How to create a One-armed Bandit online? Examples and tips

How to create a One-armed Bandit online? Examples and tips

Le bandit manchot est l’un des jeux marketing les plus célèbres. Cet instant gagnant s’inspire des machines à sous de casino et invite les participants à tenter d’obtenir trois visuels identiques alignés sur le rouleau.
Liée à une récompense immédiate, cette mécanique est efficace pour booster la visibilité et l’attractivité d’une marque. Elle permet aux enseignes mettre en avant leurs lots et de dynamiser leurs stratégie de recrutement de leads et de conversion. 
Dans cet article, nous partageons les objectifs marketing à poursuivre en créant un Bandit Manchot en ligne. Notre tutoriel vous aidera à concevoir et optimiser votre campagne, étape par étape.

What are the different objectives of an online One-Armed Bandit?

Savez-vous pourquoi cette mécanique marketing s’appelle ainsi ? Historiquement, les machines à sous possédaient un bras articulé qui permettait d’enclencher le rouleau. Étant donné qu’elles n’en avaient qu’un, on considéraient qu’elles étaient “manchot”. 

Aujourd’hui, le Bandit Manchot ne se joue pas qu’au casino et peut être intégré, sous un format digital, aux campagnes de marketing en ligne. Ce jeu leur permet d’engager et d’activer les consommateurs à chaque étape de leur parcours client , de la découverte de l’enseigne à la réalisation d’un achat.

1. Brand awreness and lead generation with an original one-armed bandit

Le Bandit Manchot est très lié à la récompense et au gain. A ce titre, c’est un instant gagnant efficace pour capter l’attention de son audience et maximiser son engagement. La promesse d’une récompense et la possibilité de découvrir si l’on a gagné ou non sont deux facteurs qui permettent à l’enseigne de gagner en visibilité et de générer de nouveaux leads (via un formulaire d’inscription au début ou à la fin du jeu). 

Exemple : Eurotunnel a mis en place une stratégie de Wait Marketing (soit la gestion de l’attente), en diffusant une campagne gamifiée auprès des conducteurs. Ceux-ci pouvaient participer au Bandit Manchot pendant la traversée du tunnel après avoir renseigné un code inscrit sur leur titre de transport. Ce jeu captivant a permis à l’entreprise de recruter des leads de qualité (5K nouveaux inscrits via Adictiz Ads) tout en renforçant sa communication auprès de son public cible.

Eurotunnel - Instant win competitions
Eurotunnel - jackpot

2. Promoting your brand community and points of sale

Bien connu du grand public, le Bandit Manchot peut être un bon format pour animer sa communauté de marque en ligne  (sur les réseaux sociaux ou sur son application) comme en physique (dans des points de vente, via une borne interactive). L’enseigne maximise le temps passé avec son public en misant sur une mécanique addictive ainsi que des dotations attractives. 

Exemple : Pour la Fête des Mères, les Galeries Lafayette ont proposé un Bandit Manchot 100% gagnant dans leurs points de vente via une borne interactive, installée pendant 3 jours dans 6 magasins en France. L’objectif était d’animer les points de ventes pendant le temps fort. Les résultats ont dépassé les attentes, avec une participation en magasin au-dessus de la moyenne. Le temps de jeu moyen d’1 minute 20 secondes a démontré un réel intérêt pour l’animation, confirmant le succès de cette initiative.

L’animation Bandit Manchot était disponible en ligne via un QR code affiché en magasin. Cette stratégie omnicanale a permis de booster l’engagement de l’audience et la portée de la campagne. Permettant à l’enseigne d’animer tous les magasins. Cette opération en co-branding a permis de collecter des opt-ins pour Galeries Lafayette et sa marque partenaire, Rosemood.

Galeries Lafayette Mother's Day competitions
Galeries Lafayette - one-armed bandit online

Boost your conversion rate and generate sales by creating a One-Armed Bandit

Pour finir, le Bandit Manchot en ligne est une mécanique pertinente pour booster ses ventes et augmenter son taux de conversion. Les dotations mises en jeu sont des bons de réduction que les participants pourront utiliser sur leur prochain achat. Très facile à personnaliser, cette mécanique permet de présenter ses produits de manière originale en les transformant en symboles sur le rouleau de la machine à sous. 

Exemple : La campagne Crazy Days, qui prenait la forme d’un Bandit Manchot en ligne, a permis à Showroomprivé d’attirer des clients tout en donnant une forte visibilité à la marque lors d’un temps fort commercial, celui des soldes. Le jeu était ici utilisé comme générateur de ventes, avec l’objectif de stimuler la conversion grâce à la distribution de bons d’achats. La campagne Crazy Days de Showroomprivé a affiché d’excellents KPI’s d’engagement avec 27k dotations distribuées, soit autant de possibilités de ventes sur le site de l’enseigne.

Showroomprivé - Crazy Days sales
Showroomprivé - Crazy Days

6 tips for programming a One-Armed bandit game

Pour atteindre ces objectifs stratégiques, il faut bien penser la conception et la diffusion de son Bandit Manchot en ligne. Voici 6 conseils à suivre pour booster l’impact de votre campagne.

1. How to customize the one-armed bandit online ?

La clé de la réussite d’un Bandit Manchot en ligne est de personnaliser la mécanique afin que les participants puissent s’immerger dans l’univers de la marque et associer cette expérience positive à l’enseigne. 

Avec Adictiz, il est possible de personnaliser les graphismes de son jeu, des fonds en passant par les symboles qui vont s’afficher sur le rouleau de la machine à sous, sans oublier la poignée (ou le bouton Start). L’idée est d’uniformiser ces éléments graphiques afin de proposer une expérience cohérente.

2. How to set up a one-armed bandit online ?

La seconde étape consiste à configurer la mécanique afin que le parcours de jeu réponde aux objectifs stratégiques. Le Bandit Manchot est composé de 6 pages, auxquelles la marque peut ajouter des étapes et mécaniques. 
Il peut s’agir d’une page d’accueil et de teasing pour mettre en avant ses produits. Mais le Bandit Manchot peut donner accès à un tirage au sort. Les gagnants remportent une première dotation et sont inscrits au tirage au sort pour remporter des lots conséquents.  
Avec Adictiz, il est également possible de sélectionner : 

  • Le nombre de participations autorisées (par jour, semaine, mois ou sur toute la campagne). On conseille une limite d’une participation par jour pour encourager les joueurs à revenir sur la campagne ;
  • Le nombre de dotation qu’un joueur peut remporter ; 
  • Le nombre de rouleaux (jusqu’à 6). 

L’enseigne peut ajouter des étapes supplémentaires à son parcours de jeu pour booster ses résultats en termes de collecte. Elle peut par ajouter une étape dédiée à l’optin (push optin) ou insérer un formulaire de collecte de données clients après le jeu, avant que le participant ne découvre son gain.

3. How to manage the prizes for a Bandit Manchot instant win?

Tout l’attrait du Bandit Manchot en ligne réside dans les dotations. Il est donc important de configurer les lots de sa campagne.  Dans le cas contraire, tous les utilisateurs seront redirigés vers la page “Perdu”, car il n’y aura aucun lot à gagner. 

Tips : il est possible de faire remporter des dotations en fonction des symboles qui s’afficheront sur le rouleau gagnant. Les visuels du Bandit manchot peuvent correspondre aux cadeaux à remporter.

4. What’s the checklist before sharing your One-armed Bandit?

Avant de publier sa campagne, il est recommandé de faire des vérifications. En cliquant sur la zone de jeu dans l’éditeur, il est possible de prévisualiser le jeu et ajuster son affichage (ses dimensions pour l’intégrer dans un environnement mobile). 

Lorsque les versions Desktop et Mobile sont finalisées, l’enseigne pourra la tester afin de vérifier que la mécanique fonctionne. Il ne lui restera plus qu’à la publier sur son domaine personnalisé et à la diffuser auprès de son audience.

5. Can we take over my campaign?

Besoin d’aide pour créer une campagne marketing autour d’un Bandit Manchot en ligne ? Le studio de création Adictiz prend en charge toute la programmation de l’expérience gamifiée. De la conception du parcours de jeu à la mise en place de l’univers graphique. En passant par la configuration des dotations et la mise en ligne de la campagne.

6. How to boost the visibility of your gamification campaign?

Adictiz accompagne les marques dans la diffusion de leur Bandit Manchot via son Agence Média . Une équipe dédiée s’occupera de la conception et publication de la campagne. Ainsi que du ciblage de l’audience en passant par le tracking et l’optimisation des Ads ou séquences d’emailing.

Conclusion

Le Bandit Manchot est le format idéal pour booster la notoriété et les ventes de votre marque. Misez sur cet Instant Gagnant pour atteindre vos objectifs stratégiques et dynamisez vos campagnes marketing avec nos autres mécaniques de jeux interactifs !

In 30 minutes, we show you how to launch your own high-performance interactive marketing campaign

Leroy Merlin unites its employees for its 100th anniversary thanks to gamification

Leroy Merlin unites its employees for its 100th anniversary thanks to gamification

Corporate play is becoming increasingly popular. Whether organised online or face-to-face, these initiatives offer valuable opportunities to strengthen team cohesion.

The engaging nature of games facilitates the transmission of information while capturing the attention of employees. it creates a playful environment in which the bonds between colleagues are forged or strengthened. This strenghtens the feeling of belonging to the company.

That’s why Leroy Merlin, the famous DIY chain, has chosen to use gamification in the workplace to celebrate its centenary with its teams.

In this article, we take a look at this inspiring example to learn lessons that can be applied within your organisation. From the definition of objectives to the choice of game mechanics, not forgetting the distribution strategy and performance monitoring, let’s discover the keys to this gamified success.

Why integrate corporate gaming?

Gaming is much more than just business entertainment. Here a few strategic reasons to adopt it:

  • Facilitating learning: edutainment formats enhance memoruzation and make training courses more attractive.
  • Creating links: competitions and challenges strengthen team cohesion and stimulate collaboration.
  • Boosting commitment: Employees are more inclined to invest when they feel valued and involved in a collective project.
  • Boost internal communication: Gamifying key messages helps to capture attention while effectively raising awareness among teams.

An ambitious Leroy Merlin project for the brand’s 100th anniversary

To celebrate its centenary, Leroy Merlin launched an in-house game lasting nine months, from January to September. The aim of the project was to unite its 25,000 employees around an emblematic event, while strengthening its employer brand and image.

A fun, participative corporate gaming strategy

The campaign skillfully blended interactive games and collaborative content creation:

  • Participative games: Quizzes on the company’s history and mini-games such as “Mega Jump”, designed to stimulate friendly competition between colleagues.
  • Collaborative challenges: Challenges that encourage employees to share anecdotes, photos, videos and personal stories, often in pairs or teams.
  • Hybrid mechanisms: by combining entertainment and personal expression, Leroy Merlin has guaranteed genuine involvement, rooted in the compan’y values.

Everything was accessible via a dedicated platform and punctuated by an interactive calendar gradually unveiling the events. This structure kept participants interested throughout the campaign.

Leroy Merlin - corporate play
Leroy Merlin - corporate play

Effective multi-media distribution

To maxmise participation, Leroy Merlin has deployed a wide range of internal communications:

  • Regular alerts on the calendar integrated into the collaborative social network.
  • Publications on the intranet to remind the highlights of the operation.
  • Internal newsletters, stimulating support and encouraging interaction.

By drawing on these multpile channels, the brand ensured optimum visibility for the campaign, boosting employee commitment.

A collective success, a source of cohesion and pride

With 21,500 registrations out of 25,000 employees, the campaign recorded an exceptional participation rate, demonstrating the strong support of teams.

An emblematic end product

One of the key results of this initiative was the creation of a 100th anniversary book, compiling the anecdotes, photos and testimonials collected during the campaign. The book served several puposes:

  • Strenghtening collective pride: Employees felt valued when their contributions were highlighted.
  • Extending the impact of the campaign: The book, posted on the intranet, helped to maintain commitment beyond the end of the event.

A stronger employer brand

By mobilising its teams around a common project, Leroy merlin has consolidated its internal and external image. Employee-generated content (UGC, User Generated Content) has helped to promote the company’s values and history to its customers and partners.

Leroy Merlin - centenary game

Lessons learned from this corporate play

The “100 years of Leroy Merlin” operation offers valuable lessons for any company wishing to organise an in-house competition. Here are the key steps for maximising the impact of this type of initiative:

  • Define clear objectives: In-company gaming must be part of a strategy that is consistent with needs. Potental objectives include:
    1. Facilitating the integration and training of teams.
    2. Strengthen cohesion and team spirit.
    3. Valuing employees while boosting internal communication.
  • Choosing the right mechanics: To maintain interest, it’s essential to combine entertaining games (quizzes, mini-games) with more engaging mechanics, such as collaborative challenges. This mix encourages genuine and lasting involvement.
  • Optimising distribution: A successful campaign relies on mutl-media communication, adapted to employee’s habits. the use if newsletters, intranets or internal social networks is essential to boost visibility.
  • Measuring results: Monitoring performance is essential: participation rates, quality of content generated or impact on defined objectives. This data will guide the improvement of future initiatives.

Based on these principles, Leroy Merlin has shown that a competition can become a tool for mobilising its teams, strengthening ties and enhancing the company’s culture. Whether to celebrate an event or achieve HR objectives, gamification offers endless opportunities to inspire and unite.

Conclusion

Corporate gamification is a powerful way of stimulating activity, commitment and cohesion. Taking the example of Leroy merlin 100th anniversary campaign, you can organise competitions tailored to your objectives and the aspirations of your teams. Check out our catalogue of mechanics to get your staff involved!

In 30 minutes, we show you how to launch your own high-performance interactive marketing campaign

How to build a Social Media strategy

How to build a Social Media strategy

74% of consumers refer to social networks before making a purchase. And 72% of companies have increased their sales and generated more in-store traffic thanks to their Social Media strategy.

Investing in social networks is therefore absolutely essential for brands. Whether to raise brand awareness, reach a wider audience, boost sales or create a community of loyal, committed customers, social media marketing is an ultra-efficient communication channel.

All the more reason to create a relevant Social Media strategy, in which your company will detail the actions it intends to take on social networks. In this article, we’ll take you step-by-step through the process of drawing up this action plan.

What is social media marketing?

Social network marketing involves using platforms like Instagram, X (formerly Twitter) Pinterest or even TikTok to promote your brand to potential customers and sell your products or services.

Social media marketing can take many forms: from the simple act of sharing content on these platforms, to (paid) advertising campaigns or partnerships with influencers (known as influencer marketing). Interaction with platform users (by reposting their publications, replying to their comments, etc.) is also a form of social media marketing.

By social media strategy, we mean the action plan a company creates to plan its efforts on social networks. This involves defining objectives, audience and expectations, as well as developing a content calendar and performance KPIs to measure the achievement of results.

What you need to remember is that social network marketing is a unique acquisition and sales channel. It therefore requires specific expertise, dedicated resources and in-depth tracking and continuous improvement.

Social Media Strategy

Why do companies need a Social Media strategy?

This question may seem obvious when you consider that almost all brands have a presence on social networks. But it is nevertheless important to understand the benefits of a good Social Media strategy in order to identify the results that your company can reap from it.

  • Increase brand awareness. 53% of consumers say their use of social media has increased over the past two years. It is therefore essential for brands wishing to raise their profile or federate a community of committed customers to communicate via this channel.
  • Create a relationship of trust with your audience. Social networks also have a huge impact on the trust that consumers place in businesses, particularly among younger people.
  • Increase sales. Beyond the reach of social networks, the content shared on them is extremely effective in converting new customers. The more authentic publications and social selling levers that are gradually being integrated into the platforms make them excellent tools for promoting products and boosting revenues.
  • Make it easy to track performance. Social networks integrate tools that make it easier to track key performance indicators. This makes it easier to assess the return on investment of your social media strategy.

Steps to follow for an effective social media strategy

Now that we’ve proven the relevance of developing a Social Media strategy, it’s time to take action. To create a precise and effective action plan, it’s important to follow these steps.

1. Establish your brand’s objectives on social networks

As we’ve seen, social networks enable you to reach and engage your prospects at every stage of the sales funnel. But it’s also a complex marketing channel, requiring a great deal of time and resources from companies. So it’s important not to jump in blindly, but rather to target your strategic objectives precisely.

The idea is to focus on one or two objectives that are particularly crucial for the company. If it is just starting up, the main challenge will be to raise awareness and generate new leads. If it is already well established, social networks can be a lever for engagement and loyalty, etc.

Each objective must be linked to precise performance KPI’s, which will enable us to monitor their achievement and adjust the Social Media strategy if necessary.

2. Analyze your audience

To create impactful content on social networks, you need to understand who you’re talking to and what your audience’s expectations are. The best way to do this is to question your audience and collect zero-party customer data (through interactive mechanisms such as polls, for example).

Brands can also benchmark companies in their sector or content creators in their niche. By studying their publications and the interactions they generate with their audience, they’ll have a better understanding of the codes they need to respect to share their own content (the tone to use, the frequency of publication, the most popular formats, etc.).

3. Choose the best channels to invest in

The worst mistake a brand can make when drawing up its Social Media strategy is to be everywhere at once and simply duplicate its content across all these networks. Each platform has its own specific audience and codes. You therefore need to choose the channel that best reaches your target audience, and the content format that best matches your brand image.

4. Plan and diversify your content

With these last elements, the brand can start planning and sharing its content. The aim isn’t to publish as often as possible, even if regularity is crucial to cracking the social network algorithm. Rather, it’s to create truly differentiating content that generates strong emotions in its audience, resonates with their expectations and values, and captures their attention.

Gamification is an excellent lever for making content on social networks more original and engaging. Competitions, for example, are a very popular format on platforms, helping to capture users’ attention (particularly through the promise of an attractive prize).

These campaigns are all the more powerful when backed up by other levers of visibility and engagement specific to social networks. For example, they can be publicized via an advertising campaign or a partnership with an influencer to reach a wider audience.

5. Measure results and adjust your Social Media strategy

The most important KPIs to track on social networks are engagement KPIs. They enable brands to assess the relevance of their content to their audience and the interest it generates.

Depending on the results of its publications and advertising campaigns, the brand can refine its Social Media strategy. Many companies, for example, have learned from experience that the more authentic the content (i.e. the less elaborate and promotional it is), the more engagement it generates.

Conclusion

Boost your Social Media strategy by integrating gamification into your marketing campaigns. Marketing games are highly effective at capturing attention and engaging your audience. To create differentiating interactive experiences, you can choose from a catalog of playable mechanics the one best suited to your strategic objectives. Our team can also take charge of your campaign!

Instant win competitions: 6 original marketing examples

Instant win competitions: 6 original marketing examples

of all the gamification mechanisms available to companies, instant win games are among the most effective. Marketing games are a powerful way of engaging your audience because you can win attractive prizes. And with instant win competitions, the rewards are immediate!

This marketing format can be used at all stages of the customer journey to enable brands to engage and retain consumers. To take advantage of the potential of instatn wins, we present the objectives that businesses can aim for. For these objectives, we share examples of inspiring instant win competition campaigns.

What is an instant win competition?

Widely adopted to stimulate commitment to a campaign, instant win offers the chance to win gifts instantly. It differs from other games such as prize draws, where you have to wait to find out who the winners are.

It is possible to combine the two by adding a prize draw at the final stage of the instant win. In this way, players who have wown a prize can take part in an addtional prize draw and try to win gifts of greater value (such as a trip).

Depending on its brand universe and the objective of its campaign, the brand can opt for different types of instant win competitions. They can choose between:

  • The Wheel of Fortune. Participants can spin the wheel and try to win a gift or promotional code.
  • The scratch game. In this quick and simple gam, all you have to do is scratch off a visual to discover the prize. Scratch cards can be fully customised to incorporate elements from your brand’s world, or to suit a special occasion (such as Christmas or Valentine’s Day).
  • The slot machine (or One-Armed Bandit). Inspired by casino games, this Instant Win consists of lining up several symbols. You can give awy prizes to your audience.
  • There’s also the Pinata, the Shuffler, the Claw Machine, the Click & Win and the Flip & Win.

Why launch instant win competitions?

Instant Win offers companies a highly effective way of increasing visibility and engagement. Here are the 3 main reasons for organising a campaign of this type.

1. Engaging your audience

The first advantage of Instant Win is that it makes you want to take part, since you know immediately whether you’ve won or not. For the brand that organises it, the operation of this interactive mechanism is simple. Instant Win works by time slots designated as “winning”. All yuo have to do is enter at the right time to win a gift. Outside these time slots, all participants lose out (or can win a promotional codes in the case of 100% winning instant games).

Eurotunnel’s Jackpot campaign

To capture quality leads, Eurotunnel offered its public a captivating game. The jackpot (or One-Armed Bandit) enabled the company that manages the tunnel to strengthen its communications with transport operators. Carriers had to download a Transport Ticket Number (TTN) to take part.

Thanks to this popular mechanism and attractive prizes (smartphone, headphones, bluetooth), Eurotunnel registered more than 29k games.

Eurotunnel - Instant win competitions
Eurotunnel - jackpot

Crédit Agricole’s pretty Christmas accounts

With its “Pretty Christmas accounts” campaign, Crédit Agricole immersed its audience in the spirit of the festive season. Each day, the advent calendar unveiled content highlighting its solidarity initiatives. More than a communications operation, this Instant Win game was designed to engage the community. This format, adaptable to the Regional Banks, enabled Crédit Agricole to strengthen its local roots.

The result: over 10,000 new subscribers to the brand’s mailing list and an opt-in rate of 40%.

Crédit Agricole - instant win competitions

2. Organise instant win competitions to generate leads

Creating an Instant Win competition is a great way of collecting leads. You can ask people to fill in a form before launching the wheel of chanceor cracking a digital pinata. Collecting first-party data (shared by users) will be easier. The brand will be able to refine its customer knowledge and understand the consumption habits of each individual.

Sensation Crispy de Lindt

Following the RGPD announcements, Lindt put in place an annual strategy to recruit new leads and build its base through gaing. This approach, based on marketing chestnuts and product highlights, took shape with the Sensation Cripy campaigns.

The aim was to recruit opt-in leads and promote the product via two engaging mechanics; the Wheel of Chance and Pinball. The campaign exceeded 15,000 leads and achieved a particularly high opt-in rate of 62%.

Lindt - online wheel of fortune
Lindt - mobile wheel

The Speedy Advent Calendar

For Christmas, Speedy launched an Advent Calendar aimed at engaging its audience and recruiting leads. The campaign was a great success, with 37k registrations and high engagement, reaching an average of 7.6 games palyed per participant. This operation provided excellent visibility during a crucial sales period, the festive season.

Speedy - instant win competitions
Speedy - scratch game

3. Boost your conversion rate with instant win competitions

Instant win competitions are ideal for companies looking to increase their conversion rate or build customer loyalty.
By awarding promotional codes to the winners, brands can stimulate engagement, encouraging people to visit the website and make pruchases. In this way, they can encourage an increase in their sales and a better conversion.

Showroomprivé Crazy days

The Crazy Days campaign enabled Showroomprivé to attract customers who responded to the game, while giving the bradn high visibility (with a 76% participation rate) during the sales period. The Instant Win, a one-armed bandit, was used as a sales generator, to stimulate conversion through the distribution of shopping vouchers.

Showroomprivé - Crazy Days sales
Showroomprivé - Crazy Days

BZB Game Center

Thanks to an engaging multi-mechanical system, Bizzbee offers an immersion into the world of gaming. After each game, users receive a voucher, boosting sales over the festiv period (with a conversion rate of 2.4%). An integrated conversion pixel monitored the performance of the interactive campaign in real time, continuously optimising its effectiveness.

BZB - instant win competitions<br>
BZB - game center

Conclusion

Organising an Instant Win competition is an excellent way to generate leads, engagement and conversion. Discover
our interactive mechanisms that you can customise or adapt to a specific marketing event to boost your campaigns throughout the year!

Summer competitions: 3 original ways to engage your audience

Summer competitions: 3 original ways to engage your audience

Seasonality is a major challenge for brands, whatever their sector of activity. They have to adjust their marketing strategy to take account of the different needs of their audience at different times of the year.

But the summer period presents an additional difficulty: a drop in consumer attention and purchase intentions in verticals that are not directly linked to tourism/leisure.

The key to keeping customers engaged over the summer, but also to generate sales, is to understand and anticipate consumer expectations. But above all, it means offering them engaging and well-targeted brand experiences.

In this article, we explain how the summer competitions can help you overcome the main challenges of the summer period. We’ll also share some concrete examples to inspire your future campaigns.

The main challenges of summer marketing campaigns

Summer is a challenging time for many brands. Many of them see their sales fall drastically or, on the contrary, have to manage a peak in activity. Here are the main challenges they face during the summer months.

1. Attract the attention of less available consumers

Many companies experience a slack period during the summer season due to a decrease in consumer attention. They are often less available (due to holidays, travel, etc.), which has a direct impact on their interactions with brands, particularly on social networks.

During the summer months, engagement rates can drop drastically. A study by HubSpot shows that this drop can be as much as 30% during the summer holidays. It is therefore essential for retailers to adapt their marketing campaigns by offering content that is more visual, less intrusive and more fun.

2. Follow your customers on their summer travels

In summer, consumers also tend to be more nomadic, particularly when on holiday and therefore travelling to tourist areas. For brands, the challenge is to remain available, particularly online or by simplifying the delivery of their products to holiday destinations.

For some sectors, which have a good physical presence throughout the country, the challenge will also be to make these outlets visible. This is the case in supermarkets, for example, by offering geolocated promotions. Sports clubs can also offer summer passes to encourage their users to visit the establishment closest to their holiday destination, or by integrating digital services (such as an online sports application).

3. Meeting different needs during the summer holidays

One of the greatest challenges of seasonal marketing is to understand and anticipate changes in behaviour of consumers at different times of the year. For example, shoppers will be more inclined to spend on leisure activities in summer and more inclined to buy products in winter.

The products and services offered by retailers must therefore be adapted to meet these new needs. To take the example of supermarkets, brands need to take account of the fact that their customers are turning more to fresh products that are easy to eat on the move (ready-to-go).

4. The impact of seasonality on stock management

The challenges of summer marketing campaigns are not limited to companies whose sales are falling. Sectors that experience major peaks in activity can also be hit hard if they are not sufficiently prepared to meet customer demand.

A survey carried out by McKinsey & Company revealed that 70% of retailers observe an overabundance of stock outside seasonal peaks, and 40% of them believe that their stock management could be improved to better adapt to seasonal cycles.

It is therefore crucial for brands to adapt their stock management strategy in line with the seasons. This will help to avoid overstocking or stock-outs during the high season, both of which have a considerable impact on profitability, image and customer satisfaction.

3 good reasons to organise competitions in summer

To meet these marketing challenges and better engage their customers over the summer period, brands can capitalise on gamification.This strategy involves introducing fun, interactive formats (such as competitions) into its communication campaigns.

Here are 3 good reasons to adopt Playable marketing this summer and 3 inspiring examples to get you going!

1. Boost your communication and grab consumers’ attention

Summer is a time when consumers are on holiday and looking for lighter, more entertaining content. By organising a competition, brands can offer them a fun and engaging experience and capture the attention of an audience that is less receptive to traditional messages.

Competitions therefore make it possible to multiply the points of contact, even in summer, boosting the brand’s visibility organically (particularly on social networks).

Example: Showroomprivé’s Summer Trips campaign achieved its visibility objective at the height of the summer season, highlighting Parc Astérix as an attractive partner for generating leads.The results have been impressive, both in terms of participation (177K users in total) and engagement (with over 186K games played and an average session duration of 1min49).

gamification summer
showroomprivé - summer trips mobile

2. Maintain sales during a slower period

Summer can be a slow period for some industries. In this context, competitions are an excellent way of stimulating sales. Not only can the format be used to promote the summer offer in an original way (by encouraging the creation of user generated directly by users as part of a photo competition). But it’s also a way of encouraging impulse buying by distributing time-limited discount vouchers.

Example : Altarea Cogedim has launched its Summer Test campaign to energise its shopping centres during the summer sales period. This
personality test was designed to generate point-of-sale traffic and stimulate purchases by sharing personalised product recommendations. The campaign also recruited new fans, leads and opt-ins, helping to enrich the customer database and to
maximise the impact of the summer highlight.

Altarea Cogedim - personality test sales
Altarea Cogedim -sales

3. Prepare back-to-school marketing campaigns and collect valuable data

Summer competitions can also be used by brands to gather valuable information about their customers (product preference, consumption habits, budget allocated to purchases, etc.) This data can be obtained via the game mechanics themselves (in particular with a Swiper, for example) or using a form (at the start of the course to access the game or at the end of the experience to unlock the reward).

This data can then be used to prepare and optimise back-to-school campaigns and brand communications throughout the year. Using the information collected, the brand can better segment its audience and thus deliver more impactful retargeting campaigns (thanks to personalised content and offers).

Example: The Tape à l’Oeil brand has opted for a summer competition to strengthen its relationship with its customers. The choice of a fun game mechanic such as the Piñata not only boosted the brand’s visibility during the summer period. But gamification also made it possible to collect data and attract qualified leads (thanks to
an opt-in form) which the company could then retarget through an e-mailing campaign, for example.

TAO - pinata summer competition
TAO - summer competition mobile

Conclusion

Competitions are particularly relevant in summer to keep your customers engaged, boost your sales and optimise your future marketing campaigns. It’s an ideal format for the summer period, making your communication more dynamic and more fun. Discover
our marketing game formats and boost your visibility and revenue even during the summer holidays!

In 30 minutes, we show you how to launch your own high-performance interactive marketing campaign