Ad description
A promotion, on Virgin Radio’s website virginradio.co.uk, seen in August 2024 for a prize draw titled “BEAT THE INTRO … AND WIN £5000”. Text stated, “Always fancied yourself as a bit of a music maestro? Then we’ve got the game for you – introducing Virgin Radio’s Beat The Intro! All you have to do to get involved is say ‘Alexa play Virgin Radio’s Beat The Intro’ and you can play along at home. Alexa will play you three songs, and your job is to name them and the artists. To be in with a chance of winning that cash you just need to have a guess at each of the three tracks – you don’t even have to get them all correct! Remember, one entry per Amazon account per day! […]”
The terms and conditions stated, “[…] The promotion starts at 00:00 on 8th May 2024 and has been further extended, from previous closing dates of 8th June 2024 and 20th July 2024, to now close at 23:59 on 19th August 2024 (UK time) (the ‘Promotion Period’) […]”
Issue
Compers News Magazine challenged whether the promotion breached the Code, because the closing date had been extended twice.
Response
Wireless Group Media (GB) Ltd t/a Virgin Radio said the “Beat the intro” promotion was created to encourage Virgin Radio listeners to link their Amazon Alexa accounts to their News Broadcasting Skill, a voice activated app on the Alexa device, which was the entry method for the promotion.
Virgin Radio stated that from February 2024, listeners were able to link their Alexa devices to their New Broadcasting Skill. They said that prior to the launch of the promotion, they tested the game and had previously tested mandatory account linking for the News Broadcasting Skill via talkSPORT. They said that they tested the game across February and March 2024, and entered the secondary testing phase on 25 March 2024, which aimed to test the promotion in a real-world environment. Virgin Radio said they worked with Amazon in the lead-up to the launch of the Skill in an attempt to troubleshoot technical issues.
Virgin Radio said they launched the “Beat the intro” competition on 8 May 2024, which had an original closing date of 8 June 2024. However, due to technical issues with the Alexa device that began on 2 May 2024, listeners were unable to link their accounts. Virgin Radio said they raised this issue with Amazon. The technical issue meant that only listeners who had linked their device prior to the start of the promotion were able to enter. In response, they suspended on-air and planned print media promotional activity for the promotion. They said they tested the promotion internally and conducted demonstrations on personal devices in weekly meetings and discussed the promotion in detail, before, during and after the launch. They also said that they worked on the promotion with a third party, who also conducted testing of the promotion.
They said that as the issue persisted, they extended the closing date, initially to 20 July 2024, then again to the 19 August 2024. They updated the terms and conditions of the promotion each time they amended the closing date.
They explained that throughout that period, the promotion continued to be playable for those who had linked their Alexa prior to May 2024, until mid-July, when Amazon resolved the technical issue. The promotion then became available to all, providing they linked their Alexa and News Broadcasting Skill.
The promotion ended as expected with no further issues on 19 August 2024. The winner was chosen from all entries to the prize draw.
They stated that Amazon experienced technical issues at the time of the promotion’s launch, and those issues were unpredictable and beyond their control.
They believed it was necessary to extend the closing date and that their extensions sought to avoid unfairness to potential participants who were unable to participate under the original terms, as only a small percentage of Virgin Radio UK listeners had linked their Alexa accounts at the time of the promotion’s launch.
They believed that the extension did not disadvantage those who were able to participate from the outset, as their entries during the entire promotional period were entered into the prize draw. They further highlighted that those participants could have accrued more entries to the prize draw than the participants who could only participate later when the technical issue was fixed, as the entry rules meant each participant was entitled to one per day.
They further stated that their published rules for the promotion reserved their right to make updates or amendments in certain circumstances, which included reasons beyond their control, such as the unavailability of an entry platform before the closing date. Their rules also said that the promoter reserved the right to cancel, modify or supersede the promotion, at any time, in its sole discretion. They said that the promotion was created to encourage Virgin Radio listeners to link their accounts via the Alexa and they had issued step by step instructions for how to do that to assist listeners. They had relied on Alexa for its mechanics and no alternative method of entry was possible.
They stated the prize draw was run purely for promotional purposes, intended to help make Virgin Radio UK a ‘preferred’ station for those who took part, and that no entry fee or purchase was required to enter.
Amazon said that to their knowledge, the issue linking the Skills was isolated to Virgin Radio and began on 4 March 2024. There had also been another account linking issue that affected a range of Skills, which began on 23 April 2024. They also said they were not involved in the administration or planning of the promotion.
Assessment
Upheld
The CAP Code stated that closing dates must not be changed unless unavoidable circumstances beyond the control of the promoter made it necessary and either not to change the date would be unfair to those who sought to participate within the original terms, or those who sought to participate within the original terms would not be disadvantaged by the change. The CAP Code also stated that promoters must conduct their promotions fairly and avoid causing unnecessary disappointment. Promoters were responsible for all aspects and all stages of their promotions.
The ASA understood that the technical issue which affected Alexa users from linking their accounts to the News Broadcasting Skill began on 2 May 2024, six days prior to the launch of the promotion on 8 May 2024. We also understood that there had been technical issues that impacted linking Alexa accounts with Skills generally in March and April 2024. We acknowledged that Virgin Radio said they had tested the entry route prior to the promotion’s launch, although we considered it was not clear how that testing had been carried out or when. However, we considered that as the promotion relied on a single-entry route, which was relatively novel requiring participants to link their Alexa accounts with the Skills app, and which had also recently experienced technical problems, Virgin Radio should have carried out real-world testing prior to and in the run up to the promotion’s launch, including the day of the launch. We had, however, seen no evidence of that. We considered that as the technical issue appeared to have been causing the error for six days prior to the launch of the promotion, adequate pre-launch testing would have likely identified the issue. The launch of the promotion could then have been suspended until it had been fixed. We therefore did not consider the technical issue was an unavoidable circumstance beyond Virgin Radio’s control.
We considered that the multiple extensions of the closing date increased the overall pool of entrants to the prize draw and therefore reduced the odds of winning for those who had pre-linked their Alexa accounts with the News Broadcasting Skill and who sought to participate within the original terms. Whilst we acknowledged that those participants could have amassed more entries than the participants entering the promotion after the technical issue was fixed, we considered that nevertheless by extending the promotion and increasing the overall pool of entrants, their odds of winning were reduced and that they were therefore disadvantaged by the extensions of the closing date.
We also considered that by the time the promotion’s entry route was working for new users on 19 July 2024, those participants were entering a draw in which a proportion of participants had already had the opportunity to gain multiple entries. That group of participants, i.e. those who sought to participate within the original terms, but couldn’t until the technical problem was resolved, also had a diminished chance of winning, and we considered they were also disadvantaged.
We considered that the published promotion rules did not release the advertiser from complying with the requirements of the Code in relation to the extension of closing dates.
Because we considered the promotion’s closing date was changed due to factors that were not unavoidable circumstances beyond the control of the promoter, and because the change of closing date disadvantaged those who sought to participate within the original terms and therefore caused unnecessary disappointment, we concluded that the promotion had not been administered fairly and breached the Code.
The promotion breached CAP Code rules (Edition 12) rules 8.1, 8.2 (Promotional marketing), 8.14 (Administration) and 8.17.4.E (Significant conditions for promotions).
Action
The promotion must not be run again in the form complained of. We told Wireless Group Media (GB) Ltd t/a Virgin Radio to ensure that they administered their future promotions fairly; avoided unnecessary disappointment and did not change closing dates unless unavoidable circumstances beyond their control made it necessary and either not to change the date would be unfair to those who sought to participate within the original terms, or those who sought to participate within the original terms would not be disadvantaged by the change.
