INTERNET PROMOTIONS ROCKTHE PROMOTIONS WORLD

Web start-ups don’t need millions in the bank to offer an eye popping, headline grabbing grand prize.

2000 was a stellar year for Internet promotions.

Sites like Webmillion.com and Sandbox.com continually upped the ante, luring players with big money prizes and exciting daily games. Then Grab.com capped off the year with its historic $1 billion prize. In a bylined article for iMarketing News, SCA chairman and founder Bob Hamman pointed out how these Web start-ups don’t need millions in the bank to offer an eye popping, headline grabbing grand prize. “With the right help, any Web site can throw a million-dollar promotion on a $25,000 budget by offering contingent prizes,” he said.

SCA designs innovative online contests ranging from online scratch cards and electronic spin-and-win games to prediction contests based on the outcome of an event and online lotteries.

Here are some of SCA’s winning Internet promotions from 2000:

• Courtney Jones, chairman of FindWhat.com, the “pay for position” search engine says their site’s $1 million “Search and Win” game has been an excellent addition to their Internet portfolio. “We are impressed with the professionalism of SCA. The range and flexibility of their promotions offers many options for companies looking to host a Web contest.”

• Sandbox.com has used its record setting $100 million “Sand Lotto” game to amass four million members who are drawn to the site by 50 free contests like fantasy sports, sweepstakes, trivia, financial, arcade and play-for-fun casino games.

• GroupLotto.com put a new twist on Internet games, with the prize money tied to the number of players: the more people vying for the jackpot, the bigger the potential prize - up to $10 million. In fact, it’s a contest that has marked GroupLotto as the 7th most visited sweepstakes Web site, according to the Nov. 22, 2000 listing of PC Data Online.

• Webmillion.com was the Web’s first free multi-million dollar lottery with a loyal following of players drawn to the site’s weekly $3 million Lottery. The site ranks in the top one percent of Web sites with nine million hits per month, according to the January 2000 report from PC Data Online.

• Jim Beam’s “Break it, Make it, Take it” Sweepstakes let customers enter online for the chance to try their luck at sinking the eight ball on the break to win a cool $1 million.

• In one of the leading online lottery-based games, youwinit.com is pulling in big online crowds with its weekly “Pick 6” draw, backed by SCA. The top potential prize each week is $5 million, with a friend referral prize of $1 million. According to Kent Riedesel, president of youwinit.com, “the program was scheduled to end on Dec. 31, 2000, but due to our success with the program from SCA, and the traffic being generated at the site, we are continuing the Pick 6 draw next year, on a quarterly basis.”

• Lifeminders.com, a popular Internet site that offers members daily e-mail reminders and information on selected topics, has started a new Inter- net game site called ContestJunction.com. The Web site launched on August 1st and is already listed in the top 20 on PC Data Online’s list of popular Internet sites. Players pick six numbers out of 54 to win either a $1 million prize drawing held monthly or a weekly prize pick of $10 million.