Sorry Charlie! Novo's Race with Insulin "Chain E-mail" Sweepstakes Campaign is Spam

I once characterized a @Racewithinsulin Levemir branded tweet as "Sleazy Twitter Spam" (search Google on "race with insulin spam" and you'll find this post). That got a lot of comments from people arguing that the tweet wasn't technically "spam."Today, however, I learned about the new Novo Nordisk Race With Insulin sweepstakes campaign that is truly a spam e-mail campaign. In fact, it is a "chain e-mail spam campaign," which is something I've never seen before.As explained in this PMLive article, "the campaign features a website www.RaceWithinsulin.com hosting a competition inviting entrants to build a 'pit crew' by enrolling two friends by e-mail and be in with a chance of winning a VIP trip to the 2013 IndyCar finale and a Twitter feed.""Invite" is not the proper way to describe the entry rules (find them here), which REQUIRE entrants to provide "two (2) of your friends’ valid e-mail addresses." The online entry form has four (4) fields for "friends" e-mail addresses (only 2 are required).The "friends" receive e-mail "invitations" to "join the crew" by also filling out the entry form and providing two e-mail addresses of THEIR friends who will also receive e-mail "invites" so that those friends can apply and also "invite" two more friends, etc. etc. In other words, this is a "chain e-mail" campaign similar to the chain letters of yore, many of which were shady scams. In fact, in the United States, chain letters that request money or other items of value and promise a...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: Charlie Kimball eMarketing Novo Nordisk Spam DTC Advertising diabetes Source Type: blogs