Go Negosyo Contest is a no go!

My BFF won a book in Go Negosyo's Facebook contest and he was so happy about it. It was a newly launched book "8 Simple Secrets to Raising Entrepreneurs" by Mary Joy Abaquin and BFF is into reading these stuff. But he was surprised that the prize was forfeited because there is only one way of claiming it. Nagpa-contest ka pa?!


On February 7 at 5:11 PM, Go Negosyo announced in its Facebook page, "Be the first 50 to post: I LOVE GO NEGOSYO and get the newest Go Negosyo book blah-blah-blah." BFF was excited and immediately posted on the Facebook Wall.

At 5:40 PM of the same day, another announcement came that winners can ONLY claim the book during the book launch. By then, BFF had already posted on the wall. Masama na loob ni Bestie kasi no other options were given for those who won't be able to claim during the book launch.

And so the 50 winners of the book were announced, including BFF's name. But by this time, he's so pissed already because he would have to drive from Valenzuela all the way to Makati to claim the book. The worse thing about is that claiming is at 6 PM when the book launch starts. Whoever drove in Edsa southbound would know how horrendous the traffic can be at this hour.

He was even more disappointed because at 3:03 PM on Feb. 8, he saw this announcement on the wall. "All the first 50 who posted I LOVE GO NEGOSYO are all welcome to attend the book launch tonight at Rockwell." In my BFF's words, "Duh. Of course, aattend ka na ng book launch! Nandoon ka na, e! Alangan naman baybayin mo uli ang EDSA pagkakuha mo ng libro at that goddamn hour."

And if this is the case, then Go Negosyo should have just invited its likers to attend the book launch with the promise of giving free books for the first 50 who come.

Why bother holding a contest on Facebook when you know that it is highly likely that your fans might come from other areas outside Manila? Sure, Go Negosyo indicated from the beginning that claiming is during the book launch but I can assume that many of those who joined were hoping that Go Negosyo would provide another way to claim the prize. Sana sinabi mo na nga lang na "First 50 to attend gets a book" kesa magpa-contest ka pa?

A lot of the contest winners appealed for leniency since many of them can't claim the book. But the Go Negosyo admin said, "Oh, sorry, you can only claim the book tonight. Otherwise, it'll be forfeited."

Why bother holding a contest at all? With one day lead time, you expect these people to move around their schedules so they can claim the book? Some of the FB contests I've seen find other alternatives for contest winners to claim the prize. OA naman na isa lang ang date na puwede kang magclaim and forfeited na agad. Haller!

Next time, don't bother holding a contest at all. Sayang lang effort mo at ng likers mo. Sayang din oras ni BFF.