Win an online campaign worth €25K with Pigsback.com

That Curly is a clever piggy. Not only is he now Guaranteed Irish, he's also offering one Irish brand a €25K campaign, throwing the full reach and expertise of Pigsback.com behind it. And here's me pimping it.

In-joke aside, this is a big chance for charities, events, start-ups to get their brand out there for free with the resources of a marketing company operating in the Irish market since 2000.

Basically Pigsback is a loyalty site with offers and competitions for the people who sign up to the site who are rewarded for giving details and opting to get targeted newsletters and surveys based on their location interests. It means they have unparalleled "targeting based on who-you-are" capability.

Given the fact they boast an active Irish member base of almost 300,000 with a comprehensive email and statistics package coupled with the expertise of working with most of the country's top brands, the potential of a well thought out integrated campaign seems a no-brainer to anyone with limited or no funding. Just imagine your site or logo promoted like the below:



Given the volume of emails that Pigsback send any brand getting (pardon the pun) onto the site is sure to get attention and awareness, if not interaction. It is, as I said, a great opportunity for some company to get targeted emails sent on their behalf by a company that knows what it's doing. I can certainly think of a few things I'd be planning.

One of the things Pigsback has always operated on - in its Empathy Marketing principles - is trust and this is is possibly the most enticing part of the offer. It would be fair to say that Pigsback members trust Curly and all he delivers. This seems as important now as when I worked there

The terms and conditions include an entry of not more than 250 words, you must be an Irish manufactured brand or supplied service to be eligible and you will not have run a campaign on Pigsback.com before. You should check this out before March 31, 2009.

Good luck - hope you do well!

Pigsback.com closes its Canadian website

In a statement on the homepage of their Canadian site today, Irish company Pigsback.com have announced they're closing the operation after less than a year.

Members who visited the site today, operated by Empathy Marketing Ltd were told the following:

After a successful pilot campaign over the last six months, Pigsback.com is temporarily now closed for business in Canada while we work on finding new partners and better content for you.

We'd like to thank everyone who has enjoyed the activities on the site, who has contributed to the contests and content, and who has recommended us to their friends over this time. We hope to be back in a Canadian city near you very soon!

The Pigsback.com team.

From reading Canadian Money Saving forums the site seemed to be popular, though the updating of the site, delivery of rewards and issuing of PiggyPoints seemed to be an issue for some members.

Bell New Ventures (a subsidiary of Bell Canada Enterprises, Canada's largest telecommunications company) the company originally supporting Pigsback in Canada withdrew their involvement in December, citing a need to focus on their core business.

In October 2007 the Sunday Business Post wrote that the Canadian business employed 15 staff.

Pigsback who employs 50 people between their offices in Citywest and London will be in operation eight years in June. The site runs advertising campaigns for a variety of brands and offers members the opportunity to earn PiggyPoints, which they can redeem for a variety of rewards including merchandise and vouchers.

It's always tough to see an Irish company have to close doors on any venture they try abroad. On a personal level, having worked with them in Ireland and London for three years I'm sorry that the venture seems to have failed and the success they were seeking didn't work out. I wish them every success as they plan their future.