Win A Date With Tom Brady - Doing It Right
Ever hear of these "Win a date with ***" charity fundraisers? Ever wondered why A-list celebrities rarely participate? I wondered, did some research, and I have an answer: because these things just don't work. Meaning, they don't raise much money at all. Michael Strahan, for example, got $20000 for a dinner (and this one is a rare success; usually, it's even less). But this answer only begs the question: why on earth is everyone doing it wrong?! Can anybody out there please explain to me why these things are almost always some kind of an auction, when you really don't have to be a big game-theorist to understand that a lottery would be an order of magnitude more effective for this setting?
I mean, think about it - suppose you can win a dinner with [your favorite celebrity], let's say George Bush. Okay :-) …let's say Tom Brady. If it's an auction, how much would you bid? Answer is: probably none, because you know you don't stand a chance against some of the richer fans, who'll bid 5 figures. So very few people bid at all, and anyway the proceedings are only the winning bid (which won't be high, given that few people will bid at all!). And if, in attempt to maximize revenue, you take all bids as proceedings, this will discourage people even further from bidding. But imagine you could buy a ticket to win this dinner, with every ticket giving an equal chance to win. Wouldn't you pay $20? Or, more importantly, imagine just how many people would pay $20 (or even purchase as many tickets as they can, to maximize their chances), and do the math. I think we could easily be talking about 7 figure proceedings here - for just a couple of hours of Tom's precious time. I believe that the perspective of raising so much money for important causes would convince him (and many others) to participate.
Remember, it doesn't have to be a "date" date! Actually, I think that a great marketing trick would be not to advertise it as a date, but rather as a simple opportunity to personally meet someone that you have long admired, while helping to raise money for a good cause. That way, much more people will feel eligible to participate - and also, it will be much, much easier to convince the celebrities to go for it.
I thought that the reason this isn't done is because gambling is illegal in most of the US. But then I checked the anti-gambling laws information on the Internet, and discovered that, in most states, charity raffles are specifically exempt from these laws. So, where's the catch?