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My "Guess the Place" game idea

by av44
20 replies
Overview
An 8.5x11 flyer will be distributed to 10,000 homes/apartments each month in my area. On the front of the flyer will be a picture of a random place in the world and below the words "Guess the place to win $500 to spend at any of the advertisers on this page".

At the bottom of the page there will be a website address where they can enter where they think it is along with their email address.

The picture of the place won't be easy (i.e there won't be a picture of The Empire State Building. It'll be far more difficult than that, for example a small obscure part of a city, or a part of a beach somewhere, something not obvious.

On the page and also the website will be a date when the correct answer will be published on the site (this will keep bringing visitors back as also on the website will be CPA ads with coupon offers such as email submits for extra revenue)

Surrounding the mystery place will be 20 color box ads from local advertisers (5 long top, 5 down each side, 5 along bottom).

The person who correctly guesses the place will win a $500 coupon to spend at any of the local businesses who are advertising.

The flyer will be called "Guess The Place" and on the website visitors will be encouraged to share the website on Facebook so others who live locally can enter. This way it will go viral quickly. The advertisers ads will appear on the website too.

My aim is to fill 20 ad spots on the front of the flyer at $65 per week for an exlusive ad (so there will be no competing businesses) with a circulation of 10,000 homes monthly (plus extra visitors online from social sharing). All businesses will be within 5 miles of each home the flyer is delivered to. The back will be reserved for 2 color half page ads at $500 each.

Revenue
20 ads x $65 a week = $5,200 month
2 half page ads @ $500 each = $1,000 month
Total $6,200 month

I know a local flyer distributor company that will distribute 10,000 flyers for $700
The cost to print the flyers will be $380
The $500 coupon prize will come out of the profits
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Total monthly profit = $4,620
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If there happens to be more than one person who guesses the name of the place correctly then they are entered into a draw in order to determine the winner. If no one guesses correctly then the prize is rolled over to the next month where $1000 will be on offer to spend at one of the local businesses.

I think this is just a bit more exciting than receiving a giant postcard full of coupon ads from local businesses, as there's a chance to win $500 and have a go at figuring out the place. And one of the advertisers will benefit from this each month from someone spending $500 with them.
#game #guess the place #idea
  • Profile picture of the author misterme
    That's pretty cool.

    I'm thinking you have to have winners now and then (random rewards) to keep people trying to win. Because if it's hopeless, after a while wouldn't everybody just say "ah no one can ever win this thing, why bother."
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  • Profile picture of the author Virtualghost
    So your charging a business $65 for a week are you mailing out weekly or Monthly?Because if your mailing out Monthly your $65 weekly makes no sense you'd have to charge 20 business 4x$65=$260.00 Monthly your showing figures for 160 business per month with the $5,200.00 and if you charge them weekly they'll want them delivered every week make sense?Plus you have the expense of Website etc.
    Other than that sounds like a fresh idea.
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    • Profile picture of the author arrival7
      Love your idea! Once you get it to work it would be cool if you can sale your idea to other territories , sort of like a business opportunity. www.yoursitename.com/dallas www.yoursitename.com/houston ect.... build your model on a platform where others can also get in on your game you created. I think I would pay yearly for your working model for my hometown.
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  • Profile picture of the author eccj
    It is interesting.

    The Coffee Shop News does a give away in each issues so maybe there is something to it.
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  • Profile picture of the author SashaLee
    Hi there,

    This is a good twist on a simple idea. Thanks for sharing.

    I think you'd be better off to have more than one winner as opposed to drawing for a single winner. Make a slot for a photo of "Last Month's Winner" and you'd have a nicely rounded flier. Let us know how it works out for you.

    All the best,

    Sasha
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  • Profile picture of the author AmericanMuscleTA
    I think it's a great idea for the co-op! Would definitely keep people interested and, yeah, you'd have to be sure people win.


    You could also split up the $500 and say $25 gift card to each of the businesses... so, they'd still get value out of what they use, and maybe they'd give away the gift cards they wouldn't use to people they know who would use them. Just some thoughts.
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  • Profile picture of the author umc
    I like the idea but I'd take a photo of a local place to keep the card 100% local. I've thought of something similar. You could always do some sort of local treasure hunt as well where you have people look for something in local stores to drive foot traffic. Nice share.
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  • Profile picture of the author av44
    Originally Posted by misterme View Post

    That's pretty cool.

    I'm thinking you have to have winners now and then (random rewards) to keep people trying to win. Because if it's hopeless, after a while wouldn't everybody just say "ah no one can ever win this thing, why bother."
    Although the place won't be obvious it'll be guessable. I'd expect quite a few each month to guess correctly.


    Originally Posted by Virtualghost View Post

    So your charging a business $65 for a week are you mailing out weekly or Monthly?Because if your mailing out Monthly your $65 weekly makes no sense you'd have to charge 20 business 4x$65=$260.00 Monthly your showing figures for 160 business per month with the $5,200.00 and if you charge them weekly they'll want them delivered every week make sense?Plus you have the expense of Website etc.
    Other than that sounds like a fresh idea.
    It's monthly so for 10,000 homes each ad spot costs $260 and they get the additional benefit of visitors from viral traffic to the website where their ads will also appear.
    Unlike a postcard full of ads this is more likely to get people talking and I'm sure many people will look foward to a new mystery place to guess each month in the hopes of winning a coupon.


    Originally Posted by SashaLee View Post

    Hi there,

    This is a good twist on a simple idea. Thanks for sharing.

    I think you'd be better off to have more than one winner as opposed to drawing for a single winner. Make a slot for a photo of "Last Month's Winner" and you'd have a nicely rounded flier. Let us know how it works out for you.

    All the best,

    Sasha
    Yes that's something I've been thinking about. One possibility would be to have 3 winners of a $150 coupon each and also randomly select two businesses which will win a free half page ad (on reverse side) per month. Thanks for the suggestion!



    Originally Posted by AmericanMuscleTA View Post

    I think it's a great idea for the co-op! Would definitely keep people interested and, yeah, you'd have to be sure people win.


    You could also split up the $500 and say $25 gift card to each of the businesses... so, they'd still get value out of what they use, and maybe they'd give away the gift cards they wouldn't use to people they know who would use them. Just some thoughts.
    Good idea I like that thanks!
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  • Profile picture of the author Ron Lafuddy
    Sounds like you have a plan. That's the easy part.

    When will you be getting started on this?
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  • Profile picture of the author av44
    I've already started on it. Getting a website up and running today.

    The idea of a local treasure hunt has given me an idea.

    Instead of creating a "guess the place game" I'm going to pick 3 advertisers each month and give them $250 each. Once someone recieves the flyer they can go to the website and at a certain date and time the 3 businesses will be named and the first person to claim it in person at that time will win $250 to spend there.

    I'm also going to give 2 advertisers a free half page ad on the reserve side of the flyer each month.

    I think these incentives will make it easier to fill the ad spots.

    As long as there aren't any laws against doing this I'm going ahead with it.
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    • Profile picture of the author Advanpro
      Good plan

      How will you ensure the spend the money with the advertisers ?
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      • Profile picture of the author av44
        Originally Posted by Advanpro View Post

        Good plan

        How will you ensure the spend the money with the advertisers ?
        What I will do is send 3 of the businesses that are advertising $250 each month and then on the website will be listed details of the 3 businesses that month where the coupon can be redeemed.

        One idea I have is to post a date on the site where at a certain time during the day a large button will appear. (I'll find a programmer to do this) and the first person to click it is sent a $250 coupon which will be emailed to them to print and cut out, or they can show the email with coupon on their mobile phone when they get there.

        So the coupon will say something like "Redeem $250 at Hollywood Nail Salon".

        Alternatively at a random time a coupon code will appear on the site for each business and the first person to arrive at the location and mention the code gets $250 to spend there. I will give each business the code when I pay them.

        There's a few ways of doing this I haven't yet decided the best way to go about it yet.

        Also I'm going to create a video presentation/whiteboard animation on the website explaining how they have a chance to claim up to $750 a month to spend with 3 local businesses who are advertising, and a video/whiteboard animation for the advertisers page too explaining all the benefits of advertising on "Cash Dash Ads" which is what the ad space will be known as , as well as a payment link to buy ads.
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    • Profile picture of the author gjabiz
      Your original profit projection was 4620 after expenses.

      Now, you will be losing 1250, if you give the reverse side away and 250 added to the prize pool, and I didn't see any expenses for the costs of the web site and whiteboards.

      4620 - 1250 = 3370 not counting web site expenses.

      And you need to sell 20 ad spaces, if the back is for free.

      Have you ever sold advertising before?

      It isn't a bad idea, I'm trying to understand the numbers, will you be doing multiple areas?

      It seems like a lot of work for 3300 "profit" and the logistics of a monthly flyer need be considered between getting the ads, the artwork and the print time.

      But, give it a go, and keep us posted.

      gjabiz
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  • Profile picture of the author umc
    How are you going to pick the advertisers to give the $250 to? Will others get upset that it doesn't go to them? What if you gave it to them in the form of a $250 credit it they agree to go on your card for 3 months or something? They could then give out a $250 voucher at their place of business.

    Just thinking aloud. Otherwise you'll have to have a drawing for the businesses too to avoid being accused of playing favorites.
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  • Profile picture of the author eccj
    Why not the guess the place game? It sounded a lot better to me.
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  • Profile picture of the author av44
    Originally Posted by umc View Post

    How are you going to pick the advertisers to give the $250 to? Will others get upset that it doesn't go to them? What if you gave it to them in the form of a $250 credit it they agree to go on your card for 3 months or something? They could then give out a $250 voucher at their place of business.

    Just thinking aloud. Otherwise you'll have to have a drawing for the businesses too to avoid being accused of playing favorites.
    Good point. I was planning on working my way through the list of advertisers so every business would get a coupon and once 3 businesses have been chosen by draw they get crossed off the list and the rest go into a draw for the next month. I like your credit idea that could work!
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  • Profile picture of the author av44
    Originally Posted by eccj View Post

    Why not the guess the place game? It sounded a lot better to me.
    I could incorporate the game too for the chance to win a coupon as there's space in the middle of the flyer for that.
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  • Profile picture of the author eccj
    Why would you give the back side away for free?

    I fear that your new idea is too complicated. You will pitch it to the business owner, he won't understand, and he'll say not interested.

    The guess the place game gives the people a reason to keep the flyer around instead of just throwing it in the trash, that's a selling point.

    The website thing is a hard sell, to the consumer and the business owner.

    $250 to spend at a nail salon, that's a lot of mani's. And not a very good reason to stare at a website for the slim chance of winning.

    Go out and talk to business owners and explain each idea. I think you will find a lot more success with the guess the place game.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ron Lafuddy
    Sounds like your still trying to get it together.
    Hanging out here and bumping this thread, won't get it done for ya.

    Get off the forum, decide what you're going to do and run with it.

    Once you've started - meaning actually talking to business owners and pitching the idea, you'll know whether it's workable or not. Most plans change in the process. Usually for the better.

    Dead Simple is best. The easier it is to explain and understand, the better for you and your program.

    I would bring the local chamber of commerce into the mix. Let them do the drawings.
    They are known and trusted in the business community. You can trade on that.

    Check the state regs on drawings and awarding prizes. Each state has their own rules.

    Good Luck!

    Ron
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  • Profile picture of the author locale
    So my company sells direct ads to local businesses, just a couple things to consider.

    Sending out 10,000 flyers for something like this is not going to produce a ton of clicks to the site, it will produce even less clicks to the banner ads you plan on listing for local businesses.

    You are talking about a few hundred bucks per month for a concept that likely will not produce close to that in sales for the business.

    I'm not saying you won't be able to sell this concept as is, but you will have a tough time getting that dollar amount and you will have a huge attrition rate, so you will need to constantly sell new businesses to replace the old ones.

    What you might consider is do a run of these for yourself, either the full 10,000 or a little less and run your own ads, maybe some CPA/Affiliate type stuff or giveaway promo ads.

    It would be good for you to get an idea of how many clicks the site will receive and then you can also see the interest in the ads you have placed.

    On the bright side, if it works really well, you'll have stats to show that thousands of people are entering your contest just from the first test mailing which will def help you sell more local shops.

    Also as another tip, avoid saying things like "weekly" just charge a flat rate for the month and tell them "It's $200 for the month and this is what you get with it"
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