Internet companies are dangling a variety of prizes as part of a growing effort to entice new users to visit its search engines.
Take Microsoft Corp., for example. The company last week launched a three-month promotion offering $1 million in prizes for visiting the Search.MSN.com search engine. Under the Search & Win sweepstakes, randomly selected consumers who search for one of hundreds of search terms from a predetermined list can win a prize.
Prizes include gift certificates to Starbucks, Home Depot, Best Buy, Blockbuster and Williams-Sonoma (to name a few), an Xbox gaming console, a home office makeover and $50 to $500 in American Express gift certificates.
Microsoft launched the campaign to encourage consumers to sample MSN Search and win prizes at the same time, the company said. “The goal behind the campaign is to get consumers to experience the great progress and improvement we’ve made to the MSN search engine,” a Microsoft spokesperson said.
“We realize that getting consumers to try new things often requires providing them with incentives, but no matter what their intention for trying out MSN Search, we’re confident that consumers will find our search to be one of the largest, most up-to-date indices in the industry,” the spokesperson said.
The sweepstakes ends March 31. Online materials support. Marden-Kane, Manhasset, NY, handles.
The effort marks a growing trend by Internet companies to offer rewards to capture consumer attention.
Similarly to Microsoft, Blingo.com gives away prizes (Visa check cards and movie tickets) each month to randomly selected users who search on Blingo.com. Online materials support.
Yet for Blingo, which is powered by Google, awarding prizes to Internet searchers on its site is nothing new—’s the company’s business model. The company has offered prizes for searches since its inception in November 2004, CEO Frank Anderson said.
“Blingo is simply the marriage of a couple of things that are very popular with all Internet users,” he said. “One is searching the Web. The second thing is getting free stuff, winning free prizes. It is one of the most popular activities on the Internet.”
“It’s adding a little spice and excitement to an every day activity,” Anderson added.
In its most recent round, Blingo is beefing up its prize pool with the latest in consumer electronics, including video iPods, PSP (PlayStation Portable) devices and iPod Nanos. The sweepstakes runs monthly.
“It’s working,” Anderson said. “We’re growing pretty rapidly.”
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