A sales promotion is a marketing tactic aimed at boosting sales, engagement, product trials, or awareness by offering targeted incentives to consumers. Brands often run multiple promotions throughout the year, mapped to key seasons, events, and micro-moments that are meaningful for their audience and products (see more about this in our 2024 Retail Calendar).
In addition, companies with loyalty programs can utilize sales promotions to drive engagement, reward loyal customers, generate new program sign-ups, and drive more repeat purchases. For sales promotions basics, or information about sales promotion types, agencies or technologies, learn more here: What is a Sales Promotion. But, without further ado, let's get on to the examples!
8 Real World Sales Promotion Examples
To get sales promotion ideas to run for your brand, it’s best to look at actual sales promotion examples. With that in mind, here are eight examples to help you.
Real Madrid Partnership Instant Win + UGC Sweepstakes for Abbott Nutrition Ensure
Abbott Ensure wanted to drive conversion of their Max Protein SKUs by leveraging their partnership with Real Madrid. They ran an exciting register-to-enter instant-win program, inviting consumers to register daily for a chance to win prizes and secure sweepstakes entries. Participants were encouraged to submit UGC product testimonials or posts showing their love for Real Madrid to gain additional sweeps entries. The UGC submissions were added to a gallery on the microsite. Snipp handled all aspects of the sweepstakes including winner draws and UGC reviews. Learn more about the Abbott and Real Madrid sales promotion example!
“Bring Your Dog to Work” Selfies for Mars Petcare Cesar
Mars Cesar was looking to drive engagement during the national “Bring Your Dog to Work” day. Consumers would take a selfie with their dog at work, upload their photo and register online to receive rewards. Mars leveraged Snipp's turnkey promotions solution including image validation, communications, registration and rebate fulfillment. Learn more about this Selfie with Your Dog Mars Petcare sales promotion!
Retail-Specific New Product Trials and Engagement for Nestle DiGiorno
For their new product, Digiorno Classic Crust Pizza, the company wanted to drive product trials and increase customer engagement with a focus on football-related promotions. The campaign involved a gift-with-purchase program with a sweepstakes overlay where consumers who make qualifying purchases at Walmart would receive a Walmart e-gift card. Consumers were also entered into a sweepstakes just for participating and could earn additional sweeps entries for each purchase, for referring friends, sharing on social, opting into receiving communications, or daily microsite visits to win football-related prizes. The grand prize was an Ultimate Watch Party for the Big Game. Learn more about this sales promotion example here: Nestle DiGiorno Football GWP + Sweeps
‘Get Rich Quick’ Program to Drive Sales for Nestle Nescafe: Instant-Win + Sweepstakes
Nestle Nescafe was looking to repeat their successful ‘Get Rich Quick’ campaign of 2022 and reward consumers with even more prizes than before! They launched a bilingual instant win program in English and French, allowing customers who bought qualifying Nescafe products to upload receipts online and instantly win a daily $500 pre-paid digital card, with an entry into the sweepstakes. For non-purchased based entries, consumers could submit a 150-word essay on “Why you love Nescafe” and answer a mathematical skill-testing question to enter the sweepstakes. Snipp managed the program including microsite, instant win game development, sweepstakes management, receipt validation, rewards procurement and fulfillment, as well as a status tracker on the site to showcase how much money had been won to date! Learn more about Nestle Nescafe sales promotion example: Instant-Win + Sweeps for Nescafe
Liquid Death Retail Specific GWP Program
Liquid Death wanted to continue to build brand awareness and engagement through a partnership with Live Nation. This campaign was a gift-with-purchase (GWP) promotion where consumers could purchase any type of Liquid Death case of water and upload their receipts to earn $15 in Live Nation codes. Learn more about this Liquid Death GWP sales promotion.
Evian Tennis-Themed Instant Win + Sweepstakes Program
Evian partnered with the National Bank Open hosted in Toronto and Montreal and wanted to leverage that partnership to drive sales, as well as provide an exclusive, premium experience to their consumers! Snipp developed an instant win program for Evian, allowing consumers to upload receipts and win instant game plays and sweepstakes entries to win luxury trip to the National Bank Open in Toronto or Montreal. Learn more about the Evian Instant Win and Sweeps sales promotion example.
New Year’s Purchase-Based Campaign to Drive Sales for Danone
Danone was looking to repeat the success of their "New Year New You" campaign they ran at the end of 2022 to drive trial and excitement during the 2023 New Year time period. They launched a bi-lingual purchased-based sweepstakes program where consumers who purchased any qualifying Danone products could upload a photo of their receipt for a chance to win $14,000 in free Groceries for a year! Snipp managed all aspects of the campaign including technology, receipt validation, sweepstakes administration, and prize fulfillment. Learn more about the Danone sales promotion example here: Danone New Year’s Purchase-based Campaign
Multi-Country Cashback & Receipt Program to Drive Sales and Get Shopper Insights for Kellogg's
Kellogg's wanted to engage with consumers across various countries and in multiple languages across Europe and the Middle East with a cash-back proposition. Snipp integrated our receipt validation technology via an API to power programs across countries in various languages in Europe and the Middle East, offering consumers a simplified CX and delivering invaluable basket and shopper data for a better understanding of consumers’ purchase behaviors and habits. Read more about one of the country promotions for Kellogg’s Cashback & Receipt program.
Different Sales Promotions Types for Different Goals
These are a few examples of the diverse range of sales promotions available to brands, each with its unique advantages and applications depending on the marketing objectives, target audience, and industry dynamics. Go here to learn more about the various types of sales promotions that companies run. By strategically implementing these sales promotion tactics, businesses can effectively drive sales, increase brand visibility, and enhance customer loyalty.
For help with your Sales Promotions Marketing
To talk with our sales promotions experts, click here or see this page to learn more: Sales Promotion Management