Ways Brands Can Make Their Own Luck This St. Patrick’s Day
By ANA Staff
Do your customers feel lucky this St. Patrick’s Day? Give them the chance to win big with a contest or sweepstakes. Many brands run these campaigns on social media platforms to increase engagement, incentivize customer action, and connect with customers in new ways. Whether designed as a standalone initiative or used as part of a larger campaign, contests and sweepstakes are a great way for brands to delight customers and reach business goals.
For marketers looking to make their own luck this St. Patrick’s Day, follow these tips for a successful contest or sweepstakes campaign:
- Leverage insights. Chiquita Banana found that mobile gaming isn’t just for teenage boys; it can be a family-fun activity, too. The brand created a playful sweepstakes campaign to engage parents and kids. In order to enter the contest, families submitted a photo posing with a Chiquita Banana for the chance to win a trip to Walt Disney World. Prompts to enter the contest were embedded in relevant Disney mobile gaming apps. Watch a video and read more about the campaign results here.
- Incentivize desired consumer behavior. Cheetos invited consumers to submit pictures of the funky-shaped snack to the Cheetos Museum for the chance to win prize money. Soon customers were on the hunt for uniquely-shaped Cheetos, and sales increased. Featured museum entries included Cheetos that resembled a mermaid, ducklings, and a boot. The campaign resulted in increased purchase frequency, website visits, and media impressions. Read through the Cheetos Museum case study to take a deeper dive into the campaign.
- Determine prizes strategically. Western Union’s “American Dream” sweepstakes awarded prizes that would help winners get closer to achieving the American dream. The biggest prizes included thousands of dollars for a down payment on a house, college tuition, or a car. A large segment of the brand’s customers are first or second generation immigrants, and this sweepstakes positioned the brand as a partner for these customers as they worked toward their financial goals. More details about the campaign’s development and execution can be found here.
Are you currently running a contest or sweepstakes? Review the ANA’s best practice checklist to maximize the campaign’s results. And don’t forget about the legalities of running a contest or sweepstakes. Watch this webinar or read the webinar recap for some important factors to consider. With a lot of planning and a little luck, your brand is sure to find gold at the end of the rainbow.
If contests and sweepstakes aren’t the right fit for your brand, but you’re wondering about other trends in promotional marketing, read through our Ask the Expert Answers on the topic.
Source
"Ways Brands Can Make Their Own Luck This St. Patrick's Day." ANA, 2018.