Last week, we wrote about the Bing Cashback contest that rewards Bing searchers with a chance to win a $500 gift card. Well, the contest is in full swing, and if today is any indication, to win, you don’t even need to have the correct answer.
Today’s question was: “Bing #cashbackpack Trivia: What Bing cashback percentage does drugstore.com offer?” To find the answer, simply search for something like ““drugstore.com bing cash back” on Bing, and you’ll see the sponsored result right at the top.
The answer? 20%. The problem? The winner said 10%.
That didn’t stop the Bing Cashback account from tweeting out:
Bing #cashbackpack Trivia: Congrats @hussain_sattu -today’s lucky winner for the $500 cash card in the Bing backpack!
Here’s what else is odd. The winner follows one user on Twitter, Bing Cashback. And they have a total of 4 tweets, 3 of which are for the Cashback content (and the other is “studying” — this contest is supposed to be for students). This is leading some to question if the entire thing isn’t rigged, or at the very least being gamed. Regardless, one thing seems very clear: Whoever is running the contest for Microsoft isn’t paying too much attention.
The contest is kind of a joke anyway. Once someone goes out and finds the answer, it looks like a bunch of other Twitter users are just repeating it, to try and win.
What an awesome contest. I think I’ll play tomorrow. When they ask for the correct cashback percentage for some website, my answer will be “watermelon.” I’m so gonna win that $500.
Update: Now Bing is saying that on a sub-site, 10% was listed for whatever reason, so it accepted that answer along with the 20% answer. May want to get those promotions in line Bing.
[Thanks Michael]
I think we should applaud bing for this forward thinking type of quizzes where any answer will do… brings a tear to my eye… I think it is unfair to only have one right answer… I might of passed university if there had been more tests where the right answer was any answer.
First! I mean … watermelon!
I’m sorry, but winners exclude employees and their families. Try again. kkthnxbye. =P
Its fixed :p and he is one of their friends or family!
From http://twitter....om/bingcashback:
@mcoliver On bing.com/shop -drugstore.com is offering 10% cashback. However, Bing.com lists 20% so we also included 20% as a correct answer.
yep just updated with that. thx.
Uhhh, nope:
From Bing’s twitter:
“@mcoliver On bing.com/shop -drugstore.com is offering 10% cashback. However, Bing.com lists 20% so we also included 20% as a correct answer.”
Great article.
Atleast a better effort than the $10,000 treasure hunt. No insults for non IE browsers atleast
10%.
I could’ve sworn that the website said 10%.
http://www.bing...ping?FORM=Z9LH9
http://www.bing...&FORM=R5FD1
See: Featured cashback stores.
That search must be weird.
Oh, people have already said it. (E:F;B.)
This cashback prize thing is essentially a daily drawing. You reply to the twitter to get your name entered into the drawing. The answer is probably immaterial.
Oh, I said brown.
“Here’s what else is odd. The winner follows one user on Twitter, Bing Cashback ”
I dont understand whats wrong. I dont follow that many people either, does that mean im rigging a contest?
probably means that the user created multiple twitter accounts to increase his chances of winning.
The point that you hint at is good, there really is no way, using twitter as a medium for such a contest, to verify which accounts are ‘real’ and which are alternate accounts belonging to the same person.
The fact that there are no substantive tweets, or even random tweets from the account, and that it appears to be entirely unused except to enter the contest makes it seem sketchy. However, it can’t be excluded as a valid entry because then, as you ask, where do they draw the line?
the issue I think, is that most people feel the contest should be one where everyone gets a single entry, but that’s impossible to enforce on Twitter. So instead, someone that probably could have been purged as a spam account a few days ago is now a winner making may others like the article’s author feel cheated.
another stellar article from MG. keep up the quality, youre making TC look great!
Add it to the long list of disappointingly shallow, biased and ultimately pointless articles from MG
The robots are in control.
great article – i just wasted 20 seconds of my life that i’ll never get back…thanks MG
When will Microsoft realize that throwing money at people is not how you make a product that people want to use?
When I answered the question earlier today, the answer was definitely 10% ON the cashback website. Before I posted my response, I saw other people writing 5%. (Possibly guessing.)
Wouldn’t be the first time a Microsoft contest was rigged.
Back in the day when they were giving away free Zunes if you racked up enough points in their flash games, a couple of my friends used some robots they found on the internet to automate the process and ended up with at least a few free Zunes.
As long as they get the promotional value out of the contest, I don’t think they care who gets the prizes.
It is curious to see such varying efforts put forth.
It is essential to get the most traffic in the least amount of time when launching a new search engine.
I worked on marketing for a search engine company that insisted that physical billboards and taxi top advertising were the way to go.
I was in the online department and oddly, we had no budget. A year later and the company is doing less than flailing. It is just about dead.
Do a search for search engines and you will be amazed as to the number of them. Do just a bit more research to look at their online advertising and you will wonder what they are smoking.