Why don’t brands announce their winners?
These days, so many UK brands are running amazing prize draws and competitions with great prizes, but it’s rare to see them actually announce the winners. It’s no wonder so many people think competitions are a scam when we rarely hear who won. I find it particularly frustrating if a promoter has asked entrants to spend time on a creative entry for a social media competition. The entry usually has to be shared on a public social media account – so in this situation, surely it’s only fair that the promoter shares the winning entry on their own account, so we can all enjoy it and congratulate the winner?
I love to see winners’ posts and announcements. It’s great that the promoter gets publicity, and good for consumers and fans to see that the winner is a real person. I get super excited if I recognise the winner’s name or photo too!
So why do brands find it so difficult to share the news that a winner has been chosen? On Instagram and Facebook, a brand can edit the competition post after the closing date to announce the winner. Or they can share the winner’s name on their story, in their newsletter or on their website. Regularly these days I ask a promoter privately who won their competition and I get the response ‘A winner has been contacted’ – nothing more than that. Further requests to see the winner’s name or entry are generally ignored, or they use GDPR as an excuse not to share the information.
Why is it important to publish winners’ names?
Builds trust and brand reputation
Announcing winners publicly shows that a competition was conducted fairly and that prizes were awarded as promised. This transparency builds trust among followers of the brand, reinforcing the promoter’s credibility and positively impacting a brand’s reputation.
Compliance with CAP Code and ASA regulations
In the UK, the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) Code states that promoters must either publish or make available information indicating that a valid award took place – this is usually expected to be the surname and county of major prizewinners. Non-compliant brands can end up with an ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) ruling against them, if they cannot provide a winners list when asked by the ASA.
Deters cheaters
Publishing winner names acts as a deterrent against fraudulent activities. Knowing that winners’ names will be announced publicly makes it more challenging for individuals to cheat by using multiple accounts, fake names or making third party entries for family and friends.
What about GDPR and Privacy?
While transparency is appreciated, it’s also important to respect winners’ privacy. Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), promoters must inform entrants at or before the time of entry about the intention to publish winner information and provide them the opportunity to object. If a winner objects, their information should not be published. However, if a member of the public complains to the ASA that no winner was announced, the promoter must provide a winners list privately to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). Unfortunately, this winners list cannot be published or shared with the complainant.
Best practices for publishing information about winners
- Inform participants: Clearly state in the terms and conditions that winner information will be published, and provide details on how and where this will occur.
- Obtain consent: Ensure that participants are aware of and consent to the publication of their information, in line with GDPR requirements – this can be included in the email or message that goes out to the winner. Always contact the winner privately before announcing publicly – check they are eligible, and that they want to claim the prize!
- Limit information: Publish only the necessary information – typically the surname and county – to balance transparency with privacy. Do not share email addresses!
- Provide opt-out options: Allow winners to object to the publication of their information and have procedures in place to handle such objections appropriately. It may be agreed with the winner that limited information is shared – for example, initials rather than full name.
If brands are nervous about publishing winners names without permission, they can include in their terms and conditions that winners’ names will be published, but also that a winner can object to this or to limit the amount of information shared. Usually, a winners list would have the surname and county of UK winners. Sometimes just initials are shared, but this is still enough to demonstrate that winners were actually chosen. Occasionally you might see ‘redacted’ on a winners list, meaning the winner has asked their name isn’t shared.
What to include in Terms & Conditions
Below is example text from the terms and conditions of a current PromoVeritas promotion. It would be really easy for all promoters to include something similar in their own T&Cs to allow them to announce winners, but also giving winners the opportunity to opt out of this.
Provided no objection is received from the winners, a winners list containing the surname and county of residence of the winners will be made available at www.promowinners.com 4 weeks after the close of the Promotion Period, for a period of 8 weeks. Winners can object to their details being published during the Winner Notification process. Without prejudice, the Promoter will provide winner information to the Advertising Standards Authority when requested by them.
My own Relentless search for a winners list
Last year Relentless Energy ran a prize draw for the chance to win JBL speakers at www.relentlessenergy.com/en-gb/promotions/jbl-giveaway-2024-relentless-energy-promotion/ – there were 63 prizes. The promotion appeared on stands in ASDA stores. It was not advertised on cans or elsewhere, as far as I know – and as for competition sites, I believe it was only posted on the Compers News and Lucky Legends private member forums.
To enter, you needed to buy a can of Relentless and enter the code from under the ring-pull online. Many codes were rejected and Relentless wouldn’t offer replacement codes or respond to emails about this. The closing date came and went, and I didn’t hear of a single winner. Being suspicious that winners had not been chosen, I put in a complaint to the ASA, who investigated and responded that Relentless had provided them with a winners list. The ASA are not allowed to share this list, and Relentless also refuse to send this winners list on to me – so I’m none the wiser, and unable to check the list for familiar names.
Generally, with any purchase-necessary promotion in the UK, at least 25% of the winners will post about their success in Facebook groups and competition forums. But for this one, I have still not found a single winner and don’t believe that prizes have been awarded for this promotion. And now Relentless are running a new competition with the same format, and once again the ring pull codes are being rejected – it’s infuriating!
What do YOU think about publishing winners’ names?
If you win a competition, are you happy for your surname to be published on a winners list, or your username to be announced on social media? Would you like to see more winners names published?
If you’re a comper who likes to keep their wins private, but want to let fellow compers know that you’ve won a major prize, you can always contact me or DM me on the Legends forum or social media to let me know. I can then let people know that a genuine winner has been chosen, keeping you anonymous.
Promoters who announce winners are respected and trusted in the comping community, and it’s disappointing that so many brands refuse to publicise their winners at all, or even respond privately to winners list enquiries. I hope you’ll join me in celebrating those promoters who are happy to announce their winners, and offering polite encouragement to those who don’t!
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I had an email from Relentless on 2nd July 2025. This is what was in the email.
Congratulations! You have been selected as our prize winner with Relentless Energy.
You have won the following:
• 1 JBL Party box ultimate
• 1 JBL Tour 3 earbuds
• 1 JBL Charge portable speaker
I will wait and see what happens.
Oh this is interesting Emma! Hopefully you get a prize out of them!
I’m having this with jet2. With a video comp on insta. They haven’t announced the winner and I’m starting to question if it was given away. You had to post publicly to enter so it’s only fair they announce in the same way. Grrrrr
I’ve just chased this one again and sent them a link to this blog post!
Thanks Di. My little boy loved doing the video for our entry but keeps asking “who beat us” when I said we didn’t win…I could lie and pick just another random entry but I shouldn’t have to! And it would be nice to see what one they did actually pick!
Such a shame that the ASA can’t do more. There was a comp a while back where the brand had picked one of their friends to win using the really uncreative picture that their friend had created at the outset to promote the comp rather than picking an actual entry to the comp. The ASA agreed it had been unfair (I was able to show screenshots of evidence to them) but wouldn’t even make a public ruling because it was a “small company” and they felt that they had learnt their lesson. So the friend of the brand got to keep the prize that had been unfairly awarded to them and no genuine winner was picked. So frustrating! That brand was also a member of B corp so supposed to act ethically etc.
I’ve not been impressed with the ASA recently, many of my complaints haven’t even been acknowledged.
There are so a many at the moment who just haven’t announced – so much effort goes in and three creative comps I’ve entered still no idea who won – makes me grrrrrr how can brands not fulfill their side of it when we’ve spent hours creating and editing a fun video promoting them!
I’ve been chasing a few up on Instagram on behalf of the entrants and getting nowhere! It just makes no sense that they don’t announce them…!