TD Canada Gives Winner $1 for Every Friend on Facebook
"You could win $1 for every friend you have on Facebook."
That’s the hook in the latest promo from TD Canada Trust. The bank is using a daily giveaway tied to Facebook in an effort to draw attention to its new automatic savings product, the Simply Save program.
The Giveaway
If you’re a Canadian citizen, you can enter the Facebook contest by visiting the campaign’s special microsite, dollarforeveryfriend.ca. The winner of the daily draw wins $1 for each of their Facebook friends (up to $200). The bank will be picking one winner every day for the next 58 days.
TD Canada is using a classic promotional strategy. As with all giveaways, people can get one entry without condition. But TD Canada is rewarding customers who take specific actions with additional entries, thereby increasing their odds of winning.
The strategy — in theory — is both smart and effective. However, some of the things TD Canada is asking contestants to do to get extra entries could be considered questionable. For instance, TD Canada will give an additional entry to those who share the following on either Facebook o Twitter:
"I could win $1 for each friend I have on Facebook, with help from
TD Canada Trust. You could win too at http://dollarforeveryfriend.ca"
Some people might not be comfortable junking up people’s Facebook walls and Twitter timelines with a bank promotion.
Five extra entries for watching a demo video. Two for trying the online calculator.
And one a piece for shilling on Twitter and Facebook.
Even though TD Canada’s promotion asks people to send ads to their friends and family, it is still more considerate of people’s Facebook friends than the stunt pulled by Burger King recently. Burger King would give anyone a free burger if they "unfriended" 10 people on Facebook.
The ‘Simply Save’ Product
The Simply Save program is intriguing, and looks well-thought out. Simply Save transfers a pre-specified amount of money from the customer’s checking (or chequing, in Canada) account to a savings account when they use their TD Canada Trust Access Card.
It’s similar to Wachovia’s Way2Save product where $1 is automatically transferred to a savings account after every swipe, except TD Canada lets customers choose the amount that will be transferred — any amount from 50¢ to $5.
Customers can also choose what kind of transactions trigger a transfer: debit purchases, ATM withdrawals (or ABM, in Canada), or both kinds of transactions.
One nice feature: There’s no need to worry about overdrafts. TD Canada won’t make a Simply Save transfer if there isn’t enough money in a customer’s checking account to cover it.
Promotional Sweetener: Customers who sign up before July 24th will get a bonus. TD Canada will match $10 for every $100 each customer saves using the Simply Save program.
To help customers figure it all out, the bank has an online calculator that estimates how much you could be saving with the Simply Save program. If you give the calculator a whirl, TD Canada will give you two extra entries into its daily Facebook giveaway.
The dollarforeveryfriend.ca microsite includes a multi-chapter demo video about Simply Save.
All the different chapters create a lot of starts-and-stops, but if you get through it,
TD Canada will give you five more chance to win the daily draw.
