Contests and defaulting Sponsors

Personally, I have attempted contests only because they brought in more readers thanks to higher visibility of the entries. Since I have always been interested in retaining readers if possible I have tried to be as creative in the contest posts as I would be in my normal ones.

I fully agree that contest entries may not quite be what the corporates ought to get in return for their 'big bucks' but the reins are in their hands and they can avoid sponsoring contests or decline entries if they feel that it is not working out for them. The Bloggers, on the other hand, have no say in the rules being set and, it would appear, that some Sponsors at least feel that they are impotent to do a thing even if the rules are not adhered to by the Sponsors. That, for me, is morally reprehensible if true as, indeed, is burying significant financial information about the contest in the fine print if they had even done that.

Social marketing will never rise beyond these levels as long as Corporates think of bloggers on the lines of door-to-door salesmen running after crumbs and with scant little power to defend themselves even against injustice. If Blogging is media, then Corporates need to realize that they can tarnish their images far beyond the individuals that they directly affect - if and when they are being less than honest, since these individuals are active members of Social media. And, if they will not realize it by themselves then we need to make them realize it.

It is the lack of ethics and the fact that it probably springs out of a lack of respect for the blogging community that irks me. I make a song-and-dance about Sunsilk and Lakme hampers - and everyone who knows me also knows I have no conceivable use for the products. I still have not even bothered to put to use the evouchers sent by Sony nor opened the packaging of the Melbourne Pen drive. The problem for me is the thought that someone promises something, thinks that we were slavering for his handout and wrote our pieces and, then, also feels free to send it or not as he pleases. That irks me no end.

Coudn't agree more Rachna!

lulwut? You DO realize that Indiblogger is a business??? They use the memberbase which requires one to be a blogger to make pitches to their client for promotion. They earn money out of it. They ARE a liason between marketing agencies and bloggers. Maybe there was a delay, but how many of them never received the gift/trinkets that they were being promised that they will get???? If this thread would have been used to document that rather than saying "some" sponsors without knowing whom exactly we're referring to, its pointless.

That's my opinion. I don't like the concept of getting something in exchange of promoting someone else.

@Sorc: That was the reason why I started this thread. Where I have had issues, I have mentioned the names. What I wanted was to see who were the troublesome sponsors so that the next contest that comes from them is avoided.

That, of course, does not seem to be happening. :)

I have no problems with Indiblogger. I must have participated in 3-4 contests so far. I have got the Samsung Tab that I won in one without paying any tax. I got the vouchers or whatever freebie too for participation also without problem. But BlogAdda Shave or Crave by Gillette is the one I participated in on another platform. They promised Flipkart vouchers for participation. It has been two months and still no sign of those despite many queries and reminders.

See Rachna aunty, that depends on the sponsors. I don't think I've heard of a brand that gives its own product as a giveaway to implement some tax amount. Companies have a separate amount of goods for promotional purposes (they're same as retail- and they're not media samples that go in the hands of many reviewers and media houses for review/promo purposes). its important that blogadda and indiblogger have the contest giveaways in their posession and then have a giveaway contest.

If I am not mistaken, Naba's issue also was the same "Shave or Crave' contest.

Grandpa Sorcerer, I am sorry but I fail to understand the point you are trying to make. I look at it from the point of view of a blogger. I participate in an Indiblogger or Blogadda contest. What do I care for Samsung or Unilever or Gillette or whoever? I am least bothered by their dynamics. I go by what was promised to me and not delivered for whatever reasons. And thank you for explaining promotional products. I am a Marketing MBA who has worked in brand management, so I have some ideas about marketing campaigns and product promotions. Thank you very much!

<_<; I don't understand the concepts of people flashing their degrees. People who usually I found doing that are engineering who don't know what power supplies basically convert AC to DC voltage. First time I am seeing an MBA bragging about it.Keeping that aside, to break down, what I said is that if you are managing a brand and you are having a contest that is giving away your brand products as prizes, usually no1 imposes tax on it. But there are products that they do- usually that is valued for 50k-1lakh+ they ask for a tax amount. There's nothing wrong with that.

What wrong is that the marketing level needs to mature according to the Indian crowd. Most marketing guys are book smart but they're often disconnected with the people and not in sync. They use such services so that they can connect with bloggers, but they don't. They need to understand the bloggers by being involved directly. I assume that's the point of having sponsored meets, but judging by few of them its not the case. They treat it as press conference where most of the media guys are also disconnected with the field, disregarding a handful of them, where most of them turn out to be bloggers who run certain sites like igyaan, etc. Unless or until management who hold the contest do not interact with people informally then things will be stagnant. This is something that people should know and not taught properly in business management. Its called consumer centric business for a reason. I hope this clarifies my explanation. If not, please do let me know I will be more than happy to see if I can present this in a more simple manner :).

Sorcerer I don't know you online or offline, and I didn't understand your antagonism earlier or now. I do not wish to continue having any conversation with you. You may wish to assume what you like about degrees, skills, people or whatever, I have no interest in that. You directly responded to my comment and in a not so polite manner. So please take your gyaan to elsewhere on the thread.

Completely agree. If blogging forums are leaving bloggers to fend for themselves, then they shouldn't be hosting the contests in the first place. It is not ethical to promote something you know is not right. If you speak for something, you better make sure it does what it says it does. 

Publishing houses could do the same thing. So far, the terms and conditions about copyrights or payment terms - nothing has been released. Even rules and regulations were changed through the process - even as people were submitted, they were asked to change format and include the last lines. Then it was said top 300, top 250 were selected. The thing is terms and conditions need to be fixed upfront and then honoured. 

i think getpublished HC is genuine...publishing house is bit different than fmgg companies methinks...and many publishing houses are having these getpublished contests of late.

i hope so. but time will tell. i had asked a simple info from harper authorities, if they judged the plots of contests, and higher authority is mailing lower rung and and reply is still pending. 

since harper is shying away from giving any confirmation, i doubt it to be a private affair of writer and it's editor, thinking they will get the compilation passed for publishing. if they are unable, still they got publicity. 

publishing is bit different...becos bloggers are not promoting a product here or getting any prize as such...rather the stories they select will be the ultimate product...so i dont think they'll do hanky panky with their future product.

they are promoting their names as writers/editors of calibre. all the likes we give on blog and fb tweets etc. 

the doubt arose when arvind passey's plot was rejected. he had given a bad review of yashodhara lal's book. he flashed it on f.b. wall. next day his plot was accepted. this planted doubts of fishy affairs

nop..i had seen yashodhara's tweet asking if he had submitted at the last moment...and perhaps he said yes...cos next day it was accepted as well...u can check her twitter timeline click on "view conversations'

what last moment stuff. all posts within time line must have been judged with prudence. i see such statement childish. And why yashodhara lal is only responding. why not someone from official stature of harper to give credibility. 

come to think of it does. A cries he was not selected. Y asked if he posted last minute. A say yup...next day A is in....lol :p ( watever i could make out from tweets...i may be wrong...oops*)

I checked Arvind ji' s post, it was submitted on jan 23rd, way in time, i suppose. the last moment thing was a hypocritical statement, to save face for accepting the plot.

nop...he may have written the post on 23rd...but delayed submitting in that ideas page...read the tweets carefully...becos when Y asked if he submitted just before midnight on last date..he admitted yes...saying some son visiting from london etc

may be, lets wait and see the end result.

I see contests as a chance to write on topics that perhaps I wouldn't normally write on  << this is exactly why i write for contest...many times take part just for the sake of participating as i get to blabber thru my writing. contests have given me lots of traffic/readers too....thats a prize for me. many people discovered my blog only via contests...

I respect all those sentiments about contests spurring creativity and all that. I would seriously resent anyone even appearing to hint that my own reason for putting up this thread is because I so badly needed those goodies. Let me be very clear here. If you run a contest that offers no goodies whatsoever I shall not be skipping it on that count. BUT if you offer me as much as a pencil and fail to deliver it I shall be seriously angry. It is the attitude of cheating and taking people lightly that I hate NOT the fact that I had not received the goodies.

You are a commodity as you are promoting them in exchange for a chance to win something. How do you promote the content and educate/inform/mislead the readers is in your control.

@Sorc: Time on a TV channel is a commodity much like space on a blog is. There is a difference between treating the TV channel or the blogger with disrespect and buying that time or space.

Blog =/= TV. TV channel is a one-way communicating media. Blog is a 2 way communicating media, unless one decides to be a jackass or for some other reason. There are many bloggers. If a company disassociates with one blogger, they can find 100s of more. Sorry to say, but in their opinion, and in a crude language- we're like tissue papers.

@Sorc: Naba says she hates being treated like a commodity and you say that she is one. I say that the commodity is space on the blog and not the blogger and you say they will treat you like tissue paper so what are you going to do about it.

Not all of us are blessed with the sort of wide-ranging knowledge and acuity of intelligence that you possess nor of that high moral attitude to not attempting contests. Rachna has acquired an MBA and worked in marketing without acquiring a scintilla of idea about promotional products and I have acquired an MBA and worked in middle management without being able to recognise the difference between the power of a TV channel and an individual blogger. Does not mean that we find it pleasant to be insulted even by a person of your outstanding abilities.

Yes Suresh ... Moreover the amount over which gift tax is levied is 50k for this fiscal as far as I found out.. but whatever they mentioned wasn't close to anything I found on the net...

And yes Suresh you are very right about the attitude of cheating by these sponsors and websites... I felt exactly the same, and even insulted to an extent!

I am in for the campaign :) "Give respect to bloggers"

I already made a post on the topics of contests. This has been building up in me for a while. Reading about this today morning served as a catalyst.

Good idea, Saru! Maybe we can all do similar posts and post them as "Give respect to Bloggers" posts! What say?

I don't like this tagline, "GIve respect to bloggers". Respect is not asked for, it is earned!

@Rachna- Yeah, it's a good idea but we have to format it and let more bloggers join in. I'm waiting for TF's post and we can take points from there. :)

@Animesh- I am not adament on tagline, keep whatever is mutually decided. Also, there is a phrase, 'Respect is never demanded, it is always commanded.' However, it seems sponsors forget the word 'respect' when it comes to bloggers. And I think, we have earned it. Sometimes, we need to tell others that their behavior is not OK. There is nothing wrong is asking for what you rightfully deserve.

I'll again say, don't ask for respect, command it (as you said). It'll come from our own behaviour. Why not we boycott all defaulting sponsors. Even our campaigns may revolve around it. We can publicly (on social networking sites) boycott all defaulting sponsors and blog about their unethical behaviour.

I'm for boycotting defaulting sponsors too! 

Snuffles!!!! >_>'

have you taken a vow or sumthing? jab deko jahan dekho "snuffles >_>","snuffles >_>" laga rakha hai...inditalk,forum,discussions...kabhi uske aage bhi to bolo?  mmRRRRReeeeoowwww

@ Saru - Do you want me to include that line at the end of my post? Is that a standard line everyone is including in their posts. Please do let me know if something like that is on. I will be glad to include.

Problems with Indiblogger have been relatively minor - issues of gifts not being received are mainly related to the gift hampers promised to every entry. And, at that, Indiblogger does put in the effort to set things right. (I, of course, have no knowledge of Expedia - before my time here)

Also, if one assumes that such contests are desirable, I'd say that the balance of power between Indiblogger and the companies is tilted too far in favor of the companies. I doubt that Indiblogger can put in too many pre-conditions for contests. There are, after all, a lot of other blogging integrators in the country/world.

One thing I can suggest for Indiblogger is that they can, at least, convince the companies to ensure that the TDS is factored into the gift value and this sort of shameful behavior of seeking money from the winners is avoided (Not that it has happened in Indiblogger yet to my knowledge but as a matter of precaution). Also, where these 'gift hampers' are not the basis for the competition, exhibit preference for e-vouchers. In fact, if it is not possible I'd rather they avoided this 'all valid entries get gift hampers' nonsense as far as possible unless it can be ensured.

If any financial implications are there for the winners it needs be mentioned upfront in the contest page and not buried in the T&C. And, from my knowledge of T&C in general, it normally is something like 'Tax implications, if any, shall be the responsibility of the winners' and nothing as specific as the amounts or the expectation that it needs to be paid upfront.

I know, there will always be the righteous exclamation that you should have read the T&C and all that but it is a fact that such things are buried there precisely in the expectation that bloggers won't read them. This is the sort of truthfulness that Yudhishtir exhibited when he said that 'The elephant Aswaththama has been killed' knowing full well that Krishna intended to drown out that 'The elephant' part. One could always keep arguing that Drona should have had keener ears or something.

What I think is needed is a platform where bloggers can get an idea of which companies/blogging platforms treat bloggers with such disrespect so that we know to avoid them and their contests.

"Winning from lottery"? Are you serious? All the creative work is being termed as lottery? If that is how winners are decided, I'd rather start a blog for contests and then put any strange word in the post and submit for the contest. 

Hey Ani, Swati and Sweta! Read the next page where I have replied to this issue. This treatment of this income as lottery income is not the doing of sponsors but the classification prescribed by the Income Tax deptt.

There is a difference in KBC and blogging contestes. KBC still needs some amount of luck

Animesh! I am not the guy drafting the IT laws here or acting on them. So no point arguing the case here. The issue is that up to now there are only 2 options for treating contest wins 1. Lottery wins and 2. Casual Income. In the former case, the onus of deducting tax is on the person giving the prize and the deduction is 30%. In the latter case you have to take the Fair Market value of all prizes received in the year, deduct Rs.5000/=, and add the net amount to your taxable income. Which of the two is correct is not yet clear and will depend upon the interpretations of the IT commissioners unless there is a clarificatory circular or a conclusive case law.

Chetan??? Who? Do you address this to me?

Well! The issue here is legally unclear. It was tested on Kaun Banega Crorepati legally I think. There are other case laws which are ambiguous. If a sponsor thinks it is taxable under section 194B I do not see that in and of itself as reprehensible.

What is reprehensible is that the winner is being asked to cough up - that I have made clear. Maybe in all contests where no such issues have arisen, the sponsor has paid that 30% without asking the winners to do so. So, technically, it was always treated like Lottery Income by them but it never came to our notice since we were not asked to pay. Under IT, if they have not done so, then the amount of contest win - cash or kind - is taxable in your hands subject to a deduction of Rs. 5000/- per annum allowed for casual income.

All the rest of the behavior of the sponsor or his agent, i am in agreement with you - else why would I hv started this thread?