8 Contest Marketing Examples to Inspire Your Next Campaign

A well-designed contest helps you build brand awareness, increase product trials, create engagement, and drive purchases. But only if your customers know it exists, and where to find it.

Here are eight contest marketing examples you can use in your next campaign to maximize participation and achieve your goals.

What is Contest Marketing?

Before we dive into our carefully curated list of examples, what is contest marketing?

Contest marketing is a strategy for organizing and promoting contests, giveaways, or sweepstakes. It capitalizes on the principles of gratification and achievement, as it entices and maintains customers by appealing to their inclination for discounts or freebies.

Like the contests they promote, contest marketing campaigns come in various forms. The precise nature of yours depends on everything from your marketing objectives to your organizational framework.

Contest Benefits

1. Customer Engagement

Contests are a great way to engage with your existing audience.

2. Customer Acquisition

The right contest can help you acquire new customers, followers, and loyalty program members.

3. Driving Purchases

Contests can help drive purchases – especially if they require a purchase to enter (e.g. with receipt validation).

4. Encouraging Trials

Launching a new flavor or introducing a new category? Contests are highly effective at driving trials and getting candid product feedback.

5. Raising Brand Awareness

Contests increase brand awareness. For example, by using social media or user-generated content to reach wider audiences.

6. Boosting Customer Loyalty

Contests keep your members active by giving them different ways to engage and earn loyalty points.

7. Collecting First Party and Zero Party Data

Contests provide the perfect opportunity to learn more about the market and your customers. For example, receipts submitted as part of purchase-based programs provide a wealth of information on customer interests, preferences, basket data, and more.

8. Low Marketing Cost

Contests can be executed with a small budget while providing significant value in return.

Up Your Game with These Contest Marketing Examples

1. Kellanova's Spin-to-win Contest

Kellanova wanted to drive acquisition of first-party data by leveraging one of their five power brands, Cheez-It.

They teamed up with Snipp to create a simple yet engaging instant-win program encouraging consumers to play for instant gratification. With an easy registration process, participants could simply enter their email addresses to play a simple Spin the Wheel game – giving them the chance to win a host of prizes, including a:

• $5 prepaid card
• $5 Fanatics reward
• Year’s supply of Cheez-Its
• Chance to ‘try again’

Snipp collected the registration data for Kellanova, allowing them to better understand their audience for re-targeting purposes.

Campaign Summary

A simple, scalable contest built around instant gratification provided Kellanova with a cost-effective way to increase email signups and collect valuable first-party customer data.

Key Takeaway

Pairing simple, gamified entry mechanics with real-time rewards can boost campaign participation rates – giving you the data to build bigger, more detailed customer databases.

2. GoPro Million Dollar Challenge

GoPro’s Million Dollar Challenge invited users of the HERO11 Black and HERO11 Mini cameras to submit their best action clips. The top 55 entries won an $18,181 share of the $1 million prize pool and had their clip featured in an epic highlight reel. By the end of the campaign, GoPro had received 42,446 clips from 126 countries.

The campaign reinforced GoPro’s brand identity (self-expression, creativity, live-to-the-fullest, etc.) by showcasing user-generated content and celebrating community-driven storytelling.

Campaign Summary

By tapping into its community’s passion for adventure, GoPro turned customers into contributors and brand storytellers.

Key Takeaway

High-value UGC contests are a surefire way to increase user participation and authentic content while strengthening emotional ties between your brand and your audience.

3. Digital Rebate Program for Perrigo

Perrigo set out to drive trial and long-term adoption of its store brand infant formula by reaching both healthcare professionals and first-time moms.

Snipp delivered a rebate-based acquisition program encouraging new moms to try the formula and continue using it if it met their child’s needs. Participants who purchased a qualifying product could upload their receipt to a dedicated website and receive up to $20 back via Venmo.

Campaign Summary

Perrigo made trying its infant formula easy and low-risk through a streamlined rebate offer that built trust with first-time moms and encouraged lasting brand adoption.

Key Takeaway

Rebate incentives are a smart way to reduce barriers to trial and build long-term loyalty, especially in categories where trust and performance matter most.

4. Gift With Purchase Contest for Xbox + OPI

Xbox partnered with OPI to create an exclusive line of nail polish. To drive sales, they created a multi-national gift-with-purchase program offering free Forza and Halo content with every purchase.

The campaign’s biggest challenge was finding a technology partner capable of executing multiple programs across countries, currencies, and languages.

They chose Snipp to develop 15 individual gift-with-purchase programs, leveraging our receipt processing and promotion technology in 12 countries across North America, Europe, and Asia. Each program was tailored to the specific market – from localizing the language to creating country-specific qualifying rules, customer service support, and micro-sites.

Our platform allowed Xbox and OPI to track program performance at an individual and holistic level, generating an incredible amount of consumer purchase data to support future marketing initiatives.

Campaign Summary

Xbox and OPI paired beauty with gaming in a unique, global gift-with-purchase campaign, generating a wealth of customer insights to support future campaigns.

Key Takeaway

Successfully scaling a campaign across regions requires not just creative alignment, but flexible tech infrastructure that can localize experiences and capture customer data at scale.

5. Blackbird Digital Stamp Card

Blackbird – a loyalty platform from Resy co-founder Ben Leventhal – allows diners to “check in” at participating restaurants via a mobile app. Each visit earns $FLY crypto rewards and, after four check-ins, treats users with a free appetizer.

Over 150 restaurants across cities like New York and San Francisco have joined the program since launch. Venues such as Sereneco in Brooklyn have seen daily check-ins, noting the system encouraged repeat visits and rewarded regulars without staff involvement. While the crypto element drew mixed reactions, restaurants praised the app for collecting guest data and driving loyalty through seamless, tech-enabled rewards.

Campaign Summary

Blackbird transformed casual dining into loyalty opportunities through digital check-ins and automated rewards – encouraging repeat visits while capturing valuable guest data.

Key Takeaway

When loyalty programs are low-friction and rewarding by design, they drive customer retention and give brands the insights they need to deliver personalized experiences.

6. Instant-Win + Sweepstake Contest by Boost

Boost launched a digital instant win campaign to increase engagement, drive customer retention, and compete more effectively on shelf against key rivals. The mobile-friendly promotion allowed customers to earn entries by:

• Uploading receipts
• Referring friends
• Sharing on social media
• Entering their email

Each interaction earned the chance to win instant digital and physical prizes, along with entries into a grand prize sweepstakes.

By rewarding a range of interactions, Boost created multiple touchpoints that cater to a wide range of preferences. The campaign not only generated buzz and repeat visits but also provided the brand with valuable first-party data – reinforcing loyalty and sharpening its competitive edge.

Campaign Summary

Boost extended its brand experience beyond the shelf with a mobile instant win campaign that turned everyday interactions into engagement opportunities.

Key Takeaway

Multi-touchpoint promotions that combine instant rewards with flexible entry mechanics can strengthen brand loyalty, grow social reach, and generate valuable first-party data.

7. Back-to-School Cash Back Program for Kellanova

Kellanova aimed to boost back-to-school sales through a digital cashback offer.

Snipp provided full support by creating a promotion where consumers who spent $25 or more on participating products could register, upload receipts, and receive $10 back. Snipp handled receipt validation and managed the digital reward fulfillment, ensuring a smooth and positive consumer experience.

Campaign Summary

Kellanova used a straightforward digital cashback offer to drive sales while enhancing the back-to-school shopping experience for consumers.

Key Takeaway

Simple, targeted cashback offers can drive sales during key seasonal periods and create a seamless experience that keeps customers coming back.

8. Nestlé Purina Instant Win + Sweeps Overlay Program

Nestlé Purina sought to drive national sales and raise awareness for Zukes through an adventure-themed challenge designed to engage customers and boost brand visibility.

Snipp created a purchase-based instant win and sweepstakes program where consumers who bought any Zukes product could visit the program microsite, upload their receipt, and register for a chance to win Yeti prizes or one of three grand prizes – an ultimate adventure for the winner and their dog. Snipp managed all backend operations, including site development, receipt validation, prize procurement, fulfillment, and customer service, while also providing valuable consumer insights through receipt analysis.

Campaign Summary

Purina combined adventure and rewards to engage dog owners, driving sales while providing Zukes with valuable consumer data and insights.

Key Takeaway

Engaging, prize-driven campaigns can drive both immediate sales and long-term brand visibility, while offering deeper insights into consumer behavior.

Are You Maximizing the Power of Contest Marketing?

These contest marketing examples serve as a wellspring of inspiration for your next campaign.

From captivating instant-win social media contests to digital rebate programs and sweepstakes, each example showcases the power of contests in capturing consumers' attention, driving brand awareness, and fostering engagement.  

With careful planning, strategies, and execution, your next contest campaign can achieve remarkable results.