Cap One's Island Makes Waves

  Credit card marketers sometimes go to great lengths to make their products and companies stand out in a very crowded field, but Capital One Financial Corp. is setting a new standard with a contest whose grand prize is an island.
  Apart from the unusual prize, the "Capital One No Hassle Island Giveaway" also stands out because of the heavy promotional effort behind it. Already one of the card industry's heaviest mailers, McLean, Va.-based Cap One could be mailing up to 250 million credit card solicitations to promote the contest, CCM estimates. Capital One would not say how many pieces it's mailing, but the contest rules say the odds of winning the grand prize are one in 250 million. A spokesperson for Cap One does say regarding the solicitation effort, "this is the largest one we've ever had." The spokesperson wouldn't divulge the campaign's cost or the response rate so far.
  The solicitations include preapproved and non-preapproved offers for a variety of Cap One cards. Each mailing has an Island Giveaway logo on the envelope and includes a scratch card that tells the recipient whether he or she has won the grand prize, which besides the island includes $80,000 in cash. Cap One won't yet disclose the location. "We are looking at islands in the Caribbean," says the spokesperson.
  The grand-prize winner can forgo the island and take a $1 million annuity in 20 payments of $50,000. The contest also has 90 first prizes of a six-night trip for two to Hawaii, Virgin Gorda or St. Lucia, and 200 second prizes of a two-night stay for two to Santa Catalina, Calif., Mackinac Island, Mich., or Marco Island, Fla.
  Capital One, the No. 6 card issuer, is supporting the campaign with television and print advertising, including an ad in the first issue of Time Warner Inc.'s newly revived Life magazine, which is now a newspaper magazine distributed by some of the nation's largest dailies.
  The campaign started Sept. 1 and ends Dec. 15. Andrew Davidson, vice president of competitive tracking at Synovate's Tarrytown, N.Y.-based Mail Monitor service, said in early October that his correspondents around the country were just beginning to report Island Giveaway promotions. He couldn't recall ever seeing a single promotion that produced 200 million-plus pieces.
  The U.S. card industry, however, may be on track to break 2001's record of 5.02 billion solicitations. Second-quarter estimated volume of 1.39 billion mailings surpassed the previous quarterly record of 1.37 billion set in the fourth quarter of 2001, according to Mail Monitor.
  Strings Attached
  The fine print of Capital One's contest rules notes that the winner is responsible for meeting "all conditions of island ownership and for real estate closing fees, taxes and all other ownership/maintenance fees." It goes on to say that the grand prize consists "only of title to land priced at $920,000 or less and $80,000 in cash. Island will be uninhabited and delivered in 'AS IS' condition."
  Hmm ... so there are a few strings attached. Since the island is likely to be in the Caribbean, however, it can't be Three Mile Island.