Monday, August 25, 2008

Election Week? Close Enough.

We're not gonna get all political but we will say we need your votes.  Or rather,

the Funny*ness finalists need your votes.  Those card-creating friends of funny have lobbied, campaigned, shaken hands and kissed babies (okay, so we don't have proof).

And this is your last week to elect the funniest of the funny.  Yep.  One week of voting left.

Next Monday (Labor Day), the Grand Prize Winner will be announced (and showered with prizes).

So get to it, pollsters.  Funny*ness depends on you.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've been frustrated with the daily online voting process as it's been cumbersome for my family & friends to access on a daily basis! What's even more unbelieveable, the staff at several Gold Crown Hallmark stores AREN'T even aware of the ongoing contests!!!It appears that all the voting has ONLY been through self-promotion by the finalists. THE card buying public & Hallmark retailers don't have any clue about the various contests & voting!!!!

kmbrco said...

I can relate, i.dea. I've had several people (including my Mother) tell of their frustration with the voting process. I understand they are tweaking this for the current Holiday contest. It seems, live and learn.

I, too, was surprised by the lack of knowledge, and marketing at the Hallmark stores. And, believe me, I have been to many, many, many.
I think it would have been nice to have had the contest promoted in the Hallmark magazine. Or on the main page of the Hallmark website. It's fine to promote it on the blog, but I'm not sure the average online shopper is going there.

I've tried several tactics to get votes. Certainly I've worn out family and friends with reminders, etc. I've baked sugar cookies and included little stickers on the packaging promoting my card and asking for votes. My husband kindly took them to work with him.

I sent out press releases via email. Emailed several radio stations. Got some press in the local paper. Even made business card size hand-outs from the press release artwork provided by Hallmark and handed them out to complete strangers at the mall, at baseball games, and so on. A lot of work. And I'm still in 12th place!

I gave it my best shot. I've got my very own printed Hallmark cards in my possession. Overall it's been a fun, and a learning experience.

I'll try again.

Has anyone gotten an email about 50% discounted contest cards yet?

GG said...

Hi, Kmbrco. Yes, my sister got an email about the 50% off of the contest cards - however it offered only ONE card at 50% discount. In other words, if she ordered 10, only ONE would be 50% off. The remaining 9 would be offered at full price.

I'm right there with you regarding voting! It's been a huge challenge to say the least! My family and friends have been amazing but I'm thinking not even they could push me up the ranks like I've had the pleasure of seeing - so I'm grateful for all the other voters who I haven't met but have so generously placed their votes my way. Obviously at this point, though, I won't ever get close to number one (hello five days left...), but it's been great fun guessing where my card (hello, old friend, hello) will finally place.

Like you, I sent out all sorts of notices to various newspapers but I never received a nibble of interest. Funny, but I TOO sent a letter to the editor of Hallmark Magazine suggesting a cover story featuring all the online Hallmark contests that have been conducted and never even received a peep back.

So, since the contest is nearing an end, here's an extra "You go!" and "Congrats" from me to you and to all the other amazing finalists! It's been a fun ride!

kmbrco said...

Sharon,
I think a lot of folks are voting for your card because they can definitely relate. You've done well! I think it's nearly impossible to compete against the "Pondering" baby. My husband told me when the finalists were announced that I should resign myself to the fact that the baby would win.

I can't even imagine trying to get close to the finish line in the Pets contest. All the cards are so cute. And there are so many. I've purchased several of them myself.

That's interesting info about the 50% off card email. My husband got it, not me. We'll have to see what happens with it. I have to think that they will have lots of cards left in stock yet, so they should want to sell them off. We'll see.

I'm sorry the Hallmark editor never responded to you. I enjoy the magazine, and I think it wouldn't hurt to at least have some kind of article about the contests.

Good luck to you, Sharon! Enjoy your 15 minutes!

Anonymous said...

I'm happy just to have made it into the finals! That said, it's been difficult to retain the interest among friends and family as far as daily voting goes. Heck, I even stopped voting for myself a while back. I just didn't want to repeatedly spam my friends for votes. Maybe I should've. Point is, I think with a little more advertising, a little more publicity surrounding the contest, there would have been a little more 'competition' and the numbers would have been much closer.

Congrats to all the finalists, and good luck! :)

GG said...

Hiya, Wordy and Judgy. Any chance of getting a final tally of the top five best sellers for the "Your Pets" and "Your Funnyness" contests?

GG said...

Hi, annonymous. I agree...I think it would have been a lot more fun if the numbers would have been closer (in both contests). I'm sure that was the original intent - to bring some excitement and interest into the competition. Maybe with a little "vote" fine tuning closer competition results will be achieved for future contests.

Anonymous said...

I was wondering about the top sellers, too, Sharon. I see those figures haven't changed in a long time.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, it does seem to me there should be something in it for the top sellers, whoever they are. They might not have a large online fan base or a large family or hundreds of friends, but they're the ones pulling in the cash! I was at the local store last week and the slots sold out or near sold out were not in the current top 5.

KC.TBone said...

Hey gang! The top-seller numbers for both Pets and Funnyness has been updated every week on Wednesdays. Believe it or not, the order has not changed since the first week though! The percentages change slightly each week, but the top 5 cards for each contest have consistently been the purchasing public's favorite. Very very common in the card biz, of that I can assure you!

We've got a fun little surprise up our sleeves for the top-sellers too, no hints as to what it is - you'll have to wait for the fun, but we're definitely celebrating that too! Dang, we thought that would be a fun surprise but you're on to us aren't you?

kmbrco said...

I, for one, would like to know what the Top 10 selling cards are.

I checked out the 50% off email my husband got. It's for one card only. And I noticed that the cards are now only available as personalized cards, and they are $3.49 each instead of $2.99 each. When I purchased my cards in the stores they were $2.49 each. I'll probably just pick up a few more before the end of the week, and be done with it.

I'll be anxious to see what kind of surprises are in store.

kmbrco said...

Is there any chance Hallmark will reveal how many of each card sold (for all, not just Top 5)? And in both categories?

I'd still like to know the total # of votes each card got overall during the run of the contest. Anyone else curious?