Andrex Puppy – Prizes To Be Had And A Conversation About Disability

Just incase you didn’t guess this is a sponsored post ;o)

The guys at Andrex contacted me to ask if I would let you know about a competition running at the moment, and you know what that means – PRIZES!

Before I let you know more about it, I thought I’d chat a bit about the power of brand.

Funnily enough my little boy was given an andrex puppy last week by a lovely little old irish lady who is helping me out in the mornings, so I had a long conversation with him over a couple of days about blind people, guide dogs, and charities.  The puppy was a great way if gently introducing to him the concept of people having disabilities, without it being too scary, plus with the additional concept of their being something positive that people can do about tackling their challenges.  Many people find marketing to be an uncomfortable subject, almost ‘bad’ because it encourages us to spend our money and has a subliminal kind of power over us when there is a strong brand image, especially when it comes to Ben10 (ugggh!) and Power Rangers (double uggh!).  I certainly immediately think puppies and guide dogs when I think Andrex.  However, there is always a ‘good’ side to everything, and this opportunity to explain something important to my little boy was very helpful.

Marketing is actually just a company letting us know what they have got, and trying to persuade us that their version is better than someone else’s.  I was disappointed to find out the other day that there is a Mum working as a chiropractor literally a 5 min walk from my house.  She hasn’t done a flier drop, because she has been so affected by the concept that marketing is ‘bad’.  What a shame; as I have gone to a different chiro with myself, my baby, my son and my husband in a local town, whereas it would have been much easier for me if I had known about her.  It is wise and actually caring to understand your value and how you can ‘sell yourself’ to your loved ones, boss, children and customers.

With corporate brands us ‘grown ups’ have a degree of discernment about us (apart from my husband when anything new called ‘Apple’ arrives as he LOVES all things macintosh), but I do think that it is wise to ‘protect’ our little ones until they have a degree of emotional maturity.  So my 4yr old boy is only allowed to watch cbeebies or disney because they don’t have adverts; seriously 10mins on any other channel is followed by a list of ‘I want xxx, and xxx and xxx and MUST HAVE xxx’.

Ironically, when I looked it up on the internet, Andrex has actually supported many charities, it’s just that the combination of puppy and guide dog is such a strong image, that I naturally assumed it is always that way.  The Guide Dog promotion was in 2006, and they made nearly £250,000 which is over 40 dogs.  But they have also supported Teenage Cancer Trust, Dogs for the Disabled and Look Good Feel Good.

Right, onto the bit where you can get prizes!

If you love dogs (don’t worry PS, you don’t have to look!), then you might love this advert on youtube:

Then here is the andrex puppy facebook fan page: http://www.facebook.com/TheAndrexPuppy

The game is quite simple; all you need to do is have a pull on the Pup-o-matic (which works in a similar way to a slot machine, but instead of boring fruit symbols you get to play with the Andrex Puppy and his friends) for a chance to win one of thirty top prizes every day for 21 days with a total value of over £20,000.

There’s a whole host of fun things to be won from a Sony Cybershot Digital camera to gift vouchers for all your favourite stores (all chosen by the Facebook fans), as well as many smaller prizes such as money off coupons and Andrex Puppy goodies.

I’ve just won a 50p off voucher, and every little bit helps; that’s atleast half a cake from another very strong coffee shop brand with a green logo, which I happen to be a major sucker for ;o)

Let me know if you win anything and pop a comment back here!  Good luck