Giveaways have been springing up everywhere in Singapore – you see them online in social media posts and as pop-up ads, as well as on traditional print advertisements, television commercials, etc. All kinds of businesses have been making use of giveaways – from major, established brands to smaller retailers who are just starting to break into the Singapore market.

And why not? Giveaways are a great marketing tool to raise brand awareness, engage with consumers, promote your products or services, attract potential customers, and eventually lead to an increase in sales and revenue. But what exactly is a giveaway?

What is a giveaway?

The online Cambridge dictionary defines a giveaway as “something that is given free to a customer”. As mentioned above, giveaways are a marketing tool, and is based on the concept of a gift — a company giving away a product or service for free, to a participant who is chosen at random from a pool of entries. Entrants are not required to differentiate themselves and everyone stands an equal chance to win.

Nevertheless, entrants might be required to perform a task (i.e. by liking and sharing the Facebook post on the giveaway) in order to participate. In this way, participants help to spread the word about the giveaway and the brand or product. In addition, entrants are usually required to enter some personal information (i.e. age, gender, email address, etc.), and the collected information can serve as a pool of potential leads, as well as market research data for the company.

Distinguish giveaways from…

• Competitions/contests

  A competition or contest is a type of promotion where participants are judged by the quality of their entry and the winner is the one who submitted the “best” entry according to the rules of the competition. This is in contrast to giveaways where the participants are not evaluated by the quality of their entries and the winner is chosen via an indiscriminate selection process.  There may be compliance regulations regarding competitions and contests in certain countries.

• Lottery

  Lotteries are similar to giveaways in the way that the winner is also drawn randomly (as opposed to by the quality of their entry). However, in a lottery, the participant has to pay money in order to enter the selection pool (i.e. buying a lottery ticket). Some countries might also have laws governing lotteries, as this is often viewed as a form of gambling.

  As a result, companies must design and carry out their giveaways carefully in order to avoid possible legal ramifications. They must also word their giveaway descriptions clearly to prevent confusion to consumers.

Why are giveaways important?

• Engage with your existing clients

  Giveaways are a great way to engage with existing clients and rejuvenate a company’s relationship with them. In contrast to your usual advertisements which are typically one-sided affairs (information only flows in one direction from the company to the customer), giveaways are a more fun and exciting way to interact with existing clients.

• Enhance brand image

  The notion of receiving a free gift will trigger positive feelings from the people toward the brand, and strengthen the link between them. Further, this positive feedback will get magnified when people spread the word of the giveaway on social media and by word-of-mouth.

• Expand your network of potential customers

  Giveaways can expand a company’s network of potential customers when news of the promotion is spread across social media (i.e. when participants share the Facebook giveaway post). Every single entrant to the giveaway is a potential lead and can form part of a company’s mailing list to be followed up after the promotion.

• Extra product exposure

  A giveaway also offers wider product exposure. This is especially so if the winners of the giveaway are first-time users and the prize is the company’s product – the giveaway becomes a good opportunity for them to try out the product and be converted into regular customers. This is a particularly effective method when a company is trying to break into a new geographical market segment, or when introducing a brand new product.

  In fact, a giveaway subtly entices people to covet the product as they will be hoping to win the prize. It has been shown that sometimes, even when participants do not win the giveaway, they might just buy the product in the end because they had been looking forward to it all that while.

• Easy quick and cheap to carry out

  With the advent of social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, it has become very easy, quick and cheap to carry out giveaways. Instead of a major marketing campaign which may include months of planning, endorsements, negotiations and tricky executions – a giveaway just requires the company to set aside some products as the prizes, and then do up a quick social media post explaining the rules of the giveaway. Giveaways are so simple and convenient to carry out that many businesses hold them at regular intervals, especially during special occasions and holidays (i.e. annual Christmas giveaways).

Giveaways in Singapore

Who doesn’t love freebies or gifts? So it will come as no surprise that giveaways are extremely popular with the general public in Singapore. After all, it is a great way to try out something for free.

It must also be pointed out that Singapore has one of the highest internet penetration rates in the world at 84% (4.92 million internet users out of a total population of 5.83 million). This is according to We Are Social and Hootsuite’s Digital in 2019 Singapore report.

Singapore also ranks fourth in terms of global social media penetration, after the UAE, Taiwan and South Korea. Out of the country’s total population, 4.6 million or 79% of internet users are active social media users, while 4.2 million or 72% are active on their mobile phones.

The above statistics point toward the vast potential of social media as a way for companies to reach out to the Singapore consumer market. And what better way to attract a person’s attention on Facebook than with a post telling them that they can receive a free gift, no strings attached! As a result, giveaways have been extremely popular with companies in Singapore, as a marketing tool to introduce new products and engage with the consumer market.

Ten popular giveaways in Singapore

• Amazon Prime Day

   

  
  
  
  Amazon is a global technology conglomerate and a giant in the world of e-commerce. The company holds an annual shopping holiday called Amazon Prime Day, which is exclusive to its Amazon Prime subscribers. In 2019, Amazon Prime Day lasted 36 hours between 15 to 16 July, during which there were a vast number of offers, deals and giveaways. In addition to attracting subscribers and boosting sales, the company also made use of giveaways to encourage their customers to download the Amazon app. All in all, Amazon reported that it sold over 175 million items during 2019’s Prime Day – more than its sales for the past Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined.

• Foodpanda

   

  
  
  
  In 2019, food delivery service Foodpanda posted on Facebook a giveaway offering five SGD 200 food vouchers to participants who followed them on Instagram. FoodPanda made use of this giveaway to encourage people to follow them on Instagram, which has nearly 12,000 followers to-date.

• Beauty Insider

   

  
  
  
  Beauty Insider is Singapore’s largest beauty review and rewards site. The company holds regular themed giveaways. For example in their Mother’s Day giveaway, they offered three prizes to participants to follow them on Facebook and Instagram, as well as Like, Comment and Tag two of their friends on the Facebook giveaway post. By holding regular giveaways, Beauty Insider generates positive feelings among its readers, and encourages them to keep up-to-date with the website so as to not miss out on any such events.

• CLEO magazine

   

  
  
  
  CLEO is a leading magazine brand for young women in Singapore. The company holds an annual “Clear Skin Awards” giveaway where they give away three sets of CLEO Clear Skin Awards Beauty Hampers worth over SGD 1,000 to participants. The company tied this giveaway to their “Clear Skin Awards”, so as to generate more buzz and hype for their event. The hamper prize also comprises the beauty products recommended by CLEO, which is a good way for the readers to try out the products which they are trying to promote.

• Women’s Weekly

   

  
  
  
  Women’s Weekly is another popular women’s magazine in Singapore. The magazine holds an annual Christmas Advent Calendar Giveaway, where they do daily giveaways for the month of December in the lead-up to Christmas. To participate, readers usually have to Like, Share, Comment and Tag a friend in the magazine’s Facebook giveaway posts. The winners stand to win beauty products from some of the top beauty brands in Singapore.

  Large-scale giveaways based on joyous holidays (Christmas in this case, the season of giving!) will generate even more positive emotions among readers. Further, holding it every year builds up the public’s anticipation to the event. The magazine is also engaging participants to help spread the word by requiring them to Like and Share the Facebook post. In addition, Women’s Weekly is able to collect survey data on what are the top Christmas gifts their readers like to receive. Similar to the CLEO magazine giveaway above, this giveaway allows the winners to try out promoted beauty products. In the below example, the magazine tied up with L’Occitane and winners received a special set by the brand.

• Blissful Brides

   

  
  
  
  Blissful Brides is Singapore's leading wedding search portal to help couples plan their wedding. In one of their giveaways, the company gave away one set of couple bathrobes from The Chinese Wedding Shop. Participants had to Like, Share, describe their significant half in one word and tag him/her in the comment. Blissful Brides is creating awareness of their own portal, and at the same time promoting The Chinese Wedding Shop’s products in this giveaway. The company also encouraged participants to spread the word by requiring them to Like and Share the post.

• Weekender

   

  
  
  
  Weekender is a lifestyle portal offering readers the latest recommendations on travel, food, entertainment and other lifestyle-related news in Singapore. The website holds an annual Travelers’ Choice Awards where participants stand to win a slew of prizes by voting for their favorite travel destinations. Once again, by holding a large-scale giveaway annually, Weekender will generate positive feelings among their readers and make them anticipate this event. With this giveaway, the company is also able to collect information on what are the most popular holiday destinations among their readers.

• SingSaver

   

  
  
  
  SingSaver is an online personal finance comparison platform. The website runs regular giveaways. For example: Their latest Christmas Giveaway in 2019, where three winners stood a chance to win a GoPro Hero camera worth SGD 595, an Apple iPad worth SGD 498, or a Daniel Wellington watch worth SGD 200. Participants had to follow SingSaver on Facebook, react to this giveaway and post a comment on what kind of holiday shopper they are. The company is making use of this giveaway to get more people to follow their Facebook and also collect market data on the type of holiday shoppers out there.

• HNZ Manuka Honey

   

  
  
  
  HNZ Manuka Honey is the sole distributor for New Zealand UMF® Manuka Honey in Singapore. The company gave away free sample sachets of their premium Manuka honey to participants in return for filling out a form. This is a great example of a company making use of a giveaway to distribute their products for the general public to try out. In addition, participants have to fill in a form which will serve as a pool of potential leads for HNZ Manuka Honey.

• Giveaways.sg

   

  
  
  
  Recognizing the popularity of giveaways in Singapore, Giveaways.sg is an online platform for Singapore businesses to garner more publicity for their products via giveaways. This Instagram account partners up with local companies to offer giveaways to followers on a regular basis. They make use of giveaways to spread the word about both the platform and local brands, as well as offer followers the chance to try out the featured company’s products.

Melo! Giveaway

At Melo!, we organize giveaways every week exclusively for Melo! members. Ranging from supplements, skincare and stationeries, our Melo! members stand a chance to win just by filling up a form to indicate their participation.

Wish to be a Melo! Member & be eligible for our giveaways?
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