Meet the compers: Annie Taylor

For today’s ‘Meet the Compers‘  interview, I’m delighted to introduce Annie Taylor. Annie is a big inspiration to lots of creative compers, and has made a successful transition from the postal tiebreaker competitions of 20 years ago to today’s online photo competitions. A shining example to an older generation of compers who might be feeling nervous about moving over to Facebook and Twitter comping, Annie has been racking up the prizes with her imaginative and carefully planned photos! She’s also started her own fabulous blog – check it out at theannieverse.com – and especially the brilliant photos of Annie’s car wins in her comping CV!

Hi Annie, and thanks for joining me here on SuperLucky for a Q&A!
Thanks for inviting me Di.

How and when did you start comping?
A very long time ago, Di. In fact I think there are cave paintings documenting the event! My first ever ‘proper’ prize was a BBQ, a prize in the local paper. One of the Bristol Competitor Club committee (sadly, no more) saw my name on the winner’s list and got in touch. I went along to a meeting, found out about the hobby – and the prizes members were winning – and I was hooked. That was over 30 years ago. I made some lovely friends then who I still stay in touch with.

What’s the biggest prize you’ve won, and how did you win it?
Car prizes definitely. The best being the MX5 sports car I won with Aramis. Companies used to give away cars regularly (those were the days). Incidentally, this was one of the most surreal presentations ever, featuring me being surprised whilst ironing in my undies, a gold Rolls Royce, an oompah band and a problem with my husband’s beard!

Annie with one of her prize cars!

Which websites, forums, magazines or resources do you use for comping?
I’ve belonged to the LCC (London Competitors Club) for many years. I also have a Compers News sub. I use Twitter and, of course, Facebook where I’ve met lots of lovely comping friends. I also dip into Prizefinder from time to time. I’ve just started entering the odd Instagram comp (thank you Di for your handy how-to guide) and check in on SuperLucky for that handy creative comps list of course. I’d call myself a free range comper.

You’re a fan of caption and slogan competitions – can you share some of your favourite or most memorable winning entries?
My first ever car win is dear to my heart. It was with Bisto. Their famous advertising slogan is… Ahh Bisto. I won the car by completing the line:
I buy Bisto because… it’s the difference between Beef-ore and Ahhfter.

One of my favourite slogans was one that netted us a trip to the premiere of an Indiana Jones movie in LA.
“In the tradition of Fairbanks and Flynn, there’s booty and beauty for Indy to win.”

The Fentimans comp win was an interesting one. Some compers may remember it. Fentimans were taken to court decades ago and had to pay out £200 compensation because a lady found a snail in one of their bottles. The prize was the equivalent in today’s money, which was £7,400. I noticed their mascot, ‘Fearless’ the dog, was on the top of each bottle and the slogan I came up with was:
“Fearless guards each bottle top, so snails don’t get a single drop.”

Annie’s ‘Before & After’ photo won her an iPad!

I remember how delighted I was to see your Laimon Fresh ‘Beat the January Blues’ prize-winning photo. How long do you spend creating your fun photographs?
Thanks Di, that’s kind of you. I usually spend a fair amount of time trying to think of a good idea. Sometimes (although not often) an idea will pop into my head instantly, like my Quornet idea for the Quorn comp. If I don’t have a half decent idea, I won’t enter. Some entries take minutes, others can take several days. The Laimon Fresh entry took a day or two, simply because I’m absolutely terrible at sewing and it took forever to make the ruffles. If you look at the photograph you’ll see how rough and ready the ruffles on my outfit are (try saying that after a glass of vino). But it’s amazing how many things you have lying around the house that can be pressed into service. Like the cupcake stand I have precariously balanced on my head in the shot. You can imagine how many times those lemons and limes hit the deck.

Many of the people I met when I took up comping in the 1990s are critical of social networks and the trend for UGC (User Generated Content) – they simply don’t want their entries in the public eye! In your opinion, what are the pros and cons of this ‘new breed’ of judged creative competition?
If you want to win, you have no option other than to take a deep breath and give it a go, and put yourself out there for applause or boos. Understandably, promoters want to attract people to their timelines, and this is a relatively easy way of doing it with minimal effort on their part.  Of course, the debacle caused by some voting competitions can sometimes have the opposite effect.

Annie’s winning ‘Quornet’ – as featured on the Quorn calendar!

What type of prize promotion do you enjoy most?
All of my friends know that slogan competitions have always been my favourites. They’re rare these days, but if I see one I pounce on it. Anything requiring some pun-manship or a silly rhyme and I’m yer man. My dream job would be headline writer for a tabloid newspaper! I started trying my hand at creative comps when the slogan comps dried up and really enjoy putting entries together. I used to feel embarrassed about ‘performing’ for a Vine or video, or looking silly in a photograph, but I’ve found that after a while looking daft becomes second nature! I’ve also recently had a bash at cookery comps. They’re not really in my comfort zone to be honest, but I’ve given one or two a go and had some modest success. And my other half is still alive to tell the tale. The rule of thumb with creative comps is, of course, the trickier they are the fewer entries they’ll get.

What’s your favourite prize, and why was it so special?
I suppose winning cars has to top the list because it  makes a huge difference to your life.  But a prize that I always remember was the film premier in LA when not only were we seated alongside the stars but we were given a private tour of the locked-down Star Trek movie set and actually got to sit in the Captain’s chair on the bridge of the Enterprise. Sadly, we weren’t allowed to take photographs.

What do you think the future holds for comping?
Few people can afford high-priced text and postcard comps these days, so they seem to be waning in popularity. Facebook and Twitter are still good sources for compers, along with comps run directly on promoters’ websites. But they do get massive entries. Promoters seem to have dropped larger prizes in favour of offering a multitude of smaller ones.  Let’s be honest, these days it’s about cranking up the number of likes on their pages and gathering info for mailing lists. I’m hoping that we may go full circle and bring more skill-based and fun comps back into play in the future, although I’m not holding my breath on that one.

Annie’s Dinosaur Dig won £1000 from Jacobs!

Are there any types of prize promotions you’d like to see more or less of?
Yes, the dreaded Facebook like and share. They’re mindless, boring and encourage us to spam friends. The same goes for retweet comps on Twitter. Multiple account holders and people using bots and other automatic means of entry has made it very very difficult to win on Twitter these days. I find Rafflecopter comps an extraordinarily boring way of entering comps too. I’m hoping promoters stop treating us all like automatons and think of more interesting ways of grabbing our attention. I also wish they’d do more to track down the bad apples who manipulate votes and pinch images off the web.

Is there a prize you’ve tried to win but it has always eluded you?
I’ve always rather fancied winning the Gadget Show haul. Just imagine all that tech turning up at your house! I also send the odd postcard off for the big cash prize TV comps from time to time. I live in hope.

Annie’s Post-It creation won her £1500!

Do you have any funny stories related to comping?
We arrived in Puerto Rico for a prize holiday many years ago to find the hotel being refitted. They were somewhat surprised to see us there as the promoters had omitted to tell them we would be staying with them. So breakfast by the pool involved watching toilets and other plumbing equipment being trundled past by apologetic workmen. As it happened it turned out to be one of the best holidays ever. A memorable moment being, when a local told my hubby he sounded like Cary Grant. My other half is a Brummie!

I once won a Skoda that broke down less than half a mile from the showroom we’d picked it up from. We were stuck at the side of the M32 with people hooting and calling out rude remarks as they went by. Of course Skoda are a lot more reliable nowadays.

I attended a presentation with the Bisto Kids for the car presentation I mentioned earlier. The kids must have eaten too many Yorkshire puds because they dented the bonnet and the car had to go straight from the presentation to the body shop!

A prize of Designer Knitwear won with Good Housekeeping magazine required my turning up to a swanky shop in Mayfair, where the Champers was on ice and the designer was there to greet me and guide me through my choices. I’d dressed carefully for the occasion and looked pretty damned good I thought. It was only on the way home on the train I noticed I had odd shoes on. Same colour, completely different shoes. Whoops!

Annie won £7400 in a Fentiman’s slogan comp!

What would be your top comping tip or piece of advice?
Advice I’m sure you’d echo, Di. Have confidence and never give up. The people who don’t win are the people who give up.  Don’t say ‘I can’t’ until you’ve tried. Never be afraid to ask other people for advice – there are many friendly folk on Facebook. Comping is a sociable hobby and I for one am always willing to help. But mostly, have fun, and that will shine through in your entries. Seems to be more than one tip!

Thanks so much Annie – I look forward to seeing more of your great photos on Facebook soon!

Thanks very much Di and for the interesting questions. I enjoyed answering them.

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