Move over Prize Patrol
I’ve always been intrigued by those Publisher’s Clearinghouse Prize Patrols that show up, unannounced, and charge across private properties at unsuspecting homeowners (with colorful balloons in tow) to present them with a huge cardboard check declaring they’ve won millions—because they mailed in a reply. The commercials appear legitimate. I’ve never met one of these prize patrol honorees, however. Have you?
We often use surveys/evaluations after events to gather feedback. Our goal is focused on understanding the experience from a participant’s perspective, and identifying ways to improve in the future. As you might imagine, the response rate isn’t typically overwhelming. I think people are surveyed out. But we recently had an experience that indicated otherwise, and reminded me of the Publisher’s Clearinghouse.
In the last issue of Cleveland State Magazine, we inserted a response card indicating that if you wanted to continue receiving the magazine in print, submit a reply. And submit you did! Over several weeks we received piles and piles of reply cards. Piles! I have never seen a response like this among our alumni. In addition to the cards, hundreds of alumni called or contacted us online to assure they continued to receive the magazine.
Clearly, you enjoy the magazine and want to continue receiving it. And we will continue to produce it, print it and mail it to you. Along with the print version, we reproduce the content online at www.clevelandstatemagazine.com. Therefore, it’s always handy to find and digest.
Providing content that is meaningful to you is always one of our priorities as well. What topics are of interest to you? What would be of greatest benefit to you? What would keep you glued to an upcoming issue? Let us know your thoughts by sending them to alumassoc@csuohio.edu.
Although we didn’t have millions and millions of dollars to share with those who submitted their postcard replies, please know that we do value your support of the magazine and remain committed to producing issues that you find meaningful. And you never know when a Prize Patrol may actually show up.
