TAS)
• "One place to find comps without having to look all over the place" (Marie - Kulpi, QLD)
• "Oh wow! That's fantastic. Thank you for the opportunity to enter" (Jude - Kalamunda, WA)
• " I might be pushing my luck though, as I've already won a $10,000 prize through your website, but I'm willing to test my luck! " (Shelley - Picton, NSW)
• "It's a fun way to keep up to date with all the current comps and other info available on the web" (Lyn - Kedron, QLD)
• "Hooray, I'm absolutely thrilled at winning a portable DVD player. Thanks a million for my win " (Heather - Cashmere, QLD)
• "Woohoo...i've just won the Old Gold Cadbury competition. Thank you so so much Competitionsguide & Cadbury for making me a FIRST TIME winner...what a wonderful feeling to have!!!" (Lily - North Perth, WA)
• "Thanks again for the competition email alert. Makes things so easy!" (Vicki - North Brighton, SA)
• "I lOVE the competitions books - really great tips and hints!!!" (Tanya - St Leonards, NSW)
• "The opportunity to find competitions listed in a clear, concise and most importantly, free forum." (Chris - Ocean Grove, VIC)
• "I was wrapped to receive a message telling me to check the winners list. I won a GPS system! Thanks so much!" (Danielle - Narre Warren North, VIC)
• "Thank you so much for this wonderful prize" (Dianna - Dubbo, NSW)
• "....you've made my weekend! The words 'Jenni' and 'winner' are not ones I often hear in the same sentence" (Jenni - Tahmoor, NSW)
• "The best website I know, and my homepage of course!" (Elizabeth - Mordialloc, VIC)
• "Thanks soo very much. have made my month with this news... it couldn't have come at a better time either. " (Lisa - Chatswood, NSW)
• "I am a competition-a-holic so I love having lots of competitions on one site...it's fantastic!" (Kate, Gray, NT)
• "Book terribly interesting have read every page" (Nea - Bensville, NSW)
• "I have read the book, enjoyed the read and info, and am applying, albeit slowly, the suggestions suggested :)" (Tony - Sth Guildford, WA)
• "I bought the book as soon as it was released and I think its absolutely fantastic." (Kerrie - Albion Park, NSW)
• "Thankyou so much it was such a suprise to hear that i had won...this is the first time i have won anything before" (Cecilia - Cheltenham, VIC)
• "wooohoooo, I am soooooooo stoked, thanks once again for selecting me as the winner of this very coveted prize" (Caroline - Albany, WA)
• "You have made entering competition very easy" (Danielle - Beacon, WA)
• "I love the range of offers and the pure volume of them, well done." (Kylie - Breakwater, VIC)
• "I love that we have actually won a prize on your site" (Danielle, Langwarrin, VIC)
• "Whoo I love to receive winning messages! Thank You very much Craig and also Creatively Belle" ((Lisa - Moana, SA))
• "I can't believe you find the amount of competitions that you do. It is truly amazing" (Naomi - Rydalmere, NSW)
• "The best website - the best competitions - the best Book." (Pauline - Everton Hills, QLD)
• "All competitions in one place and the reminders of when competitions begin and close" (Lyndall - Panania, NSW)

The Comp-lete Opinion

Christmas Competitions - Flat or not?

Every year I wait for the Christmas slowdown, which will normally continue into the middle of January. It's often thought that Christmas would be a huge time for competitions, with all of the mad shopping behaviour. But, it's usually the opposite, with online and offline sellers relying on other types of promotions to get people through the door. - read more
Comments (2)

We only collect information we need, here's why

Personal information is an extremely important issue, and being in the competitions arena we see this question raised all the time. How much information is too much? We took a look at information we collect on joining us, and this includes First name, State and Gender ....... - read more
Comments (3)

Promoter's Choices Aren't Easy

As you'd expect, I have a fair deal to do with competition promoters, and the question I get asked most often is "what prize recommendations?" Fairly simple question you'd think ..... anything my members don't have to pay for? Not the case. - read more
Comments (7)

Facebook Competitions - How Things Have Changed

Earlier last decade I had a problem. More online competitions were in the market than people that wanted them. In fact, even though SMS and 1900 phone competitions were established, the average comp-entrant still had a preference for old fashioned mail, stamp and all.
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Comments (18)

Bye Bye Book! (for now at least)

So, after three years on sale, Competitions - The Book has finally sold out.
The last signed copy left my hands on Monday this week, and aside from my souvenir copies, and a few still kicking around bookstores, that's it.



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Comments (6)

Any Sanity in this competition?

Sanity are running a competition giving entrants the chance to win their height in various goodies. As a competition consultant, I've always warned promoters to be careful with 'wild n' crazy' ideas that seem fun on the surface, but can potentially backfire. This is a big budget comp, and it only takes the odd complaint or two to start negative comments flowing. - read more
Comments (19)

A Message to Jetstar

I have no feeling on Jetstar either way. They’re a budget airline, and no one can really complain at the cost of flying between Australian cities compared to decades past. But, last weekend, I flew to Melbourne to take part in Quit Victoria’s new anti-smoking media launch - read more
Comments (3)

Are you addicted to competitions?

So, are there any real competition addicts out there? Do you find yourself rushing to your PC every morning scanning for updates? Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night, and taken leave of your bed for an hour or two? - read more
Comments (64)

Lost receipts reminder

One of our members wrote to us a few days ago distressed at having won a redraw 5 months after the original. The prize was valued at $1,400, and as you may have guessed by the title of this blog, she had not kept the receipt. Ouch.
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Comments (11)

Why we're doing Facebook!

A couple of weeks ago we launched our Facebook page, which may have raised a few eyebrows. In late January we ran a blog on the topic of Facebook competitions and received a lot of negative comments on the subject. I appeared on Channel 's 'The Morning Show' to discuss the results, which I had found to be quite surprising. - read more
Comments (7)

What's hot at the moment?

What's the main question I'm asked, when it comes to competitions. For entrants and members, it's simple ...... "what are your tips for winning?". No brainer, that one. But, for promoters it's "what's hot at the moment?" By this, they generally refer to the prizes that are having an impact.

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Comments (8)

Free online competitions, or not?

One of our keen blog comment contributors posed a question recently as to why Competitions Guide lists competitions by paid services such as Foxtel as Free-To-Enter. It's a fair question, after all, you can't really access Foxtel without paying for it. - read more
Comments (5)

FaceBook Competitions (your thoughts?)

When CompetitionsGuide.com.au began, the big question was whether a promoter would use online as a method of entry. Not long prior, it was an argument between mail, 1900 numbers and SMS. FaceBook competitions are on the increase, and it's hard to ignore them. - read more
Comments (293)

We're 50,000!!!!!!!

In May of this year I posted a self-congratulatory blog to herald in CompetitionGuide.com.au's turning of the magic 25,000 members. Seven months later and we've more than doubled. Wow. The question I ask though, is if it took us 5 and a half years to get to 25,000, why has it taken only half a year to get to 50,000? - read more
Comments (12)

How Ultimate Is Ultimate?

Every week it's my job to write the Competitions Guide newsletter. It's not a huge task in the grand scheme of things, about 30 minutes of selecting the best 12 comps of the week to add. The newsletter is one of the few areas that I get to add a little blurb, usually about the reason for selection .... it's either big, there's lots of prizes, something unusual, first time promoter etc. you know the drill. - read more
Comments (3)

Setting The Record Straight

In the past few months, Competitions Guide has grown by a whopping 16,000 new members (to over 41,000 members), something we're very proud of. We think that a large percentage of our new members have come from a major ‘pay-to-view’ forum competitor (now up for sale for a cool $733,000). We've become aware of some chatter in recent weeks that our "grand plan" is to ..... - read more
Comments (15)

Vintage Words-Or-Less

Legend has it that in the 1940's Carnation Milk ran a slogan competition. An elderly lady submitted a rhyme that could at best be described as bawdy, even by today's standards ........ - read more
Comments (7)

Are you (really) safe?

An email from a member - Hi, I have been joined for a little while now and haven't really entered anything as I am concerned about the safety of putting my details on the computer. How can we be sure that the site we are entering is safe cheers Rebecca - read more
Comments (4)

Noobs only thank you

Interesting question from member Sally .... As a member of Competitions Guide, I have now of course joined a number of other sites in order to enter their competitions. As new comps are being offered, I am finding i can not enter most of them , as I am an existing member. the number of competitions offered to existing members is very limited. - read more
Comments (7)

Why Why Why Why ....

... do people say things online that they normally wouldn't face to face. Case in point, an email we got through the week. i have a scractch and chan to win up tp $55,000 dollars or a olkswagagon eos 103 tdi. i have searched and searched and searched on ur site but cannot find where to logon to or too activate my chance/s to win with my id code unless ur all bullshit with this one - read more
Comments (7)

Apple Doesn't Need Me

Apple doesn't need me. I know this because they once told me. Taking a step back in time, I started managing competitions around 12 years ago, and have seen trends in prizes come and go. The first big one was the "digi camera". They were so cool, taking pics and not having to get them developed. Kodak, who was one of my main clients at the time made digital cameras, but not in the division I was assisting. Film just wasn't happening. - read more
Comments (7)

The Comp-lete Reasons for Competitions

Competitions work. Not everyone shares my view, but I've been in the game a long time and had formed this opinion long before Competitions Guide had been conceived. In the late 90's I worked for Coca-Cola. Those that believe that Coke needs to nothing except lie back and rake in the profits sometimes forget the amount of advertising it does. - read more
Comments (7)

Win One Million Dollars!!!!!

One million dollars is a lot of money. Obvious statements out of the way, it may surprise members to know that the two most clicked on competitions this year have been for prizes valued at under $1,000. Prize choice is a big thing for promoters, and at Competitions Guide we get to see exactly the level of interest, which does best, worst and so on. Cash prizes have always been a big draw, but promoters have to struggle with the question ... "do we make it $5,000, $10,000 or what?" - read more
Comments (22)

What a parrot taught me

Saturday was a crappy day, one of those that website owners dread. Competitions Guide went down and went down good and proper, in fact, it was out cold most of the day. My web hoster notified me early yesterday morning and it had me up in arms. No site equals unhappy members, plus lots of other sides, none good. - read more
Comments (5)

Hot Potato

I couldn't help noticing a major brand of potato chip promoting "From farm to packet in less than 48 hours" on both their packets and TV ads. Interesting. Don't get me wrong, I'm fanatical about use-by dates, even with ridiculous products such as Vegemite. But potatoes? They're not exactly fresh fish. - read more

Woo Hoo!

I'm going to be a bit indulgent in this post. You see, today we reached 25,000 registered members. It's happened so quickly, I remember in October last year being excited about 15,000 ..... So, at what stage does a website jump up and down and declare itself a success (even if a website can't jump up and down). The day it does, it starts going down. - read more
Comments (2)

A rice by any other name

I’m slow off the mark sometimes. It took me a few views of the latest Sunrice TV ad for the penny to drop. “That girl looks familiar” I thought. Of course, it’s Stephanie Rice ….. helping advertise …. rice, of course. Had Sunrice identified Stephanie, it would have been way too blatant. Doing it the way they have is nice and subtle, even if folks like me take a few whirls to get the picture. - read more
Comments (1)

A bomb of an idea

I'm dumbfounded by a new service that's sprung up. I won't give them a free plug, but here's the idea. For a low, low price of 99 cents a day, this website will enter competitions for you. Sit back, relax, and have all the hard work done for you. Sound good? Want to sign up? - read more
Comments (3)

Greetings from Hong Kong

We get lots of emails at Competitions Guide, but this one was too attractive not to respond to ...... My name is Mr. Liang Shing, I work with the Hang Seng Bank. There is a sum of Six Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars ($6.500,000.00) in my bank Hang Seng Bank ", Hong Kong.There were no beneficiaries stated concerning these funds which means no one would ever come to claim it.That is why I ask that we work together. - read more
Comments (2)

Postal Problem

We received a post a couple of days ago from a member ... I have a complaint about a lot of your competitions wont allow a po box for an address, if i put in our home address and win something i will not receive it as the post office will send it back. It is discriminating for these companies to do this, and it is not fair for people who live in country areas that want to enter your competitions. Country people are always being discriminated against .... - read more
Comments (1)

Good idea or headache?

We've added a fairly significant competition this week for Panadol. Significant why? Because the prize pool is $100,000. Why is that signficant? Because it's a free-to-enter competition, that's why. And no, the makers of Panadol are not sponsors of our guide, but I do want to make a point. - read more

Waiting for .... something

The internet has brought out the impatience in people, me included. Many competitions that are listed on Competitions Guide are tested, especially if our members raise concerns about them. But strictly speaking we don't enter, as winning competitions we list wouldn't go down to well (for obvious reasons). - read more

Why hide ..... you'll be found

I've noticed in the past few weeks something new. Members contacting us to let us know that a competition posted as free-to-enter has actually been wrongly noted and should be shop-to-enter. Simple mistake? Yes, but it's the fact that this has been missed more than once annoys me. - read more

I don't care about spam ... but

It's true, I don't really care either way about spam, it's one of those things I've become used to. Although, being in my game I have to confess that occasionally Competitions Guide gets accused of being a spam merchant, however the fact of life is entering comps will increase your email folder and it's something we never shy away from. - read more

FaceBlock?

I have a FaceBook page, and a number of Competitions Guide members are also linked to me. Do I love FaceBook? Not really, I don't dislike it either, it's just one of those things that are a reality of life and it does give me a good way to communicate. One thing however that I need to advise our members is that it's time to get with the program. - read more
Comments (2)

Things real estate has taught me

I've been interested in promotions ever since I can remember. Even back to my teen years I remember the local club coming up with a crrraaaazzzzy idea to promote "beer futures". You could buy 25 beers in advance, and kind of hedge against prices increasing in the future. But since 25 beers was about a day's consumption for many of the members, it never seemed to take off. - read more

Once only thank you

I was a little intrigued today by an email from a member pointing out a clause in the terms and conditions of the British Columbia competition. The clause in question was simply 8. If there is a dispute as to the identity of an entrant, the Promoter reserves the
right, in its sole discretion, to determine the identity of the entrant. - read more
Comments (1)

Hiding the value

Happy Australia Day to all members, and hate to blog with a whinge, but ....... I have a bit of a bug bear (is that how you spell it?) with some promoters, who have perfectly good competitions, but we can't list them. Our guide has some fairly basic requirements that we want our members to be able to see. - read more
Comments (1)

January, the dead zone

It's been a while between blogs on this page, mainly as the last few have been shifted to our 'feedback' page. If CompetitionsGuide.com.au is your only source of competitions, you may not notice that January is a virtual wasteland for comps. We add 5 a day here, so for this site you wouldn't be likely to notice the impact. - read more

Happy Xmas and New Year

To all members, 2009 has been a big year, helped along by our name change and a lot of friendly media. We have made lots of changes and will continue to try to please as many members as we can. As we head into 2010 I wanted to take a few minutes out to wish all of you a very happy Xmas, and a great New Year to you and all of your families.
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Worst job in Australia

On the Discovery Channel they have a show called "Dirty Jobs" (I don't watch it as it seems boring), and there must be so many to choose from. But for me, I reckon the guy who plays Santa outside the Christmas Cave and similar venues has about the worst that you can get. Think about it, Australia was never truly set up for European style Christmases. The more qualified Santa's get to sit in relative luxury on the floor of Myer or DJ's, but not our Christmas Cavers. - read more

Are competitions a more mature FaceBook?

As a Promotions Consultant I get to work with more than the odd company, and I find it fascinating watching the screens of Gen Y's flickering on and off social networking sites. FaceBook is the drug of choice in most instances. I'm intrigued at the amount of time openly spent on this site, and it seems to be okay. - read more
Comments (2)

Questions making sense?

What would be your perfect way to spend a night with friends? How would you make the world a better place? What are your best tips for improving economics policies? 25 words or less please ...... okay, these questions may make some sense, but there's a common thread here, they're all toughies. I sometimes wonder how or why extremely difficult or creative WOL questions keep surfacing. - read more
Comments (1)

The (almost) perfect Xmas gift

I'm not a huge boxing fan, though I'll say it was amazing to hear Danny Green went 2 minutes last night without once mentioning his book .... Danny ... just a joke ... right? Anyway, I don't consider myself a huge plugger when it comes to my book. Yes, I do throw in the odd mention, but if you've heard me interviewed .... - read more

Useless Information Requested

I had to phone my parent's mobile this morning. Without boring you with the details, there's a family Xmas function on in Singleton tomorrow and I can't remember whether the secret santa present limit is $10 or $15. And I also know that signed copies of my book, or $15 vouchers I have left over don't count ... anyway, that's irrelevant.
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One last Polly Waffle?

I was semi-saddened to see the axing of Polly Waffles as reported today. The reason given was "Everybody says they love the Polly Waffle but the truth is no one buys it today. The time for it has been and gone." I purchased my last Polly Waffle chocolate in 1980 at a camping park in Bermagui on the NSW South Coast. To this end I still consider myself a dedicated fan, as the Polly Waffle has stayed as my 5th choice since then. - read more
Comments (1)

Smiths Chips number crunch

I'm not the only one in the world that finds potato chip flavours amusing. I think this came about sometime in the early 80's when one of the chip companies changed basic chicken flavour to "roast" chicken flavour. Sometimes I think that the art of chip manufacturing is pushing the limits of what we believe we would like to be eating if we weren't really having to settle for a chip. - read more

Ben and Jerrys free plug

PR is a funny thing, and as you'd probably know it's all about getting people to write about you or your product. To get people to write about you, it's normally a good idea to have something that's actually interesting to say. Having an online guide means that I get pitched at all the time to include competitions in our list, but rather than sometimes ask outright, I get emails with subjects such as "hey, check this out" - read more

Sausage recipes for winning

I'm often asked why businesses would want to promote using competitions, and for me it's fairly simple. Aside from gaining some much needed loyalty (and heaps cheaper to run than loyalty programs) they offer people that little bit extra.
Let me explain my thoughts, we're painting our house meaning I need to run backwards and forwards to the hardware store. - read more

The Australian Apprentice not firing

Speaking of competitions (which I sometimes get around to :) Up until a little while ago I thought that Foxtel IQ was potentially one of the greatest inventions of the past century (second only to the Swap n' Go gas bottle refill services). Then, last night as sometimes happens, my IQ clipped the last 5 minutes of The Apprentice Australia .... now it's Wednesday, and I haven't even bothered to find out who got fired. I'm finding the new series of The Apprentice Australia a bit flat. Thursday nights are a must for me - read more

Enid Blyton, we miss you ...

Two things recently have shown how times change. The first is some books that have been dragged out to fill a book shelf in our study, by Enid Blyton. Enid left us in 1968, but for those too young to remember or too old to care, she was a prolific story writer for young people. Prior to discovering Archie and Jughead, I was transfixed by her work.
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How competitive are we really?

Are those of us involved in competitions naturally competitive? After all, to take part in competitions is by definition to compete, but I wonder if this is really part of our personality. I have a pointless mind game that I like to play with myself, but to give you some background first. I take a train to get to my office, and to do so requires me to get off at Town Hall Station in Sydney. - read more

Be naked (kind of)

I've sorted out something that has been bugging me for the past two years. Since leaving the base of the blue mountains for the inner city I've opted for wireless broadband for the in between period of renting. Results have been so-so, but over time I think I've become accustomed to dumbing down my internet speed. Two months ago we moved into our new home, which was built in 1887. - read more

Thoughts on the Cup

I've answered questions on competitions vs. gambling for a number of years. To me, the two are distinctly different, as I don't know of too many people that have lost their shirts on consumer competitions. The good thing about the Melbourne Cup is that it gives once-a-year types like me the chance to pretend I know something about horses, all gained in a half hour gander of the racing pages. - read more

Losing and winning's fine line

A few years ago I was helping to teach my daughter to drive. As you'd find in traffic anywhere, there's a particular intersection that would drive me crazy. It's a right hand turn that has the capacity of banking up, yet the lights tend to turn orange within seconds of green, and only about 8-10 cars get let through depending on the speed of take-off of the drivers in front.
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Jellybeans over and over

I often have digs at promoters and agencies that repeat the same competition over and over again. I think people like variety, but this isn't always the case. In the early 90's I remember when Dulux started their 4 litre jellybean tin promotion. I thought this was quite novel at the time. At the end I hated jellybeans more than I hated painting.
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Sunny Boys, Pows and Razz's

Earlier this year, I was interviewed by Amanda Blair from 5AA. Radio interviews are normally stock standard (mispronounce my name, ask me what my biggest win has been ... even though I don't really enter comps), but this was cool because I got to take talkback calls. Amanda brought up the question of Sunny Boys. The ice block, not the band. Remember them? - read more

Tell others and win

Simple statement. The more people that join CompetitionsGuide.com.au, the more competitions there will be. So, I'm going to ask you to do something and that's to send an email to at least one friend telling them about this site. How will this help? The reason is this. As you would probably know CompetitionsGuide.com.au is owned and run by someone (me) who has - read more

Selling out (kind of)

Well, it's no secret to anyone visiting our listings pages that we now have a glowing selection of ads on the top and to the side. Have we sold out to commercialism? Nah, all competitions (within reason) have a commercial reason for being there. But in all seriousness, the right hand side of our pages has always been a mish mash of assorted banners and messages, - read more

Today Tonight

It's hard to go past not mentioning the great story by Today Tonight on Competitions Guide. Those of you who haven't seen it, you can watch it here .....


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Comments (1)

Games people play

Something struck me yesterday (no, not a bulldozer :) in terms of games being used as part of a competition. When I refer to games, I'm talking more about those in which you have to look for clues, take part in trivia or anything that requires skills not typical of a words-or-less competition. - read more

Hear this (and pass it on)

I have a different take on odds reduction. Like many, I don't spend a lot of time thinking about causes that don't directly affect me, my family, or friends, but that's just human nature. If you have never heard of tinnitus (which in layman's terms is ringing in the ear, constantly) and you like to listen to music at loud volumes please take a look at this short video clip. - read more

All help appreciated

Mistakes don't always happen, but sometimes they're unavoidable simply due to the information given to us. Yesterday one of our listed comps contained an email address, not web address, and as a result a strange error message appeared. Luckily for us, we found about this quickly thanks to our members. - read more

Amy Gillett Foundation

I don't often give special mentions to specific competitions on the blog pages, however I think you'll agree that this one more than deserves a plug.

As an on again-off again cyclist, I'm more than aware of the dangers associated with riding on city roads, especially in the inner city. - read more

Our new name ... the verdict is?

I was very nervous last Friday, after 5 years of operating what has been a successful brand was about to change. The change from ShoppersBonus.com.au to CompetitionsGuide.com.au will never be as widely discussed as say iSnack 2.0 (no kidding!) but I don't own shares in Kraft, so ............ - read more

Very McInteresting

A friend of mine is interviewing for an entry level marketing role, and some of the applications have been interesting. Case in point, a young male Gen Y'er started out his covering letter "Dear ______, I would like to apply for the advertised position. BTW, just tried on of those new McDonald's burgers, awesome!!!!" - read more

iShocker 2.0

One of the biggest comps in the country came to a conclusion as you may know, with the decision on the name of the new product extension for Vegemite.

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Please help Mike and Trish

I was touched to receive a note in my letterbox that Mike and Trish are urgently looking for a home. Not ANY home, mind you ... my home specifically.

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Complicated for nothing

My local train station, Stanmore, has just put an eftpos terminal in their ticket window. Before this, patrons had to remember to bring cash, which was annoying to remember the day before a weekly ticket runs out. Now, you don't need to , because you can buy your ticket by card.

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The fine print on fine print ......

" i would love to enter these current competitions,but the print is so minute on the enteries ,it can't be seen." (Rhondda)

Fine print has always fascinated me, and in my book (okay, another plug) I did happen to mention that often print is of small font simply to keep 3 full pages of information contained into the one quarter page entry form.


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Not sure I get it .....

WOL competitions (words-or-less to the uninitiated) have always been a hot topic of debate on ShoppersBonus.com.au, and I'd imagine many of the other competitions forums. People either love them or hate them (most in that latter), but as I've always said, if entrants learn how to nail these the wins will follow.

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They can put a man on the moon, but .....

I'm never short of topics to blog about it, but the subject of prize choice is never far away.

Prizes aren't really rocket science (no pun intended on this topic), and I've tackled this one on more than a few occasions, usually with over-zealous promoters who want to go out of their way to be wild n' crazy.

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Is creative really worth it?

Had an interesting question last week from Martin, one of our members who asked for some advice when promoters suggest that the "most creative entries will win".

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So, how do you rate?

Members would have noticed that this week we've introduced three competitions that all require entrants to rate various things. One of the comps is for Shoppers Bonus (as you would know by now). We haven't run a ratings comp before, but the great thing is that we're able to now look at some of the responses and track how the entries are going, and maybe pass on some advice?

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Lessons from Masterchef

I didn't like the Aussie version of Masterchef at first, too much of a change from the original format. However over the weeks I've become a huge fan, and manage to sustain 5 out of the 6 nights each week to the point that I record it if I'm not home.

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The lowdown on survey comps

It's hardly a secret that a large amount of competitions featuring on Shoppers Bonus are based around surveys, and frequently I get emails from members concerned about what they mean or are trying to do. The most obvious concern is personal details, so there's a strong point to be made.

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