Sharp (Phils.) Corporation, one the country's leading consumer electronics goods manufacturers, recently launched two nationwide promotions. The first, dubbed "Be Sharp, Be a Winner!" is a "traditional" type of promotion featuring raffles with high-value products as prizes. The second, called "TexTrivia Daily Raffle", requires the use of the SMS (text messaging) feature of mobile phones for participation.

But while the "Be Sharp, Be a Winner!" promotion has a traditional raffle concept, the implementation isn't traditional at all: computer technology will be used to randomly select numbers. Instead of participants filling-in a traditional raffle coupon, they instead fill-in an information card with their name, address, telephone number, signature and the receipt/invoice number of the purchased appliance, while the dealer salesman fills-in the store, branch, model and his name. This information card is dropped in a drop-box in the dealer store. All information cards are then encoded in a computer and a system automatically assigns electronic raffle entries corresponding to the product model/category of the purchased appliance.

Winners will then be randomly selected through the computer system. Encoding of the information cards to the computer system shall be witnessed by a Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) representative. At stake in "Be Sharp, Be a Winner!" are a brand new BMW 316i for the grand prize, with a Sharp audio-visual home entertainment showcase and a Sharp home appliance showcase as second and third prizes, respectively. The grand draw will be held at the CreativePro+ office, 675 Boni Avenue, Mandaluyong City on January 9, 2003. Winners will be announced via GMA-7's "Eat Bulaga!" on January 11, 2003.

The "TexTrivia Daily Raffle" is open to both Sharp and non-Sharp consumers, and only to Smart and Talk'N'Text users. Those interested in participating can refer to posters and print advertisements for details. Beginning September 21, one Nokia 3310 unit will be awarded to one winner daily. Daily winners of the Nokia 3310 units will be randomly selected through a computer system. Daily winners in the TexTrivia game who can present an official receipt or sales invoice of any Sharp appliance purchased (not necessarily within the promo period) shall receive an additional prize of one Sharp portable CD cassette recorder.

A total of 102 texters will be drawn to win Nokia 3310s in the daily TexTrivia. Both promotions are now ongoing, and both promo periods will last until December 31, 2002.