The winning ways of the University of Hawai'i football team have translated into increased sales, more foot traffic and better name recognition for some Hawai'i businesses that are giving away thousands of dollars worth of trips and tickets to the Allstate Sugar Bowl.

But there may be a catch.

Not for the winners, but the companies giving away tickets to the Sugar Bowl.

In fine print, on the last line of wording on the back of each ticket, is a warning from the Sugar Bowl:

"This ticket may not be used for advertising, promotions (including contests, prizes and sweepstakes) or other trade purposes without the express written consent of the Allstate Sugar Bowl."

Duane Lewis, Sugar Bowl spokesman, said no Hawai'i company has received written consent to use Sugar Bowl tickets for a contest, prize or sweepstakes.

"We have not authorized any giveaways," Lewis said. "We will look into it."

He would not say what penalties, if any, could be levied against companies giving away tickets as promotions — or whether it's been a problem in the 73-year-history of the Sugar Bowl.

"We're going to look into it," Lewis said. "That's all I'm prepared to say at this point."

Several companies that have been happy with the popularity of their Sugar Bowl promotions were unfazed on Friday by the revelation that they were supposed to get the "express written consent" of the Sugar Bowl.

Many said they had not even received their tickets before the winners were chosen in their contests and they did not know about the requirement.

"I have two words to say to that: 'Oh, well,' " said Kent Untermann, CEO, president and owner of Pictures Plus, which held an essay contest and awarded three pairs of Sugar Bowl tickets to the most deserving winners.

"Guilty as charged," said Untermann, a former UH tight end. "I didn't have my tickets when we ran the contest. They're so scarce, I couldn't get one to read it. Nor did I read the fine print after I got them. I had no clue. I'm not worried. They can arrest me for giving away tickets. Fine me, sue me, whatever. I know ignorance isn't a good excuse. I guess we'll know better for the next Sugar Bowl."

Randal Ikeda, general manager of ESPN 1420 AM Sports Radio, said, "We didn't see the tickets when we held the contest, right? How would we know?"

The station holds the local broadcast rights for the Sugar Bowl and is a radio partner of UH sports.

"We've been in contact with the Sugar Bowl media guy about everything else around the broadcast," Ikeda said. "We'll obviously follow up. We try to be in compliance with whatever rules the rights holders have."

CAR DEALER'S CONTEST

David Higashiyama, marketing director of JN Chevrolet Mazda, which spent $7,000 out of its promotions budget on a trip for two plus two Sugar Bowl tickets last week, said, "We didn't use anybody's logo and all that kind of stuff. As far as promotions go, those rules are for guys who are trying to rip off people or infringe on the copyright. I've done a whole bunch of these promotions. It's never been a problem. Never."

Asked if he worries the Sugar Bowl may impose some form of penalty, Higashiyama said, "No. Not at all."

Some companies, such as JN Chevrolet Mazda, have spent more money on previous promotions. But none has generated the buzz surrounding the Sugar Bowl trips.

ESPN 1420 spent $6,000 for airfare, Sugar Bowl tickets and a four-night stay in New Orleans for two people to attend the Jan. 1 game at the Louisiana Superdome.

Listeners who correctly answered sports trivia questions won smaller prizes and then qualified for the Sugar Bowl trips, which were given away on Wednesday.

"How do you quantify whether the $6,000 is a worthwhile investment?" Ikeda said.

Some hard evidence will come in the next quarter when the station's Arbitron ratings come out. But already, Ikeda said, "The phones were lighting up even before the contest began and interest has been off the chart."

Central Pacific Bank allows only one entry per person for its contest to win two plane tickets, three hotel nights and two Sugar Bowl tickets on the 30-yard-line in section 617 in the upper rows of the Superdome.

Even with the restriction, CPB's 38 branches still have been averaging a combined total of about 1,000 entries per day for its Dec. 27 drawing for a winner.

"That tells us how much interest we've had in our promotion," said Blenn Fujimoto, the bank's vice chairman for the Hawai'i market. "As promotions go, it's definitely on the higher side."

December is a traditionally slow time for new banking business, Fujimoto said, "but we do know that the Sugar Bowl promotion is generating a lot of foot traffic. It gives people a way to come into our branches."

JN Chevrolet Mazda already has seen an 11 percent to 12 percent increase in sales compared with last December, which also is a slow month in the car business, Higashiyama said.

Some of this month's sales increase may be connected to national Chevrolet promotions, television advertising and a direct mailing campaign, Higashiyama said.

But some of it is probably linked to the dealership's Sugar Bowl giveaway that automatically entered anyone who bought a new Chevrolet or merely filled out an entry blank between Dec. 11 and Tuesday, he said.

"It definitely created a major buzz," Higashiyama said. "We got a lot of phone calls asking about it."

MODERATE INVESTMENT

JN Chevrolet Mazda has given away new cars before as promotions, so the $7,000 Sugar Bowl packages were "moderate in terms of an investment," Higashiyama said. "But in terms of emotion and desirability, it's been one of the better ones."

Bob Peterson, president of the American Marketing Association, Hawai'i chapter, said Sugar Bowl giveaways appear to be hitting their mark.

"Promotions are designed to attract people to their store, to attract people to their business," Peterson said. "It always attracts people when you give away big-ticket, high-profile things and the Sugar Bowl is definitely high profile."

Whether there is a direct correlation to increased sales, however, "is a matter of opinion," Peterson said.

But the Sugar Bowl promotions, in particular, may create a positive feeling among potential customers.

"People will remember a company's name for doing that kind of thing," Peterson said. "Name recognition is always a good thing. Customers might not need their service right now. But a year from now, they might remember that those are the guys that gave away the Sugar Bowl tickets. All of a sudden, their name jumps out."

Andrea Place, a 27-year-old Navy petty officer 2nd class from 'Aiea, bought a 2007 Chevrolet Colorado truck and was automatically entered in JN Chevrolet Mazda's giveaway on the last day to qualify.

She was among hundreds of frustrated UH fans who could not get tickets to the Sugar Bowl but ended up picking the winning envelope among the qualifying contestants.

Place didn't even know about the contest when she went shopping for a new truck. Now her loyalty and recommendations are firmly with JN Chevrolet Mazda.

"They're great people," Place said. "I would definitely recommend them to my friends when they're shopping for a car. But they all know I won and they're jealous of me. Because I'm going to the Sugar Bowl, they'll probably go down there themselves, anyway."

WINNER GRATEFUL

Jake Fernandez, a 43-year-old Hawaiian Electric employee from Kane'ohe, has even deeper feelings for Pictures Plus and Untermann after winning the company's essay contest.

He won two Sugar Bowl seats for him and his 80-year-old father, Jacob. They've been UH season-ticket holders since Aloha Stadium opened in 1975.

Like untold others who made travel plans without first getting Sugar Bowl tickets, Fernandez found himself stuck.

He now calls his feelings for Untermann "unreal."

"Kent Untermann turned around and recognized the lack of tickets and recognized the fan support," Fernandez said. "What he did was so generous. I have an incredible amount of respect for the man. He's the exact opposite of the people who are buying 100 tickets and trying to sell them back to the UH fans at a profit. Kent said, 'Give them to someone who really, really deserves to go.' It speaks a lot about the man. I've got Pictures Plus on my mind now. I'll definitely send business to Kent Untermann. He deserves it."

Unlike other companies giving away tickets, Untermann insists he didn't do it to boost the company's sales or image.

"I'm not a big contest-winner kind of guy," he said. "That's not something from a marketing perspective I like to do. I don't think it's that effective."

He and his wife, Lori, are members of the UH booster club, 'Ahahui Koa Anuenue, and bought 60 Sugar Bowl tickets at $135 face value each for themselves and for friends.

"I'm definitely not a (UH) corporate sponsor," Untermann said.

Six of their friends could not attend the game, so Untermann decided to give the tickets away in pairs to the three most deserving people "after this whole Sugar Bowl ticket fiasco" over UH returning 4,000 tickets to the game because it didn't think it could sell its entire allotment.

"Because there was a lot of negativity, I wanted to do a tiny thing to ease the pain," Untermann said. "I just felt bad. It definitely wasn't a business decision."

Untermann's mother and daughter narrowed the essays to 10, and the seven members of Pictures Plus' management team picked the top three winners. Fernandez's essay was deemed best of all.

After the contest, two other friends of Untermann's couldn't go to the Sugar Bowl, either, so Untermann ended up giving their tickets away to another deserving essay writer.

"I'd never done this before," Untermann said. "I'm just trying to do my part to make sure people from Hawai'i get tickets who deserve to get tickets."

Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com.

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