When APPLEJACKS cider decided to run a free cider promotion on Facebook, they were not expecting the news to spread so fast.
APPLEJACKS received almost 2,400 subscriptions and over 1,100 friends on Facebook, but the company only had enough free cider for 200 entries.
Lucky for APPLEJACKS, before running the promotion their legal team advised them to include on their Terms and Conditions page that only first 200 entries would recieve free cider.
Jonathan James Prew, the man behind APPLEJACKS cider, said he wasn’t expecting anyone to get involved in the promotion and simply wanted some “cider-slurping enthusiasts” to sample the new cider.
The cider, made with New Zealand apples has been “cut” with 42BELOW vodka in order to offset the usual sweetness associated with cider.
“The story goes I had this idea of hybridising a kick-arse Kiwi cider with a quality vodka. Y’know, so that you didn’t get that sickly sweetness that sometimes comes with cider. So I dispatched one of my underlings over to the guys at 42BELOW. Being the subversive types and always up for a game-changer, they dug my revolutionary new concept and we got to cross-pollinating. But then we had to see if people actually liked it. Which is where my marketing drones stepped in,” Prew says.
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Hey Jackers, when we first posted our free cider comp on Facebook, we honestly didn't expect an army of cider-slurping…
Posted by AppleJacks on Friday, July 10, 2015
“It was very slow at first. A few people clicked on our Facebook ads, and I received the usual spate of marriage proposals, a very nice email from a man in Nigeria who needed some assistance with his banking, and a cease’n’desist letter from an American breakfast cereal brand called Apple Jacks (which incidentally is much more nutritious if you eat it with our cider). But then things quickly escalated.”
Prew says things escalated after someone posted the link page on a number of bargain websites. But APPLEJACKS responded by keeping their Facebook fans in the loop.
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Whoa… we just ran a free cider promo on Facebook and were inundated with veritable shit-tonne of entries. To the…
Posted by AppleJacks on Thursday, July 9, 2015
When the news got out that only the first 200 would be receiving free cider, Prew said “some of them were a little miffed.”
“We had some grumblers and sour-pusses. But, y’know, the majority were more amused than anything. They commended our honesty, getting that it wasn’t our fault, and that others had rorted the system, spoiling it for everyone.”
Despite the “sour-pusses”, Prew said people seemed genuinely intrigued about the idea and the taste of APPLEJACKS.
“It’s actually the cider aficionados who love the idea of cutting it with vodka in order to offset the sweetness factor most,” Prew says.
So should you steer clear of social media giveaways?
“It can work if you do it smart,” Prew says.
“My advice is to maybe mention any cap on entries more prominently…Social media users aren’t renowned for poring over the fine print. That said, we’re quite happy with our accidental infamy. Plus, our cider is a damn fine drop, so we’re hoping people won’t hold it against us for long.”