Reframing the Prize-Based Promotions Conversation

Gen Z represents 25% of the global population and spends more per capita than any other generation at the same age. The global purchasing power of Gen Z is 450 Billion USD today and by 2030, Nielsen IQ says the group will contribute more wealthy people to every region in the world than any other group.

Over 70% of Gen Z consumers in the US love or like playing video games. Video gaming is more than just a pastime for Gen Z; it’s a way of life that encompasses socializing, storytelling, and career development. The passion for gaming means they are intrigued by the pursuit of “winning” and the power of instant rewards.

To meet Gen Z where they are now and to engage them more deeply as their purchasing power blooms into the most powerful economic engine on earth, marketers should be creating buyer journeys that center on gamification, promotions, and instant win campaigns. Marketers that have embraced this approach are reaping big rewards.

Amplifying Engagement

For most consumers, prize-based promotions are a familiar touch point, but the nature, complexity and impact of promotions have come a long way. Simple contests and raffles have always sparked an engagement spike, but they often fly under the radar of marketing leadership, undersold as a tactical tool with narrowly focused impact.

That is changing in today’s digital-driven market and heightened potential for promotions is being recognized through market innovations. The future of promotions, sweepstakes and contests has evolved to encompass digital prize-based and gamified experiences to become tools considered more strategic than tactical.

Smart marketers are “amplifying engagement” with these new techniques. Let’s explore how prize-based promotions have progressed over time, and the role digital innovation plays in shaping their future.

Recrafting Promotions to solve the Biggest Challenges for Brands

Today’s market realities present critical challenges for brands:

• With so much online content competing for attention, it’s harder than ever to catch and keep consumer interest.
• Brands need better ways to convert interest into sales, as traditional methods aren’t working like they used to.
• Discounts attract customers, but the impact is temporary and overusing them can damage both profits and brand reputation.
• Loyalty programs are everywhere, but customers can lose interest when it takes too long to deliver rewards.

A new breed of promotions can address these challenges and serve as powerful drivers of loyalty, brand awareness, and lasting connections with consumers. The rise of instant-win games, sweepstakes, games of skill, rebate solutions, social promotions, prizes and gift card solutions, live event promotions, and mobile text messaging, has reshaped how brands approach customer engagement.

This evolution coattails current consumer behavior trends characterized by shorter attention spans and a preference for instant gratification over delayed rewards. Research has shown that brands which incorporate gamification into their strategies report significant increases in engagement, website traffic and brand awareness.

Brands need to watch these trends and react more quickly than ever to keep pace. To understand the latest developments across the spectrum of prize-based promotions, we talked with technology solution provider IC Group, a Canadian based firm operating at the forefront of this shift. The company has discovered that combining game mechanics with a relevant prizing strategy is transforming the meaning and value or promotions to big brands across the globe. By merging fun with interactive elements and thoughtful rewards, promotions attract strong audience participation and foster deeper loyalty, while capturing data that matters.

Case Example:

• IC Group helped a multinational technology company to more effectively manage its annual volume of $40 million in reward redemption.
• By rolling out a global sweepstakes and chance games program, the brand could execute promotions and burn points at a fraction of reserved cost, saving at least $12 million annually.
• The strategy centered on a quick hitting approach that delivered high perceived value in real-time to demanding consumers.

How Digital-First, Gamified Campaigns Drive Engagement and Strengthen Relationships

Forward-thinking marketers recognize that engagement is almost always the precursor to creating customer loyalty. A modern definition of engagement includes these elements:

• Intersection of Brands and Consumers—Focusing on meaningful and timely interactions.
• Impactful Touchpoints—Creating connections that resonate with consumers.
• Thriving in Crucial Moments—Capitalizing on peak consumer interest.
• Understanding and Valuing Consumers—Fostering positive brand perception.
• Engagement as Part of the Transaction—Building loyalty and driving value.

Capitalizing on this view of engagement, whether online or in-store, brands can now use promotions as a tool not only to guide consumers through the buyer journey. Promotions have become incredibly versatile, serving a range of marketing objectives from driving e-commerce and retail sales to enhancing brand content engagement and capturing leads at live events.

There is also a huge benefit in the realm of customer data when novel approaches to promotions are employed. Running prize-based promotions has the benefit of capturing valuable first-party consumer data (Personally Identifiable Information or PII), such as names, email addresses, and other contact details—directly from the user, right at the get-go.

Having this valuable information lays the groundwork for effective marketing campaigns, especially for new audiences. Using this data, brands can analyze macro and micro data to gain insights into the consumer’s behavior and tailor preferences – building a strong outcome of loyalty and engagement.

By incorporating interactive elements and gamification, brands can educate and connect with specific audiences while achieving multiple business goals—all in a way that feels natural and naturally engaging to consumers.

New Promotional Models & The Connection to Customer Loyalty

Today’s promotions often start with a simple online entry, but quickly bloom into an inviting experience where people can:

• Play interactive games that make learning about products fun
• Earn bonus entries through achievements
• Compete with others for top spots on leaderboards
• Share their experiences on social media
• Invite friends to join the fun
• Earn extra chances to win by growing the community
• Connect to real-world events through digital touchpoints (scanning QR codes, checking in at specific locations, unlocking exclusive content at live events)

Well-designed promotions mean that while participants can still get excited about winning instant prizes, they might also earn points toward future rewards. This creates a richer experience that goes beyond the basic “enter and win” approach. Participants have fun and stay connected with the brand while companies build stronger relationships with their customers.

This approach closes gaps in earning velocity and immediacy that customers are seeking from their loyalty programs. Consumers indicate through research their desire for a quicker path to rewards and the ability to earn rewards at lower thresholds and in smaller denominations.

Rather than waiting for extended redemption cycles, brands are creating gamified incentives to maintain engagement in real-time, understanding that the loyalty nurturing window is shorter than ever. Between these individual points of reward redemption, brands can keep customers involved through point-burn promotions and interactive experiences to sustain interest and foster lasting loyalty.

Case Example:

• IC Group boosted engagement among fans of a fast-food chain with a Scrabble game, featuring game pieces on drink cups and wrappers. Each piece revealed an instant-win prize and a letter, creating an interactive and exciting experience for customers.
• The letters were collected to spell a winning word which consumers could register and track online for a chance to win $64 million in prizes—taking the real-world interactive element to an online experience to foster continued engagement.
• The promotion encompassed 206 million secure game pieces containing 49 million prizes including $100,000 cash, a car, beach resort travel incentives, VIP concert tickets, $500 gift cards, and more.

The result was a new model that delivered joy to customers while being immensely measurable for marketers. By capturing data that is easy to track and analyze, brands can tackle specific marketing challenges, assess the impact of promotions, and boost brand reputation while building a concrete foundation for customer relationship management efforts.

How Real-Time, Gamified Promotions Drive Loyalty and Conversion

Most brands are focused on improving the value exchange across the entire buyer journey. Instead of seeing promotions as standalone events, they are now being integrated into the customer experience throughout the journey, guiding consumers from initial interest through to conversion.

This creates a more dynamic approach to filling the marketing funnel, important when awareness, engagement, and purchase are increasingly fused. By focusing on creating gamified experiences that are personalized and accessible, digital prize-based promotions enable brands to respond to consumers’ desire for real-time interactions that don’t require waiting or unnecessary steps.

This union of engagement and transaction means brands can drive loyalty and build deeper connections by acting fast and staying present in every stage of the buyer journey.