Skip to main content

Only recently, we were managing some prize redemption for one of our favorite clients, a major local brand, and were struck by the prizes which were being handed out.

One of the amazingly attractive prizes included a nice stack of vouchers – One thousand dollars’ worth – the thickness, you could really sink your teeth in. I mean, this was a few months’ worth of food and groceries we’re talking about. No longer was there a need to wait till Häagen-Dazs was on sale.

And that… was just the cherry on top.

There were another stack of travel vouchers. And they weren’t small vouchers either. You could fly to Ibiza and back at least twice. Needless to say, the prizes promptly got snapped up by their winners as the day progressed on.

This campaign, like many of the others that we often host, was no different. All you had to do was to spend a minimum of $30 dollars on a line of products to stand a chance to win something really nice.

But when the participants arrived at our office to redeem their prizes, I couldn’t help but to notice a certain sense of identity they brought along. Almost like they held a true sense of pride in being a subscriber to this brand. And when 2 of them phoned in to confirm that they’d be headed down to our premises for collection, they used a tone akin to saying, “Hey, I’m dropping by to collect what big bro got for me! Seeya later ok?”

It took some thinking as to unravel what this company is doing that nurtured such a familiarity with their customers.

And then it became clear…

This client of ours has always marketed their brand with lucky draw contests – whereby every time they hold a promotion, their customers stand a chance to win something for themselves.

Now, you must be wondering….

How this way of marketing does actually differs from most of its usual, overused forms. And the answer lies in the way it is being communicated. Its success is not only about what it says to its customers, but how it makes them feel.

You see, whenever this client markets their products, their customers stand to win something through a lucky draw. They do it so often that their marketing has eventually became all about the customers, instead of all about themselves.

More often than not, when companies market themselves, it’s all about proclaiming that they have the biggest customers, the newest technology, the most durable creations, the best whatever… the list goes on and on. Marketing, in the most parts, are companies going, “me, me, me, me, me, look at me”

This time it was more of, “YOU stand a chance to win a holiday” and “YOUR groceries for the next few month may be sponsored by us”. This made it a delight for customers, as they are going to buy those things anyway – (but hey, why not spend a little more to stand a chance to partake in this little contest this time? I mean… who knows…)

And of course profits were raked in with the instant increase in average transactions.

When you market to your customers and make it all about them, a shift occurs. It’ no longer about the company, but about the people that support your brand. And when this happens, marketers bypass all the cynical pre-conceived thoughts consumers are sure to have, and appeal straight to their hearts –nurturing brand loyalty while bumping up sales figures at the same time.

Simon Sinek said it best when he said, “If You Don’t Understand People, You Don’t Understand Business.” And our client simply gets it. They’ve turn almost every campaign into something reciprocal, something fun. And isn’t that what people like you and us want? A nice little gift once in a while and to have some fun in the process.

Join the discussion One Comment