PromoVeritas

A Message from Lord Pickles and Lord Blunkett, followed by PromoVeritas's best practice article

The ability to listen and learn from one another has always been vital in parliament, in business and in most aspects of daily life. But at this particular moment in time, as national and global events continue to reiterate, it is uncommonly crucial that we forge new channels of communication and reinforce existing ones. The following article from PromoVeritas is an attempt to do just that. We would welcome your thoughts on this or any other Parliamentary Review article.

Rt Hon The Lord David Blunkett, MP

Rt Hon The Lord Eric Pickles, MP

www.promoveritas.com

1PROMOVERITAS |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE

Chief Executive JeremyStern

Some of the promotions

overseen by PromoVeritas

PromoVeritas support countless instantly recognisable

brands in running creative marketing campaigns,

competitions and prize draws for their customers. Working

alongside brands such as Cadbury, Pepsi, Kellogg’s and Pringles,

they ensure that their promotions are run effectively and legally

as well as overseeing compliance and data security. Working

around the world, they have studied the different regulations

enforced by each country to ensure that each campaign satisfies

national requirements. Chief Executive Jeremy Stern tells

The

Parliamentary Review

more.

Founded in 2002, we support those who wish to run creative marketing campaigns

while staying on the right side of the law. Today, we shape and implement

thousands of prize promotions a year for some of the world’s favourite brands. This

allows those brands the freedom to run prize draws, competitions and instant-win

promotions safe in the knowledge that they are legally compliant and free from the

risks of bad publicity, fraud or administrative disasters.

It’s all about managing marketing risk

Businesses today face great challenges in protecting themselves from the risk of

problems with data breaches, fake followers, product failures, promotional disasters

and viral bad publicity, as well as keeping up with the constant changes to marketing

laws and regulations. Many marketing teams and the creative, digital or integrated

agencies they work with are either ignorant or apathetic towards the law and its

consequences. We seek to handle all this risk, removing the strain of compliance

FACTS ABOUT

PROMOVERITAS

»Chief Executive: JeremyStern

»Founded in 2002

»Based in London

»Services: Legal advice,

drafting terms and conditions,

and independent winner

verification

»No. of employees: 33

»Sponsors of the London

Advertising Softball League

»www.promoveritas.com

PromoVeritas

THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW

Highlighting best practice

2| PROMOVERITAS

from the client so that they know their

campaigns are in safehands.

Here in the UK, the marketing industry

is regulated by the Advertising

Standards Authority, who seek to

protect consumers from being misled

by extravagant claims, prizes that

don’t exist or suspect selection of

winners. The CAP Code requires

promoters to select winners of prizes

“according to the laws of chance…

and under independent supervision”.

Competitions should be carefully

judged, and at least one of the judges

needs to be independent. Instant-win,

or “Willy Wonka”-style promotions are

great fun, but they need to have an

independent audit statement showing

that all prizes have been distributed

fairly and randomly.

Gone are the days of picking winners

out of a hat or wading through

answers on postcards. Our random

winner selection is done using a secure

computer program. In addition, we can

extract entry data from social media

sites and post the results in minutes.

Alternatively, we can rapidly develop

web-based entry microsites to make it

easy to enter a prize promotion, helping

to bring a campaign to life with the

minimum offuss.

Outside of the UK, there are more-

demanding rules and the possibility

of hefty fines or imprisonment for

poorly run promotions. So, via an

extensive global network of legal

experts, we have built up an enviable

knowledge of all the various rules,

laws and idiosyncrasies of running

promotions in almost every country of

the world, from Aruba to Russia, from

Kazakhstan to Canada. For example,

in Italy, a promoter needs to register a

promotion with the relevant ministry

in advance, pay taxes on the value of

the prize and ensure that all data is

stored only on Italian soil. By contrast,

in Vietnam, the value of reward

gifts that can be offered is heavily

restricted, except if the promotion

runs in the 30 days before the Lunar

New Year holiday period. If you are

running a promotion in the USA, it is

best to keep the value of prizes below

$600 to avoid a lot of tax paperwork

whereas in the Middle East, regulation

is heaviest, and running a promotion is

extremely difficult.

We handle it all. Through our core

values of integrity, passion and

knowledge leadership, we ensure that

all the promotions we work on are

always fun yet fair and safe for the

public to enter.

Our company’s growing team of legal,

marketing and logistics specialists

combine their deep understanding

and experience to plan and execute

promotions of all sizes online, on social

media, in print, in store and on pack.

For the past few years, Cadbury have

run “Hunt the White Creme Egg”: we

oversaw the creation of the valuable

white eggs, worth up to £10,000 each,

before discreetly hiding them in stores

across the UK, bringing joy to those

who discover that they have won a

tidy cash sum. Pringles run music or

film-related on-pack offers across the

whole of Europe, and we handle all

of the legal work, the translations and

the country registrations, while those

who are on the O2 phone network will

be familiar with the Priority app and

associated prize draws. We handle the

winner management of hundreds of

happy winners a month. Our company’s

focus on detail and integrity has also

led us into overseeing live TV voting

One of the many

Kellogg’s on-pack

promotions that we

work on

Many

marketing

teams are

either ignorant

or apathetic

towards the

law and its

consequences

“

3PROMOVERITAS |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE

for the likes of Channel 4, the BBC

and ITV, for whom we have verified

the voting for the National Television

Awards for the last eight years. For

2019, this involved scrutinising over 11

million votes and checking for fraud,

abuse, inconsistencies and breaches of

theterms.

Staying future-proof

As well as keeping up with the

individual laws or rules that govern each

country’s marketing, our team also

ensure that the brands and agencies

we work with are compliant with other

regulations too. Data protection has

obviously been a major business topic

in the last year with the introduction

of GDPR via the Data Protection Act

2018. We anticipated the requirements

of the Act and since 2016 have held

ISO 27001, high-end data accreditation

from the British Standards Institution,

which we deem a business essential

for a company that handles the data

of thousands of entrants and prize-

winners every day on behalf of high-

profile companies. We now use their

knowledge to conduct GDPR audits

for our clients and guide them on the

journey to data safety.

If you plan to run a promotion, ask

yourself these three questions:

1. Who will pick the winners? It

cannot be anyone – they must be

an independent party.

2. If it is a competition (e.g. submit a

photo or recipe), are all the entries

being judged fairly and is one of

the judges independent?

3. With instant wins, how do you prove

that you have randomly and fairly

distributed all the winningitems?

Although there’s a lot to think about

when planning a prize promotion,

we think it’s worth it. The benefit

to brands who create countless

happy winners is priceless, and the

satisfaction we get from making sure

that they do this successfully is the best

feeling of all.

Via an extensive

global network

of legal experts,

we have built

up an enviable

knowledge of

all the various

rules, laws and

idiosyncracies

of running

promotions in

almost every

country of the

world

“

Cadbury White Egg –

find one and you could

claim up to £10,000

www.promoveritas.com

This article was sponsored by PromoVeritas. The Parliamentary Review is wholly funded by the representatives who write for it. The publication in which this article originally appeared contained the following foreword from Rt Hon Michael Gove.

Rt Hon Michael Gove's Foreword For The Parliamentary Review

By Rt Hon Michael Gove

This year's Parliamentary Review comes at a momentous time for parliament, as we collectively determine the destiny of the United Kingdom.

On October 31, the UK will leave the European Union. The successful implementation of this process is this government's number-one priority.

Three years after a historic referendum vote, we will deliver on the decisive mandate from the British people. Trust in our democracy depends on it. Until that final hour, we will work determinedly and diligently to negotiate a deal, one that abolishes the backstop and upholds the warm and close relationship we share with our friends, allies and neighbours in the EU. But in the event that the EU refuses to meet us at the table, we must be prepared to leave without a deal.

As the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, it is my job to lead on this government's approach, should that scenario happen. Preparing for Brexit is my department's driving mission. But while I am leading this turbocharged effort, the whole of government is committed to this endeavour.

Ministers across Whitehall are working together to ensure that every possibility is considered, every plan is scrutinised and every provision is made. A daily drumbeat of meetings means that we are holding departments accountable, so that preparations are completed on time.

The chancellor has confirmed that all necessary funding will be made available. And we have mobilised thecivil service, assigning 15,000 of our most talented civil servants to manage our exit from the EU.

We will make sure that on November 1, there is as little disruption to national life as possible. Our trade relationships will continue to thrive, thanks to agreements with countries around the world worth £70 billion. Our country will remain secure, thanks to nearly 1,000 new officers posted at our borders. And the 3.2 million EU nationals now living and working among us can remain confident, with absolute certainty, of their right to remain in the UK.

Above all, our goal is to be transparent. Soon, we will launch a public information campaign so that citizens, communities and businesses are ready and reassured about what will happen in the event of “no deal”.

In my first few weeks in this role, I have travelled to ports and tarmacs, borders and bridges, all across the UK –from the seaside of Dover to the rolling green hills of County Armagh. I have heard from business owners and border officials, farmers and hauliers. They are ready to put an end to uncertainty. And they are ready to embrace the opportunities ahead.

Our departure from the EU will be a once in a lifetime chance to chart a new course for the United Kingdom. Preparing for that new course will be a herculean effort. But this country has made astounding efforts before. We can do it again.

Rt Hon Michael Gove
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster