But I think Sparkfun succeeded.
They gave out $100k retail priced free stuff (which probably cost them less than $30-40k) but they got so much publicity that they would of had to spend more than half a million to get.
On free day many people heard the name of Sparkfun for the first time. Articles were written about them, forum talks (they still do after 7 months), they got even attention of google and trend customers.
They didn't and couldn't make everyone happy, and let's not forget, it was their money and no one had any right to be upset for not getting free stuff.
It was a smart move by Sparkfun