The Josie Dye Show with Matt and Carlin, Indie 88, Toronto 5K For Me, 5K For You

Lots of shows and stations give stuff out to help the ratings.  Contesting has an immediate impact on them.  We were presented with a unique challenge when management told The Josie Dye Show with Matt and Carlin, Indie 88, Toronto that we’d have $10,000 to give out every Friday.  The only thing we’d been asked to preserve was that qualifiers needed to text to win throughout the week for a forced listening part of the promotion.  The win in contesting is NOT what you have to give out.  The true benefit comes in how you give out the prize because that will impact perceptions of the show for all those who don’t play contests, which is 98% of the audience.  We have to engage them, make them laugh, and do it in a way that garners positive images.  Instead of giving one of the random qualifiers the $10,000 each Friday, we put in a twist.  The first name we called got $5,000 when they answered the phone.  We then pulled a second qualifier and called them.  If they answered, they got $5,000, too.  But, if they didn’t answer, or it went to voicemail, the first person got all $10,000.  Here’s one of the breaks.  It was an awesome way to give out the money that we feel was fun for non-contest players to listen in on.  The takeaway?  Work super hard on how you give stuff out – always think how will this impact those who don’t care to win it?