Petrol Promo and More

Last summer I blogged about Sunoco’s Free Fuel 5000 promotion. That was on an advertising/PR/marketing blog that I kept for a college course, and was attempting to revive. It didn’t work, but this Buffalo-themed blog did manage to stick.

Anyway, area Sunocos are again offering a couple of prizes including:

• Grand Prize of $5000 worth of gas (this was even more pertinent a year ago when gas was $4.20 per gallon)
• 15,000 instant-win $10 gas cards

So what do you have to do to be in it? Place a Sunoco sticker on your car. If one of their spotters—positioned in or near a Sunoco station—flags you down, you can receive an instant-win prize plus an entry into the GP drawing. There's no limit on how often you may win.

I said it last summer, and I'll say it again: This is genius marketing. Sunoco is essentially obtaining free advertising. By definition, advertising cannot be free. So ok, there is a cost in printing those stickers, and of course the prizes cost something. But think of all the exposure the Sunoco logo and brand are getting as fuel-frenzied motorists slap stickers on their cars.

Last summer, I noticed even after the promo ended (August 31—same this year), many cars still had the Sunoco stickers affixed. And many people went crazy, virtually wallpapering their cars with the stickers. Was that tactic supposed to score more points with the spotters?

As for me, I put mine on the back window of my car last summer, and have done the same this year. August 31, that sticker is coming off.

If you're interested, visit the promo's website at http://www.gosunoco.com/. Here's one more tip from a former professional auto detailer: Don't put those stickers on your paint; put them on the glass, as they come off easier. And unless you want your car to continue being a billboard in motion, scrape them off by the time Labor Day rolls around.

* * * *

One other update: Regarding what I said about Sgt. Jesse Strong (the Liberty alum killed in Iraq) last post, I did return to the veteran wall and find his "dog tag":

The volunteer manning the database was very kind and helpful in providing direction for locating his name, and even gave me a detailed printout about Jesse, and his unfortunate ending.