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.
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.
Contests are a great way to engage with your existing audience.
The right contest can help you acquire new customers, followers, and loyalty program members.
Contests can help drive purchases – especially if they require a purchase to enter (e.g. with receipt validation).
Launching a new flavor or introducing a new category? Contests are highly effective at driving trials and getting candid product feedback.
Contests increase brand awareness. For example, by using social media or user-generated content to reach wider audiences.
Contests keep your members active by giving them different ways to engage and earn loyalty points.
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.
Contests can be executed with a small budget while providing significant value in return.
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:
Snipp collected the registration data for Kellanova, allowing them to better understand their audience for re-targeting purposes.
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.
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.
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.
By tapping into its community’s passion for adventure, GoPro turned customers into contributors and brand storytellers.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Blackbird transformed casual dining into loyalty opportunities through digital check-ins and automated rewards – encouraging repeat visits while capturing valuable guest data.
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.
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.
Boost extended its brand experience beyond the shelf with a mobile instant win campaign that turned everyday interactions into engagement opportunities.
Multi-touchpoint promotions that combine instant rewards with flexible entry mechanics can strengthen brand loyalty, grow social reach, and generate valuable first-party data.
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.
Kellanova used a straightforward digital cashback offer to drive sales while enhancing the back-to-school shopping experience for consumers.
Simple, targeted cashback offers can drive sales during key seasonal periods and create a seamless experience that keeps customers coming back.
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.
Purina combined adventure and rewards to engage dog owners, driving sales while providing Zukes with valuable consumer data and insights.
Engaging, prize-driven campaigns can drive both immediate sales and long-term brand visibility, while offering deeper insights into consumer behavior.
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.