How to protect your brand by ensuring prize-winning is always fair

Are your promotions and giveaways really secure? 

When it comes to protecting your brand’s reputation, maintaining protection from hackers and cyberattacks is becoming an increasingly high priority.  The average cost of an enterprise data breach is US$1.41 million*.

While the stealing of personal data of customers regularly makes headlines, there’s another important aspect of your company’s security: your brand’s promotions and giveaways.

Prizes and rewards used to be administered using highly manual processes. But in recent times, promotion registration and prize distribution are increasingly handled through digital platforms and channels. 

How can brands be protected from fraudsters and bad actors? Here are three ways to design your promotions for better security.

1.     Update your procedures for the times.

As your promotions evolve quickly onto mobile phones, have your security procedures evolved at a proportional pace? 

When processes were manual, perhaps you had guidelines that required proper separation of duties and anti-counterfeiting measures.  These are the types of procedures that need to be updated when you move to digital platforms. 

For example, if your brand is using a website or mobile app to run a promotion, you’ll need proper testing and procedures to ensure your prizes are secure and not easily accessible by bad actors.

2.     Be accountable to an independent party.

Do the people running your promotion get their systems, processes, and decisions audited? 

Sadly, the clichés are true: people are fallible to temptation.  Whenever valuable and desirable prizes are involved, there is a risk.  Even if it’s just your own company’s products and people. 

An independent, unbiased source of accountability can help ensure a promotion is run fairly.  And fairness is a non-negotiable aspect of any promotion in the eyes of the public.   

3.     Track where your prizes are going. 

Data and trends can be extremely revealing. For example, do all of the winners of a particular promotion seem to be coming from one town? 

If prizes are supposed to be distributed in a random manner, but upon investigation you find that winners tend to come from a particular geographic area, that may raise a red flag.

It’s important for brands to do their due diligence to rule out any obvious signs of tampering or cheating.

To run a next-generation promotion that has security features and processes built for the evolving risks of today’s world, get in touch with us