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Level 9

Meetup prizes by local merchants

This whole post should be labeled caution, please do not revoke my Local Guide Membership. I have a question around the Terms and Conditions. 

 

I am looking to host a Local Guide contest in my city. The idea would be a photo/review/edit scavenger hunt followed by a celebratory meal/drinks. 

 

I am used to running such contests for schools and so often appeal to local merchants for prizes (Gift Cards or product). 

 

I was hoping to do the same things but I didn't want to overstep the current terms and conditions. Specifically: 

1) If you offer services for hire (such as marketing yourself as a Street View trusted provider), you are not allowed to bundle such services with your Local Guide membership.

2) impersonate another person or entity;

3) You must not at any time represent yourself in any way as a Google employee or a representative of Google or its products or services.

4) The Local Guides logo is a Google brand identity and is reserved for official use only. Do not use the Local Guides logo, pin, or any other Google imagery in any of your online or offline materials without expressed written permission.

 

With that in mind my sample messaging is below. Please let me know in your non-legal position if I have sufficiently distanced myself from Google.  

 

Hello <Business Name>, 

 

I am working to put together a fun event for a local reviewing group. They use the Google Local Guides system to help Google Map users by improving the quality of maps through well-crafted reviews, images and business information updates. 

By getting involved in our event, we will place your business as one of the stops for a scavenger hunt, requiring group members to post a review, upload a photo and/or submit an update of your business to Google maps for review. Well reviewed businesses can help Google Map users find the best option for their needs. 

The event will be held <Date> and at present group, membership is <number of Local Guides/Attendees>. 

We are asking for a small $10 to $20 Gift Certificate or Product as prizes for the top performers during our event. This will ensure that your business is one of the stops. If you wish to contribute more, we can discuss options for increasing the participation of your business (increasing the point value for your location, asking for additional involvement by the reviewing group etc..). 

 

Please let me know if you are interested, by replying to this email, or you can contact me at <phone> for more details. 

 

Sincerely, 

<Name>

 

Disclaimer: This email sender does not represent the interest of any specific group or company. All statements are broad opinions and do not represent promises of performance, future results or delivery by anyone. The sender does not represent Google or any partners, affiliates, and subsidiaries. Specific tools are mentioned without a promise of performance, reward, incentive or value for the receivers use of those tools. 

 

 

 

Vancouver, BC, Canada
9 comments

Accepted Solutions
Googler
Solution

Re: Meetup prizes by local merchants

Hi @BenKlein@YK1001 , @Shirley and @PaulPavlinovich. It's best to avoid a conflict of interest by engaging with local businesses as while you may not directly be promising favorable or any contributions in exchange for what they may be providing it may be interpreted as such by the community members or businesses and is best to be avoided. We don't currently have an official stance on this but are always working to make our program rules easier to interpret. As both Paul and Shirley mentioned, sometimes a little swag (stickers or a pin) go a long way, and they're pretty low cost, including the items available on g.co/localguides/meetup 🙂 


Note: Due to the volume of private messages Googlers receive, I do not read or respond to private messages. Please post publicly so others may benefit from your discussion. If you require urgent assistance, please tag a Google Moderator. Thank you!.

View solution in original post

Connect Moderator

Re: Meetup prizes by local merchants

Hi @BenKlein obviously you need a Googler to answer this question with any finality so I will tag in program manager @TraciC 

 

From my point of view I would think this was not ok for the following reasons:

1. You are relating your event very much to Google branding

2. You are offering a reward in return for a prize (reviews, edits, bringing in customers)

 

I have had vendor gifts/prizes for my non Local Guides photowalks that I run in a different community, but I have deliberately avoided them for Local Guides events because it is too hard to distance yourself and ensure that you are perceived to be 100% ethical. No matter how good your intentions are you will be tarnished. I have given away Google things from time to time like stickers, badges, camera straps, lens cloths and t-shirts that I've been given by Googlers. If you provided your own prizes that had no relationship to a vendor that would probably be ok.

 

Regards

Paul

Level 9

Re: Meetup prizes by local merchants

@BenKlein: If you need prizes, I can pass on a Princess Leia pegman pin 🙂 

But we'll need someone working for Google, I am going to tag @HelloJess as well as she is in charge of meet ups.

Please post publicly so others can benefit as well. I do not have private messages. Thanks!
Level 8

Re: Meetup prizes by local merchants

That is a good question.

 

I think the implementation details also matters.

 

How is the winner is chosen?  Will the participants know what prize is given before signing in?

 

Will activities related to the Sponsors excluded frontage score?

 

I will actively avoid the word Google whenever possible in the letter.

 

Looking forward to hear the replies from the LG team.

Level 9

Re: Meetup prizes by local merchants

@PaulPavlinovich I was thinking the same thing about too close a branding, I am just not sure how to position it without referencing the program. 

 

I run a similar academic crawl for Royal Roads University and Thompson River University but both schools are ok indicating that it is their students participating. The benefit for merchants is the association with potential entrepreneurs, well-educated clients etc.. 

 

This idea might need to be scrapped but I will wait for a Googler to give it the death knell. 

 

Its ok if it dies, I am also hoping to setup an Edit Walk (the number of edits is astounding in my area), but I was hoping to have a fun competitive event to boost overall reviews in the downtown core.

Googler
Solution

Re: Meetup prizes by local merchants

Hi @BenKlein@YK1001 , @Shirley and @PaulPavlinovich. It's best to avoid a conflict of interest by engaging with local businesses as while you may not directly be promising favorable or any contributions in exchange for what they may be providing it may be interpreted as such by the community members or businesses and is best to be avoided. We don't currently have an official stance on this but are always working to make our program rules easier to interpret. As both Paul and Shirley mentioned, sometimes a little swag (stickers or a pin) go a long way, and they're pretty low cost, including the items available on g.co/localguides/meetup 🙂 


Note: Due to the volume of private messages Googlers receive, I do not read or respond to private messages. Please post publicly so others may benefit from your discussion. If you require urgent assistance, please tag a Google Moderator. Thank you!.
Level 9

Re: Meetup prizes by local merchants

@TraciC@Shirley@YK1001@PaulPavlinovich thanks for all the help peeps. 

 

We will work on a different process 🙂 thank you for the clarification. 

 

Best, 

Ben

Level 9

Re: Meetup prizes by local merchants

Thanks @TraciC!!

@BenKlein, just let me know if you need stickers too...I got some of the Local Guides ones, as well as some Android pay ones too.  

Please post publicly so others can benefit as well. I do not have private messages. Thanks!
Level 9

Re: Meetup prizes by local merchants

@BenKlein: I came across this article about the local guides in Toronto, @HottieE and @RichardTrus. Very cool article guys!

They seem to have a great strategy for partnering up with businesses and doing a lot of meet ups.  Perhaps if either of you can let us know how you approach businesses, we can do something similar here on the west coast as well! It'd be great to implement something here in Vancouver!

Please post publicly so others can benefit as well. I do not have private messages. Thanks!
Level 10

Re: Meetup prizes by local merchants

Good answer!