Papa Gino’s and D’Angelo Grilled Sandwiches recently partnered with Detroit-based martech company Quikly to enable the most engaged, fastest guests from each brand to win a $500 gift card.
The premise is easy – be the fastest and win the gift cards. It’s the psychology behind the promotion that made it so successful. Papa Gino’s & D’Angelo used their own guest database to get the word out about the fun promotion, but it was the sharing that these guests did with their friends and family that helped them take home the big prize.
By sharing the promotion with friends and family, guests were given a heads up on when the prize link would go live. This type of marketing drives excitement and helps to grow both the SMS and email databases for each brand by driving a sense of urgency to respond during the live release or high-consideration purchase moment. On average for the two campaigns, about 32% of all participants responded within the first 10 minutes of the live release. Over the course of one week, more than 19K participants signed up to win the prizes and almost 2000 new SMS subscribers were recorded. Papa Gino’s & D’Angelo also grew their email database by over 3700 new subscribers.
Starting the week of April 4th, the contest was promoted through email blasts, text messages, and social media posts. Each brand awarded three winners a total of $850 worth of gift cards on April 11th. Those who participated but weren’t fast enough to claim a gift card prize received a special discount code for 20% off their next order. This discount allows the brands to immediately start talking to a new potential audience.
“Quikly’s model is heavily based on the fact that people trust people they know, and this idea that relationships build brands is what drives our decisions on digital innovation, marketing programs, and customer engagement,” says Deena McKinley, Chief Experience Officer for New England Authentic Eats. “This partnership was a fun, interactive way to get people that are passionate about our brands to introduce friends and family to our email and SMS programs by sharing an exclusive, limited time, exciting, new promotion with them. Best of all, everyone was rewarded in some way for engaging, whether winning a gift card or getting a discount on their next order… Definitely a win/win!”
New England Authentic Eats, parent company of Papa Gino’s and D’Angelo, is introducing several initiatives to elevate the two brands, including converting select restaurants to co-branded Papa Gino’s/D’Angelo locations, focusing on D’Angelo franchise expansion, refreshing select Papa Gino’s and D’Angelo restaurants, investing in technology to create a seamless customer experience, and continuing to give back to the communities they serve.
