Citrine Surprise!

A lovely surprise arrived this week for the 9 finalists in the People's Bead 2010 contest. A beautiful Citrine gemstone bead! How wonderful of Lise & her Trollbeads to send out this extra present to the runner-ups in the contest to brighten their Christmas!

Previously creamy Citrines were found in a very limited number a year or two ago in Denmark shops - around 50 or so. You may have seen these on ebay and on some collectors bracelets. The Citrines received by the finalists, (at least the two I have seen photos of,) are clear & sparkly.

Have a lemony-wonderful Christmas Eve everyone!

We've Been Scrooged!!!

Is Trollbeads HQ in Denmark ...falling out of love with us?

In the past, Trollbeads has offered great contests every summer & at Christmas time for their customers to win beads (silver, glass, yes even GOLD) & other goodies. Think Summer Photo contests, The Summer Movie contest, Share a Christmas Card, Pakke Calendar, Be Original...

This year they are not running a new Christmas contest & have lunched a GOTA gallery of past submissions from past contests and further added salt to the wound by producing "postcards" with these images for distribution. Um... what? Completely uninteresting & seems like a bit of a cop-out, considering the lavish gifts & fun contests they have bestowed upon us in the past. Regurgitating past images provided by customers must be very cost effective. (eyeroll)

The People's Bead 2009 gave every entrant a free PAX bead (OK maybe too generous there), and the Top 10 that didn't win received a lovely thank-you email and an additional prize of a Sapphire bead to console them. This year, they awarded the Top 100 with a silver chain, plain lock & Ice Bear, and nothing additional to the Top 10 losers, not even an email or a sneeze.

OK - it's not like we are entitled, or that we expect. But we do. After setting a consistent standard of contests & great prizes, it seems maybe Trollbeads HQ in Denmark is falling out of love with it's customers. Oh yes, they have a Facebook competition, comment on your fave Winter bead & they'll draw a winner each Monday. So 3 free beads??? Whoohoo. I'm confused as to why a company approaching a record high in sales figures would choose now to withdraw from their customer base?

These contests offer Trollbeads a huge marketing opportunity, the ever coveted "BUZZ", and lots of word of mouth recommendations (the best kind there is.) It's every company's dream to be able to ignite thousands of worldwide customers into a shopping frenzy over a simple, low cost contest like the People's Bead, or Chrismas Photos. So it is sad to see the rewards decreasing while the free benefits for TBs increases.

So TBs, if you are listening, please bring back our fun contests. They are the salve to the wounds we are carrying from the latest round of price increases. ;)