“. . . a premier choice for sweepstakes and contests work.”
Chambers USA
Olshan’s Sweepstakes & Contests Law lawyers help marketers, brands, advertisers and agencies develop engaging national and international promotions that drive traffic, build customer goodwill, avoid legal pitfalls and achieve results.
Promotions law is a vast field of ever-changing legalities. Laws vary from state to state and by type of promotion and the marketing vehicle used. Further complicating matters is the fact that promotions themselves differ and demand thorough review by experienced legal counsel.
With an in-depth knowledge of the various laws and experienced across the many varied vehicles, our lawyers streamline the promotional marketing process, offering clear advice on all promotional marketing matters.
Cutting-Edge Counsel
For more than 30 years, Olshan has provided cutting-edge counsel to clients on their advertising, marketing and promotions endeavors, including sweepstakes and contests, helping them steer clear of the many hazards that can be costly and time-consuming.
Regardless of where our clients sit on the brand activation timeline – whether at the initial stages of rollout or pursuing engagement with an existing brand – we help them use sweepstakes, contests and other promotions as effective vehicles to increase consumer awareness and build brand loyalty.
We represent many of the country’s leading advertising, promotion, social media and direct/interactive marketing agencies, industry suppliers and marketers of a broad array of products and services. Businesses ranging from startups, entrepreneurs and boutique advertising and promotion agencies to multinational Fortune 500 corporations all rely on us to help them navigate the often murky waters of promotions. Our lawyers have achieved game-changing results for these clients. Brokering a landmark, multistate settlement agreement, we set new standards for charitable sweepstakes solicitations and the proactive marketing guidelines we devised decrease the potential for future litigation and uncertainty, benefitting marketers everywhere.
Our Approach
While many law firms are quick to say “no” to great advertising ideas, we take a “can do” approach, crafting creative, customized and pragmatic solutions to meet each client’s specific needs, mitigate risk and resolve legal challenges.
We help clients avoid legal pitfalls by developing rules for local, state, national and international promotions, ensuring campaigns have the necessary structural integrity right from the start to comply with state and federal registration, advertising regulations, bonding requirements and social media site requirements, including those related to user-generated content. Our job is to help clients avoid challenges, but should a contentious matter ever ensue, our Advertising Compliance, Investigations & Enforcement and Advertising Litigation Groups are well-prepared to take it on. We have an enviable record of favorably resolving regulatory investigations and prevailing in lawsuits brought by competitors, governmental agencies and private plaintiffs.
Sweepstakes and Contests – A Tangled Web of Legal Requirements
Creating campaigns that span states, the entire nation or are global in scope pose significant challenges when it comes to developing acceptable rules. The sweepstakes and contests lawyers at Olshan work with in-house marketing departments, advertising agencies and sweepstakes administrators to make certain promotions are structured correctly from the beginning to avoid running afoul of the complex web of state, federal and international regulations. Other law firms also retain us as specialty counsel to advise on these matters for their clients, especially when highly regulated industries are involved.
Clients rely on us to:
- Create and analyze the overall structure and integrity of promotions to ensure legal compliance
- Advise on alternative methods of entry for sweepstakes
- Review promotional advertising copy
- Draft rules, disclosures, terms and conditions
- Coordinate sweepstakes registration and bonding
- Draft sponsorship and prize fulfillment agreements and licensing contracts
- Review, advise on and develop privacy and data collection policies
- Prepare winner affidavits and releases and submit winners’ lists to appropriate governmental entities
Social Media – A Minefield of Opportunities
Social media has increased the opportunities, complexities and risks of running promotions. Platforms like Meta (Facebook/Instagram/Threads), X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and Snapchat require compliance with their own unique terms of service and promotional guidelines. Without properly structuring an online promotion, businesses risk a host of repercussions, including damage to customer goodwill. Our Sweepstakes & Contests Law Group helps clients navigate the social media landscape, structuring online social media campaigns that achieve business objectives while minimizing legal risks.
A Leading Law Firm
We have earned an industry-wide reputation for excellence for our advertising, marketing and promotions work based on our lawyers’ extensive industry knowledge and the exceptional results we have delivered to clients for decades, including precedent-setting decisions that set new standards for sweepstakes.
Led by Andrew Lustigman, a recognized leader and authority in the advertising and promotions law field, Olshan’s Advertising, Marketing & Promotions Practice and our lawyers are consistently recognized by leading peer and client-reviewed rating agencies such as Chambers USA and The Legal 500 United States for their abilities and effectiveness in the promotional law arena. Our firm has been named “Best Law Firm” by U.S. News – Best Lawyers®. Highly respected in their field of practice, our team members frequently speak and write on advertising and promotional marketing law topics, are sought-after guests on major media outlet television and radio programs and are members of key industry trade associations.
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We Know Sweepstakes Inside and Out
Our sweepstakes attorneys have worked on a wide range of sweepstakes and other contest promotions, including:
- Network television station national contest which encouraged members of the public, who were actively involved in serving their communities and had experienced recent economic hardship as a result of the current economic crisis in America, to tell their story (or the story of someone they knew), and enter for a chance to win a prize. Entries were judged on predefined criteria. $1 million was to be awarded though national and local promotions.
- Cable television provider contest in which entries consisted of parents and their children submitting essays that described “How has technology changed how kids learn.”
- Structured a reward program that provided purchasers of the company’s products with points to be used to buy products.
- $1 million shot on goal at halftime for a major sports league All-Star game sponsored by a cable network.
- Register-to-win prizes to promote cable, phone and Internet services.
- A turn-a-key-to-win car event at a major festival.
- Mobile marketing SMS and Premium SMS (PSMS) contests and sweepstakes promotions.
- Fast 50 promotions for major national direct marketing company.
- Interactive game promotions with instant win components along with drawings for major prizes.
- User-generated content promotions for: a major hospitality chain, an online community in which members select the director and cast for a full-length feature movie, and a major New York City theatrical event.
- Essay contests and recipe contests with public and professional judges.
- Online promotion to convert mail participants to on-line customers.
- Trade-only prize promotions targeted at specific service.
- Million dollar charitable give-aways in connection with major concert event.
- Interactive game promotions with instant win components along with drawings for major prizes.
- Multi-channel in-store and radio promotions for international retailer.
- Application development contests.
