A University of Otago commerce student, Neihana Kahukura, from Invercargill, has won an annual nationwide Night ’n’ Day competition, claiming the jackpot prize of $10,000.
The competition was called “Get Lucky 24/7” and took place over a 24-hour period on 24 July (24/7), to tie in with the 24 hours, 7 days a week nature of the chain of stores.
The competition required a minimum purchase of 30¢, and you were then automatically entered in the draw. On purchasing their products, customers received a goody-bag. The store had “over 50,000 goody-bags to give away on the day, which had over 200,000 instant prizes” in them, said Bronson Te Tau, Night ’n’ Day’s marketing coordinator. Some bags had no vouchers, while others had up to ten.
Some of the bags contained flyers, which had details of the store’s $10,000 jackpot competition. If you were lucky enough to receive one, you had to go onto their Facebook page and enter your details, which put you in the draw to win the $10,000 cash jackpot.
On winning the jackpot prize, Kahukura said: “At first I couldn’t really believe it. The guy rang me and told me I had won, but I thought it was one of my friends playing a joke. When I found out it was real, I was pretty stoked. I just couldn’t believe it.”
Te Tau said: “Some students were buying a 30¢ lolly and leaving our stores with over $20 of prizes. We were bringing a bit of goodwill to our loyal customers and giving a bit back to them.”
Even when he first entered the competition, Kahukura knew he was “always going to give half to my parents if I won, so I will do that, and [with the rest] I will probably save up and travel in the summer holidays”.
The instant prizes ranged from Nestlé chocolate bars to Whittaker’s Peanut Slabs. Some of the bags also contained vouchers for better prizes, including Coke, Tip Top ice cream, Night ’n’ Day’s burgers, chips and hot dogs, as well as many other prizes.
Kahukura’s father drove up from Invercargill to accompany his son to the Octagon to complete formalities and finalise the transfer of the prize with Night ’n’ Day’s representatives on Wednesday 5 August at 3pm.
“Am I going to celebrate? Hell yeah!” he said.