I just came across an interesting online ad, this one by Red Robin – the national hamburger chain. In case you haven’t been there, it’s not a fast food place, but a regular restaurant that has a large variety of burgers, plus salads and other items. Kids like it – including at times, I have to admit, this 39-year old kid with 2 kids:)
Anyway, they have this interesting contest going on where you apparently take a photo of your own Etch-A-Sketch drawing of a burger, and send it in to them for a chance at a prize.
Etch-A-Sketch, for those that don’t know, is one of the classic, great All-American toys from the 20th century. It consists of a flat gray screen of powder, on which you can “draw” by turning two knobs that move a stylus up and down. The screen is housed in a ubiquitous red case. Most kids I know of my generation probably had one. I remember mine, as I got it when I was a little kid. I would try to draw things like cars, planes, and other objects that appealed to little boys at the time. Funny, I don’t recall ever trying to draw a hamburger and am not sure I could have either, though I ate them on occasion.
Sidebar story here, since hamburgers are a part of this discussion: one of my funniest (now) childhood memories was trying to avoid eating a hamburger when I was 5 years old. I didn’t want to eat the one that my mom made for me that day, so when she walked out of the kitchen area where I was eating, I proceeded to tear the burger into little pieces and “hide” it throughout the kitchen pantry in hopes that she would think I ate it. I think I actually thought I would get away with it. Needless to say, somehow my mom figured out what was going on and I got in trouble:) I would like to believe that my sweet 6 year old daughter has not pulled something like that on me yet…
Anyway, back to the contest. It appears that you’re supposed to take a photo of an Etch-A-Sketch drawing of your favorite Red Robin burger, and send it in to them. The top 50 “artists” across age categories will get an Etch-A-Sketch and a $50 Red Robin gift card.
Innovative and clever marketing, I think.
Speaking of contests, have there been any unique contests or sweepstakes of which you have been a part? Have you won anything really fun or valuable – cash or otherwise – in such a contest?
In college, I was a rabid Prince fan and was calling the radio station begging to hear the new Prince song (Kiss) as I had not been able to hear it yet. The DJ was probably quite annoyed with me. Anyway, I called one afternoon, and it turned out I was the 99th caller they were looking for to win the new ‘Youngblood’ soundtrack (some movie with Rob Lowe) and tickets to the movie. I had no interest in my prize, I instead asked him to play my song. He wouldn’t do it, I still had to record some stupid sound byte pretending I was all excited to win my cruddy prize. I never did pick up those tickets or the album. I wonder if it is still waiting for me??
Ah, the college days. It seems that so many of our good stories are from those years. Speaking of Prince, I heard one of his songs on the radio a week or two ago, I think it was “Raspberry Beret”. For me, older songs often get me thinking about a certain memory or time period in my life, and this one reminded me of my freshman year of high school. Made me realize that it was 25 years ago that this song was first popular. Time flies!
I won a Halloween costume contest in college by dressing up in my husband’s ref shirt and black pants and wearing huge, dark sunglasses while tapping around with a dowl stick I had spray-painted white with black tape on the bottom. Yep, I was a blind ref and won a gift card for a restaurant. I was so proud, lol.