Successful marketing agencies know that understanding the consumer is the cornerstone of effective engagement strategies in today’s competitive market. Marketing experts need to deeply understand the psychological triggers that drive purchasing decisions and brand loyalty. Only then can they craft targeted campaigns that resonate at a personal level and result in desired action. This can be summarized by a simple acronym AIDA. This describes the ideal outcome of a marketing campaign; first stage Awareness, Interest, Decision, & Action. Jeremy recognized that most advertising simply creates that first stage, Awareness, you get to know of the product. He knew it was the Prize Promotions that cost effectively takes the consumer further on the journey, enhancing consumer interaction, fostering trust and getting you interested and deciding to buy the product. In many ways “Win” and “Free” are two effective words in the marketing playbook and can be used to create immediate engagement and lasting connections that ultimately fuel business success. One of the leading marketing experts in this field is Jeremy Stern, Founder and CEO at PromoVeritas.

Promotional Management

Jeremy set up the business in 2002, after a successful careers working brand side for the likes of Tesco, Unilever, and Coca-Cola (as European Promotions Director). His company, PromoVeritas, now oversees thousands of prize promotions for many of the world’s top brands. Their core services are structured into three distinct phases: Before, During, and After.  

Before: The company begins by providing expert consultation to clients, either brands directly or agencies, on the most effective promotional mechanics for their objectives. This “shaping” includes optimizing the prize type and quantity, the company then uses its inhouse legal expertise to draft the terms and conditions, manage contracts, and secure any necessary government registrations.

During: For prize promotions, the company manages and processes entries, either through a custom-built microsite or the client’s existing platform. For instant win promotions, Willy Wonka Golden Ticket-style campaigns, the company discreetly distributes winning packs to selected locations, such as supermarkets, to ensure the integrity of the promotion. Everything it does is designed to build trust and thus get more consumers to participate.

After: Once the promotion concludes, the company manages the winner selection process. This will involve conducting random draws for sweepstakes or utilizing judging panels for competitions. For instant win promotions, the company oversees all the prize claims and ensures a seamless process for validating winners. The company’s team then purchases and delivers prizes in a professional, customer-friendly manner. Finally, the Data Team generates a comprehensive Closure Report, providing clients with valuable insights on participant demographics, entry methods, timing, and other key metrics to inform the planning of future campaigns.

Global Expansion Success

The company was founded in London, England in 2002 and initially worked on UK brands. But soon one of their clients, Yeo Valley, a small yogurt brand, sought assistance in launching their products in France. But they were unfamiliar with the legal landscape in France. This request prompted a realization of the untapped potential of expanding the company’s offerings beyond the UK, particularly in countries where no similar service providers seemed to exist.

Leveraging Jeremy’s extensive international network, built during his time at Coca-Cola, the company has developed a unique expertise in both the laws and their practical application across more than 90 countries. This knowledge quickly became a valuable asset, attracting multinational corporations such as PepsiCo, Energiser, Booking.com and Kellogg’s, who sought cross-border advice after unsatisfactory and costly experiences with large global law firms.

For global brands like Pringles, the ability to run essentially identical campaigns across multiple countries — for example, 40 countries — can deliver significant cost savings in prizing, creative development, and production. For brands such as Booking.com and Energiser, the efficiency that PromoVeritas’s advice has brought enables them to run successful near global campaigns with limited budgets. Today, 50% of Jeremy’s revenue comes from international projects, and in 2024, the company was honored with the prestigious King’s Award for International Trade, the highest business accolade in the UK and presented by King Charles III himself.  This recognition has played a crucial role in driving the company’s global success and spurred Jeremy to open its operation in the USA, PromoVeritas, Inc.

Growing Pains

Initially, Jeremy’s biggest challenge was ignorance, a lack of awareness regarding the rules and regulations surrounding prize promotions and marketing in general, as well as the unawareness that a company like PromoVeritas existed—one capable of ensuring that those same promotions could be made secure and compliant. Many countries enforce integrity in prize promotions by requiring that prize selection be carried out by an independent person or entity. However, many brands continued to rely on internal staff, such as the office secretary, to choose winners, a practice that was highly risky and non-compliant. Yet, most marketers were unaware of the risks. The solution was straightforward: education. Jeremy began reaching out to businesses and agencies, offering free compliance sessions that outlined their legal and ethical obligations and with awareness came business.  

Interestingly, the company’s original slogan was “We help promoters and agencies sleep at night,” reflecting their role in handling the critical tasks that clients preferred to avoid. The current slogan, “Protecting Promotions Worldwide,” reflects the company’s expanded international focus operating across the globe, from China to Chile and Australia to Austria.

Evolving Promotional Compliance

The marketing industry in which the company operates is constantly evolving, and the company adapts to these changes. When the company first began, promotions relied heavily on postal entries, necessitating a dedicated room to store thousands of postcards and letters. As technology advanced, the company shifted to “Text to Win,” which was much easier to administer. However, the rise of social media introduced new methods, and promotions began to rely on “Post a Comment” as a means of entry. The latest trend involves QR codes and links to simple online entry forms. PromoVeritas has ensured that it has stayed close to all such changes and can meet the needs of its clients.

On a conceptual level, Jeremy’s team remains informed about the latest legal rulings and regulatory changes, both within the UK and across Europe and internationally. One of the company’s core values is “Knowledge Leadership,” which is why significant time and resources are dedicated to monitoring global media for relevant information. 

Campaign Efficiency

Although legal expertise serves as the company’s primary entry point, attracting clients from around the world, it accounts for only about a third of the company’s revenue. The remaining two-thirds come from actually delivering campaigns for clients. This includes creating microsites to handle entries, addressing queries, and managing prize procurement and fulfillment. In all of these areas, technology has played a significant role in enhancing efficiency.

A notable example is when Amazon approached Jeremy to assist with a massive sweepstakes campaign tied to Prime Day, in eight countries, and with $25 million prize fund, and 500,000 prize winners. Jeremy’s team developed a process to handle entries, select winners, and fulfil all the prizes, including gift vouchers and holidays with super efficiency. In anticipation of potential challenges, it also developed a chatbot tool and trained a team of seven staff members to assist with queries. However, within the first week, it became clear that both the system and the chatbot were so effective at managing the majority of inquiries that only one staff member was actually needed, working part-time.

This experience highlighted the power of technology in running complex operations smoothly. The team can now set up highly engaging and effective web-based promotional campaigns in days, rather than weeks. Additionally, the company’s data team can extract valuable insights from these campaigns, such as entry times, preferred days, entry sources, and entrant demographics. These insights help clients refine their future media buying strategies.

Innovative Promotions

Anyone familiar with Roald Dahl’s iconic book Charlie & The Chocolate Factory—and its film adaptation—knows the excitement of Golden Tickets hidden in chocolate bars. Over the years, Jeremy has gained recognition for running some of the largest and most successful instant win campaigns through a similar concept, known as CPP (Controlled Prize Placement). In traditional Golden Ticket-style promotions, the winning tickets or codes could be distributed anywhere, often without regard to regional or supermarket sales patterns. To address this, the company creates all the winning packs in advance and then follows a carefully planned route map to secretly place them into stores across the country. This approach allows for precise control over distribution by location and timing, while maintaining stringent security checks on winning claims.

Jeremy has also pioneered the concept of ‘winning widgets.’ One example is a campaign for DairyLea Cheese Spread, where a plastic cheese triangle with a light-activated sound chip replaced a standard triangle. When discovered, the widget would ‘moo’ and announce that the finder had won a £10,000 holiday. Another innovative example involved a GPS tracker embedded in a coffee jar, which activated when opened. This allowed the company to travel to the winner’s location and deliver the prize directly.  The company has recently created what now seems like an obvious idea: a fake ice cream with a solid 24-carat gold stick hidden in stores. The prize was simply the gold itself, valued at about $5,000, with no claim process required—the winner received the gold stick directly.

Global Expansion

PromoVeritas has experienced substantial growth over the past five years, expanding in revenue, client base, and geographic reach. The company now employs a team of 50 staff members, including experts in legal services, client management, operations, digital solutions, and data analytics. In early 2024, PromoVeritas launched PromoVeritas Inc. in the USA, quickly securing significant business from prominent clients such as Michelob, Delta Airlines, Marshall’s Stores, Amazon, and McCain Chips. The company’s expansion is set to continue as U.S.-based brands increasingly choose PromoVeritas not only for their domestic campaigns but also for international campaigns, knowing that PromoVeritas ensures legal compliance across global markets.

Focused Expertise

The key to PromoVeritas’ success lies in maintaining a sharp focus on its niche—doing what it does best and what it is known for. Jeremy and his team concentrate exclusively on ensuring that promotional campaigns are safe, legal, fair, and secure, leaving the core creative work, headlines, advertising, and PR efforts to other experts. By staying true to this focus, PromoVeritas has established itself as the ‘go to’ people, the industry leader in promotional compliance.

In addition to focus, the company’s success has been driven by its commitment to superior knowledge. PromoVeritas continually stays informed about legal changes in all major countries, ensuring that every team member—not just the in-house legal team—can educate and advise clients on new and relevant regulations. This dedication to ongoing education, paired with its solid reputation, positions PromoVeritas as the leader in compliant promotions, worldwide.

Diversity Leadership

In addition, Jeremy embraces both change and diversity. The company has a strong female presence at the highest levels and offers regular training on Diversity, Equality & Inclusion, as well as stress management, menopause management, and neurodiversity. Support is provided as needed. The Leadership Forum, consisting of middle managers, is responsible for driving cultural changes and promoting the company’s diverse values to create a more inclusive and supportive work