Elves, MARS and magical product-placement

We have: MARS New Year campaign. When buying brand's sweets in SberMarket for 450 rubles, everyone got a chance to win a new iPad
Objective: tell about the promotion and show that MARS products are ideal for a New Year gift for different groups of people
Solution: a gamified landing page with dense but organic product placement

Problem and Solution

The MARS promo was timed to the New Year. It took place in SberMarket network - which is all about online shopping. We focused on audience that is ready to interact with the content but quickly loses interest. Genders and age were different, so the emphasis was on behavioral characteristics. It was necessary to get users' attention so that they would be happy to interact with the campaign and products.

As a solution, we chose a unifying experience of New Year preparation. Users were invited to become elf recruits who were trained in Santa's shop to become his assistants and get a sweet title. The elves had to collect all the gifts in three colorful locations. When an elf found a MARS treat, Santa appeared and told who such a gift would suit.

The element of competition and simple object search process in atmospheric scenery motivated the participants to complete the game no less than the opportunity to get a promo code for MARS products. Project results showed that promo codes ran out within the first two days, and information about it appeared on the site but the participants continued to play for several more weeks.

Key takeaways

1. Landing pages with games help create space in which users are interested in interacting with the product. They have a positive effect on metrics: browsing depth, time spent on the site, and bounce rates.

2. Gamified product placement is a tool for promoting products and forming an emotional connection with them.

3. An engaging narrative with instructions on how the product can be useful in a given situation helps to create demand and stimulate purchases.

4. Even small gifts and promotional codes motivate users to play the game and get involved in advertising activity.