5 Brands Who Ran Winning Promotions This Year

Phew… what a year it’s been. It’s safe to say Promotions are back with a bang, and at Mando we feel privileged to have worked on, and spotted, some cracking campaigns out there this year.

Here I share five campaigns that stood out and caught my eye over the last 12 months.

It’s no secret within Mando (and anyone who will listen to me!) that an Instant Win mechanic is my favourite type of Promotion. The anticipation of opening a product, knowing it could be THE winning pack is nothing short of magical – just like the 19 Crimes promotion we ran last year. Charlie and the Chocolate factory eat your heart out, Percy is in town! Marks and Spencer launched their Percy Pig Great Egg-scape packs around Easter. They had hidden a small number of Green Chicks within the packs of Percy Pigs for consumers to purchase and find. Consumers who found a Green Chick were rewarded with £5,000 by mailing in their winning pack, till receipt and supplying their contact details. Although this snail mail route seems a little outdated, it’s imperative for the verification process. Each winning pack would have had a specific marker, or batch code to identify it as a winning pack, meaning the consumer could enjoy their Green Chick.

Instant Win campaigns with consumable goods can be a logistical nightmare – food safety, cross contamination, sell by dates are all to be considered. However, with M&S’s strong on- pack messaging and clear steps for winners, this campaign sits firmly in my favourite top five of 2024.

Cadbury is no stranger from running innovative on-pack Promotions. There have been plenty to choose from this year, including the infamous white chocolate Cadbury’s Crème Egg campaign. However, I’ve chosen their Big Win-Win Promotion to form part of my top 5 Promotions of 2024.

Cadbury recognised where a vast amount of their products are sold – the convenience store. A local we often take for granted where we rush to out-of-hours to grab a household staple if the supermarkets have shut… a staple that often includes a bar of choccie.

Cadbury wanted to offer a prize fund that could be shared between the consumer and their local convenience store, to allow winners to show appreciation and give something back to the shopkeeper within their community. The prize fund consisted of 60 prizes worth £500 for both the consumer and convenience store, and 70 prizes worth £1,000 for both the consumer and the convenience store – a great headline cash prize pool of £200,000. Consumers who purchased a participating product were invited to go to the Promotion microsite to register their entry and nominate their chosen convenience store. The winners were selected via a winning moments algorithm and the consumer and the convenience store received their cash prize within 28 days of claim verification.

I particularly love this campaign because of the hidden marketing incentive Cadbury have given convenience stores to stock up and promote the participating products, it’s genius! Convenience stores were incentivised to give Cadbury products better space in-store to encourage their customers to nominate them.

Cadbury are celebrating one of their most loyal sales channels, and in return, allowing their consumers to celebrate the same business – the title Win-Win sums it up. A great way to celebrate an often unloved, yet vital, sales channel.

Weather. Something we love to talk about in Great Britain. It’s either too cold, too warm, too wet or too dry. We never seem happy.

Stella Artois, the official beer of Wimbledon, wanted to run a disruptive campaign in association with iconic Tennis tournament to ensure that a rainy day wouldn’t dampen the mood. The campaign was launched across Stella Artois’ social channels with Brand Ambassador David Beckham, allowing fans across the country to claim their free pint of Stella Artois in the form of a cashback if rain stopped play on Wimbledon Centre Court. Something all too familiar for the British, summer tournament.

This is a brilliant way to engage an audience during a specific season or eventing moment. Weather risk promotions can be run all year round and tweaked depending on the season. I love this cashback mechanic that Stella have implemented because the promotion is accessible nationwide, as opposed to limiting the promotion to an experience at Wimbledon. Cashbacks are some of the highest redeeming mechanics, and are a great way of rewarding customers. A proof of purchase shows that a product has been purchased, so every claim is a legitimate consumer.

When asking for a proof of purchase, its important to have a robust system in place to review and verify the proof of purchase. At Mando we work on many campaigns where a verification process is implemented. We custom the process and use a variety of automated and manual verification techniques to ensure only those consumers who have complied with the T&Cs of campaigns as valid consumers.

This campaign will go down in the Mando History books as one of the largest and most impactful campaigns we have ever worked on. All Sky Cinema customers were invited to claim 2 Vue cinema tickets every month, for a whole year. Sky wanted to offer their consumers an alternative to their brilliant at-home cinema experience, by offering them the chance to enjoy movies at the cinema. On first glance it may seem counterintuitive for Sky to be taking consumers out of their living rooms, however the essence of a good promotion is offering a reward that is relevant and resonates with the audience, and Sky hit the nail on the head with this one. At home film lovers, are also cinema lovers.

With a super slick claim route, consumers could request and book their cinema experience within a few clicks, knowing that they were able to repeat the experience next month.

Knowing it was long-term campaign, Sky kept the comms fresh by switching up the creative with relevant film characters featuring on the various media touchpoints. The impressive omnichannel campaign ensured that the Value-Add message was widely communicated and clear, cementing the sentiment of Sky giving something back to their loyal customers.

Cinema is a reward that appeals to the masses and has a known intrinsic value to consumers. This can be a double-edged sword as the broad appeal and value exchange could result in a campaign that performs higher than anticipated, costing the brand more than expected. This is where a Fixed Fee can help. By agreeing a Fixed Fee upfront, your marketing budget is known and protected, meaning you can sit back and relax whilst the consumer claims roll in!