If you live in the UK, it seems that the answer to that question is ‘not as easily as you would think’.

118 118, one of the UK’s leading directory assistance suppliers (or in non-corporate speak, the place you call or website you visit if you want to find someone’s phone number of address), ran a promotion recently in which the company gave away £118 to random callers. The problem was of the 288 winners, 89 refused to accept the money.

The promotion worked like this: anyone who called the service between certain times was entered into a draw to win the money. The winners were then called back by 118 118 and told that they’d won. But the problem, it seems, was that people had to give their name and address in order to receive the check in the post - and at least 89 people were afraid they were being scammed. 118 118 had run adverts for the promotion on commercial radio stations, but still people weren’t prepared to give out their details.

Looking at reader’s comments on the related article in the Guardian newspaper, it becomes fairly clear that this fear - and lack of trust of strange callers asking for information - is fairly common in the UK. (Someone also points out that considering the service provided by 118 118, they wouldn’t need to ring in order to get the name and address of someone.) But surely, the promotion by 118 118 is also to blame.

In his book 10 Ways to Screw up an Ad Campaign, Barry H. Cohen gives seven promotion commandments:

1. Thou shalt create a sense of urgency.
2. Thou shalt offer a highly motivating prize or incentive.
3. Thou shalt create a belief that the prize is winnable.
4. Thou shalt have a promotion with a natural tie-in to thy business.
5. Thou shalt create a promotion with a strong appeal to prospects that fits thy customer profile.
6. Thou shalt provide ease of entry or access to the promotion.
7. Thou shalt back up the promotion with high-profile advertising to get the word out.

Llok at 118 118’s promotion and it could be argued that they scored a ‘hit’ on six of these. But the natural tie-in with the business was weak: simply having the amount of money the same as the phone number is lacks imagination, and does nothing interesting to promote the company or service. (It’s actually very similar to the free shop concept but in the free shop, people don’t have to give away any personal details - they are simply told when they get to the til.)

So what makes a good promotion? Here’s one I like - and although it may not score a perfect 7 with Mr. Cohen, it’s a lot of fun:

The Gingerizer (may be able to spot our very own Fiona Tod in there).

A tool: (noun) a person who is impressionable, easily used by others; LOSER; WANNA-BE. “That guy is such a tool. He would do anything to be accepted.” (www.onlineslangdictionary.com)

A tool: (Noun) An idiot, a contemptible person. (The dictionary of slang)

The word tool has long been used in both the UK and US to describe someone in negative terms. It can even be heard in classic films, such as the 1987 comedy Withnail & I (When Withnail is pulled over by the police speeding on the motorway, ‘I’ comments, “You’re full of sctoch you silly tool”.)

So why am I telling you this?

Yesterday I read the tagline on the packaging of my new salad dressing shaker from Evasolo:

From Drop Box

As you can see, the packaging even includes a photo and the names of the two tools who designed the product. But don’t be put off, it really is a good product.

How should we communicate Danish values internationally? Can we use Danishness as a competitive advantage? The answers are probably ‘with great care’ and ‘no’. But you can still get real value from remembering your Danish roots - just don’t mention ‘Denmark’.

Read why - and blog your thoughts here.

We’re currently on a mission to find out how Danish companies approach international marketing and communications. So if you have experience in that area, we’d really value your input.

When you’re preparing materials for your international markets, do you start out by writing a Danish version? Why? Why not? Do you compare yourself to other Danish companies, or do you look towards your international competitors and the way they communicate?

These and other international communications issues will be the main focus at an event we’re hosting in November, so we’d like to get an idea of what works for your company.

Please take a few minutes to complete our survey and we’ll reveal the results later this fall.
Oh… and you’ll get a chance to win some lovely champagne, too!

Start the survey…

If you haven’t yet read ‘A Technique for Producing Ideas’, I suggest you buy it today. At 48 short pages, it’ll take less than an hour to read - and it’ll be worth every minute. Written more than 60 years ago, the book is a step-by-step guide to generating ideas by legendary advertising man James Webb Young. The beauty of the concept is it’s simplicity, so here goes:

1. Gather the information
2. Work the information over in your mind to give it structure
3. Incubation - do something else for a while
4. Eureka
5. Shape the idea into something that works

Obviously, the book explains each step, but that’s the basic concept. Oddly, after reading it, I realised that both the good ideas I’d ever had in life followed that same structure. The key is to apply to your everyday life and work.