What do you think of copywriting contests where the client awards the winning copywriter with a cash prize? Personally I think it could be a great way for amateur copywriters to break into the industry, and provide professional copywriters with a nice side income ... Interested in your opinions
All of the upside is for the client/contest holder. The writers invest their time and efforts for little gain. I understand why a client/contest holder would want to pick from several different sales approaches. But, there's nothing stopping the contest holder from simply using the concepts developed by the "losers" at a later date and not pay for them. My answer might have been different 10 or more years ago but there's just too many people looking for new ways to scam and take advantage of inexperienced writers today.
That's an interesting point. Of course there would be legal contracts and agreements in place making this type of conduct by the contest holder illegal, and if the contest holder would be found doing this then legal action could be taken..
This isn't a "prize". It's you fishing for lots of samples to present to your client, who hired you to do the job for them. And then you paying the writer whose piece was chosen a percentage of what your client paid you for the job. Example: Company XYZ comes to your company and wants a flyer. He pays you $350 to hold his 'contest'. You offer your pool of takers $100 or so as a 'prize' for submitting the winning piece. You provide the client with hundreds of entries, all vying for that same $100. XYZ gets their flyer. You get $250. The 'winner' gets $100 and the rest of the poor fools get nothing. You say so yourself on the website:
Personally, I would never participate in such a "contest". My time and skills are worth money. Even when I was new, trying to "break in", I never bothered to enter these types of contests. They do not benefit the writer no matter how many ways you try and spin it to get people to participate.
Everytime you get a copywriting assignment from a client, you are taking part in a contest with customers. Why would anyone want to take part in one for free??
You have a point here and this can happen. However do you really think that in a contest for 100 people you will use the work from 95 place? How smart would be for you to pick up only the broken products from a store ... only cause the are cheap?
Granted the 95th placed piece in your example would probably not be usable as presented. But, what about the 2nd best? What about the 3rd, 4th or 5th best? Even a submission that reads like a drunken illiterate wrote it could contain some brilliant marketing idea that is worth stealing. The whole concept is built upon the people running the contest and their clients being 100% honest. Even if you knew and trusted the contest holder, there's no way of knowing that the client is going to be honest. Even if there's a tight contract, how do you prove whether or not an idea was independently developed by the client and not stolen from an entry? As for broken content, there's a whole lot of folks buying and selling that in the BST areas. So, obviously there's lots of folks who think cheap content has value.
Fair enough. My idea is simple if I'm 2 and my work is used ... is still my work. Meaning if the 2 place has so much success you will still have to contact the person.
Regardless of whether the losing entries are used or not, taking the time to write a piece which you may not get paid for is not practical for the writer concerned. The only people to take up such a contest would be those writing for a hobby or those charging a pittance for work they normally carry out. I will not be taking part as my time is too precious and so is my skill.
IMO copywriting isn't a field of writing that yields itself readily to "Pick and choose" contests, especially those posted at a new website like the one you linked to. There is a lot of effort involved in writing good copy, and few skilled writers would waste time doing so for uncertain returns at a new untested website. Any fool can create a new website that promises a revolutionary way of doing things or that does new things never done before or whatever, and move on to the next thing if that doesnt work. Will you stick with it and make it work? Do you have the passion and drive to make your site and its users succeed? Only time will tell.