The Offer: Smoothie King launched an initiative in January geared towards promoting better health and helping its customers stick to their New Year weight loss resolutions. Visitors are encouraged to share their weight loss stories and upload before-and-after photos for the opportunity to win free smoothies and gift cards. People are also asked to share weight loss struggles for the chance to receive a free month of personal training and new workout gear. Everyone who submitted a struggle story received a free weight-burning Lean1 Smoothie.
The Data: To enter, visitors had to provide some basic personal information including an email address. Smoothie King regularly posted contest-related information on Facebook to engage its more than 215,000 fans.
The Channel: Smoothie King promoted the sweepstakes on the homepage of its own website and through a dedicated landing page. Fans who “liked” the “I am 1” tab on Smoothie King’s Facebook page and posted their fitness and health goals were entered to win a year’s supply of free smoothies.
The Creative: Entrants were split into two categories: the “I am 1” success stories and the “I want to be 1” stories that came from those still attempting to meet their fitness goals.
The Verdict:
Sarah Van Heirseele is VP of digital at Blue Chip Marketing Worldwide. She has previously done work for Procter & Gamble and BJ’s Wholesale Club, among others. Prior to joining Blue Chip, Van Heirseele taught advertising creative strategy at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. Read our Q&A with Sarah for more.
Sharing weight loss stories is important and motivating, but it is also predictable — especially around the New Year. The guts of the campaign are strong and well-developed, but the execution doesn’t differentiate Smoothie King from existing weight loss programs. If the user experience was simplified a bit, I think it would drive much more interaction.
