Halloween has become an unmissable highlight for brands wishing to boost their communications and increase their visibility. Last year, spending on the holiday in France reached some 300 million euros, marking a 5% increase on the previous year. This trend testifies to the growing enthusiasm of the French for Halloween, with some 40% of them taking an active part in the festivities.

This holiday, once seen as purely commercial, has been transformed into a moment of sharing and conviviality, offering companies the opportunity to connect with their audience in a fun and original way. Brands can reinforce their image by offering engaging and entertaining Halloween experiences.

In this article, we explore the value of gamification in capturing consumers’ attention and actively engaging them. We’ll also share four examples of relevant marketing games to boost your Halloween communications.

SUMMARY

• Halloween, a key moment to engage your audience with fun mechanisms
  
• 4 examples of marketing games to boost your Halloween communications

Halloween is a strategic moment in an already busy marketing calendar, especially during the crucial fourth half of the year. It’s a time when brands redouble their efforts to capture the attention of an over-solicited public – and that’s precisely where gamification comes in.

The interactive, immersive nature of the game fits perfectly with the fantastic, offbeat world of Halloween. It allows us to create original, engaging and memorable experiences, totally in keeping with the festive atmosphere. Rather than blending into the mass of classic promotional campaigns, brands that rely on playful mechanics succeed in standing out from the crowd and forging a stronger bond with their audience, eager for unique experiences and the rewards on offer.

Gamification also offers great flexibility. It can be used to boost brand awareness, collect qualified data, generate traffic in-store or on an e-commerce site, or stimulate sales via prizes or discount vouchers. In short, it’s a powerful lever for achieving business objectives in the run-up to the festive season.

Brands communicating on Halloween can therefore target different strategic objectives, particularly in the run-up to other major commercial holidays such as Black Friday and Christmas. To capitalize on the strategic leverage of gamification, it’s important to clearly identify the results you want to achieve. Based on these key KPIs, companies can then choose the right mechanics to share with their audience and fine-tune their Halloween marketing strategy.

1. Develop your reputation

Halloween is a particularly interesting commercial holiday for brands wishing to reach a wider audience. By surfing the graphic universe of Halloween and offering experiences linked to this special time, they can capture the attention of new audiences and boost their visibility.

Which marketing game to choose?

Score-based modules (such as Flappy or Rattrape tout) are simple, addictive and viral. They are therefore ideal for capturing a wide audience, including users who are not yet familiar with the brand. The gameplay, based on repetition and challenge, encourages sharing and organic distribution, maximizing the brand’s visibility on social networks.

Practical tips

• Offer attractive prizes (e.g. high-tech prizes, gift cards, flagship products) to maximize participation.
• Adapt the design to the world of Halloween: dark backgrounds, pumpkin or bat-shaped obstacles, spooky music.
• Integrate storytelling elements to immerse the user in the party atmosphere.
• Broadcast the campaign on social networks with a dedicated hashtag to encourage virality.

Example : Sowee set up a campaign during Halloween to reinforce its positioning as a Smart Home player, while developing its brand awareness. The operation recruited qualified leads, in particular encouraging newsletter sign-ups. The campaign, supported by a Flappy game in Halloween colors, also played a key role in increasing traffic to Sowee.fr.

2. Collect new leads

Halloween represents an excellent opportunity to enrich your customer database in a fun, non-intrusive way. Through engaging game mechanics, brands can encourage participants to sign up for their newsletter, give their consent to receive communications (opt-in), or share valuable information about their preferences and purchasing habits.

Which marketing game to choose?

Instant Win is based on the mechanics of chance, with immediate gratification. It’s the perfect way to capture attention quickly and encourage users to share their personal data in a bid to win rewards.

Practical tips:

• Integrate an optimized entry form before revealing whether the player has won.
• Add an animation or visual surprise in the event of a win, to reinforce the positive emotion.
• Set up post-participation email follow-ups to convert the leads collected.

3. Generate traffic

Halloween is also an ideal time to generate traffic, whether in a physical store or on an e-commerce site. Gamified campaigns, playing on curiosity and the desire to win, encourage consumers to visit the point of sale or key pages of the site.

Recommended mechanic: Object hunt
With this mechanic, the player has to find items hidden in a setting, which encourages him to navigate between several pages of a site or explore all the shelves of a physical store.

Practical tips:

• Hide objects on strategic pages of your site to encourage visitors to view them (new products, bestsellers, high-margin categories).
• Provide clues or aids to avoid frustration.
• Couple the operation with a Google Ads campaign or push notifications to maximize traffic.

Gamification idea: A home decoration chain launches a “pumpkin hunt” on its website. Each day, a new pumpkin is hidden in a different product category. Players must find a total of 5 pumpkins to enter the final draw. The game is promoted on Facebook and via the newsletter, with a reward at stake: a complete Halloween decoration to be won.

4. Stimulate sales

Gamified communication around Halloween can also enable brands to trigger purchases in a natural and engaging way. By offering exclusive discounts, limited offers or gifts to be won via a marketing game, brands create a sense of urgency and encourage shoppers to go to the checkout or validate a basket.

Recommended mechanics: Wheel of fortune

The Wheel of Fortune ‘s appeal lies in its playfulness and randomness. As well as being easy to use, it can be used to offer discounts or strategic advantages to encourage purchases.

Practical tips:

• Integrate the wheel as a pop-up on the website or in-store via QR code.
• Offer rewards that trigger immediate purchases: discounts, free delivery, 2 for 1, etc.
• Add a time limit to encourage quick purchases (e.g.: the code is valid for 48 hours).
• Segment endowments according to purchasing profile or behavior for greater personalization.

Conclusion

Gamification is the strategic ally for your Halloween communications. It enables your brand to animate its audience by offering immersive experiences perfectly calibrated for this commercial highlight, and to reach the objectives it has set itself for the crucial end-of-year period. Discover our fun mechanisms and engage your audience for Halloween!

La Saint Valentin n’est pas seulement la fête des amoureux. C’est aussi une fête commerciale qui est devenue une date incontournable du calendrier marketing des marques. D’après les derniers chiffres disponibles issus d’une étude YouGov, près de 185 millions d’euros avaient été dépensés lors de la fête des amoureux en France, soit une progression de 275% en 10 ans. 

La Saint Valentin est d’ailleurs la 3e fête commerciale la plus importante en France, derrière Noël et Halloween. C’est donc l’occasion pour les marques de capitaliser sur les intentions d’achat des consommateurs en leur proposant des idées de cadeaux romantiques à offrir à leur moitié. 

Pour se démarquer durant cette période particulièrement concurrentielle de l’année, votre entreprise peut miser sur un levier marketing redoutable : la gamification. En intégrant des mécaniques interactives dans votre campagne marketing de Saint Valentin, vous pourrez en effet mieux capter l’attention de votre audience et les inciter à acheter leur cadeau auprès de votre marque. 

Dans cet article, nous vous partageons 3 exemples de campagnes gamifiées pour la Saint Valentin. Vous pourrez vous en inspirer pour dynamiser votre communication, engager plus efficacement votre public cible et booster vos ventes durant ce temps fort commercial. 

SUMMARY

• What goals should you aim in for your Valentine’s Day marketing campaign
• 3 Examples of gamification marketing campaigns for Valentine’s Day

Even though it remains the ultimate romantic holiday, Valentine’s Day is also an opportunity for brands to promote their offerings. This commercial holiday serves as a prime showcase for businesses that sell potential gifts for couples in love.

Of course, we think of the traditional bouquets of flowers. Industry professionals expect over a million flowers to be sold for Valentine’s Day this year, with two-thirds being red rioses. However, florists are not the only merchants celebrating Valentine’s Day. Fashion, beauty, culture, dining… Many sectors are involved in Valentine’s Day marketing.

Don’t forget about singles, who are also targeted by brands during this key commercial period. On dating apps, the annual peak of activity tends to occur at the beginning of the year. Singles often make New Year’s resolutions, and apps like Happn see an increase of over 20% in their sign-ups during the month of February.

The main objective pursued by companies in their Valentine’s Day marketing is therefore to increase sales and revenue. The goal of the campaigns implemented is to raise consumer awareness of their offerings ans encourage them to buy their Valentine’s Day gifts in-store (physical or digital).

But beyond the conversion objective, brands can also design their Valentine’s Day campaigns around other strategic goals.

Increase brand awareness

Valentine’s Day is an opportunity to gain visibility with a new audience. The aim of the campaign will be to boost brand awareness among couples (or singles) by leveraging viral marketing strategies (such as marketing contests, influencers collaborations, or co-branding).

Engage your customer community

After a quiet January following the holiday season, the marketing calendar kicks off with a bang thanks to Valentine’s Day. Businesses can take advantage of this key period to engage their audience. The idea is to increase interactions with the brand, particularly through gamification mechanics.

Contests, for example, encourage users to be creative and allow businesses to generate user-generated content (UGC).

Collect data

Customer knowledge is also a significant aspect of Valentine’s Day marketing. Brands can leverage interactions with their audience to collect relevant data, particularly regarding product preferences, as well as opt-ins for their future communication campaigns. This information can be utilized throughout the year to better segment their clientele and send personalized content and offers.

Foster loyalty and strengthen brand attachment

En mettant en jeu des récompenses attractives sur le thème de l’amour (comme des séjours en amoureux, des coffrets cadeaux, etc.), les marques peuvent ainsi booster leur rétention client. Les jeux marketing peuvent être proposés en post-achat (pour encourager le rebuy) ou réservés aux membres du programme VIP, pour augmenter la fidélisation. En récompensant ses meilleurs clients, l’entreprise pourra ainsi renforcer l’attachement à la marque et sécuriser des revenus significatifs.

To stand out from their competitors and boost the performance of their Valentine’s Day marketing strategy, an increasing number of companies are betting on gamification. Here are 3 inspiring campaigns to achieve commercial goals and engage their audience more effectively.

1. Electrolux: a Memory game to enrich their database during Valentine’s Day

On the occasion of Valentine’s Day, Electrolux launched a campaign aimed at enriching its database, specifically encouraging product registrations. Through an engaging game mechanic, Memory, the brand was able to collect opt-in very effectively while showcasing its Duos product range.

Electrolux’s campaign generated significant enthusiasm, showcasing an excellent engagement rate (31K users and an average of 2 minutes per game session) and very good results in lead qualification. This campaign allowed the brand to retarget and retain acquired leads, highlighting the ability of a gamification marketing campaign to create meaningful interactions while achieving notable results in qualification.

Del Arte: a Shooter game to generate new leads

As every year, the Del Arte brand celebrates lovers on Valentine’s Day. The interactive campaign invites participants to play a Shooter game. They are then redirected to an instant-win opportunity to win particularly attractive prizes for the target audience (gift vouchers, Interflora bouqets, trips to Paris, etc. )

The campaign primarily enabled the company to generate over 40k new sign-ups to its mailing list and opt-ins. These leads were then reactivated throughout the year through strategic marketing campaigns for the brand.

3. M&M’s: A shuffler game to boost Valentine’s Day sales

On the occasion of Valentine’s Day, My M&M’s launched a game to attract new customers by showcasing its product range. Users had to form all the pairs within a set time to access a Shuffler and immediately discover if they won their Valentine’s Day gift box. This highly engaging mechanic allowed M&M’s to generate 30k new leads.

Conclusion

Consumers are particularly attentive to brand content around Valentine’s Day. Capitalize on their purchase intentions and engagement to achieve your strategic goals by launching a gamified marketing campaign. To enhance your communication and boost your results, all you need to do is customize one of our marketing game mechanics!