The UK-based Costcutter, part of Bestway Group, includes a mix of independent and group-owned convenience stores. To support its retailers, the company is committed to creating fresh, exciting and effective marketing campaigns. Costcutter was looking for an injection of creativity to really cut through to its target market. Its goal was to boost consumer engagement, draw new shoppers to local stores and convert those shoppers into loyal customers.

Services used

• Spin the Bottle, created with the Playable gamification platform 
• Analytics & Tracking integration enabled Costcutter to measure campaign visits, engagement and click-through rates

The process

Costcutter wanted to run a Valentine’s Day campaign. But of course, with so many brands using this holiday as a marketing springboard, the challenge for any retailer is to produce something that cuts through the marketing noise; a campaign that is fun, eye-catching, but still helps you meet your specific marketing goals.

Instead of using a traditional giveaway format, Costcutter was able to put gamification to work and create a fresh way to show some love, while still referencing nostalgia and fun. The campaign took the form of Spin the Bottle, a fun variation on the traditional Wheel of Fortune. The prizes were Valentine’s themed, including prosecco, chocolates and theater tickets, and players knew immediately if they had won or not. 

With Playable’s customizable, pre-built game templates, Costcutter was able to design, build, execute and distribute its campaign in-house. The user-friendly editor tool within the platform allowed the team to produce a game that was visually attractive, Valentine-themed, but still totally on-brand.

One of the core aims of the company’s marketing strategy is to support its retailers by driving footfall into stores. With this in mind, the Playable platform enabled Costcutter to quickly and easily place a location finder button at the end of the game flow.

The results

Games are enticing from the get-go; they draw your audience in. As Costcutter’s results show, after drawing an audience to you, the right game can also be excellent for keeping them engaged. The desire to ‘have another go’ is strong, and in fact, Costcutter’s campaign visitors played the game an average of 1.8 times each. More spins meant more time interacting with the brand in a compelling, positive way. In all, the Valentine campaign participants clocked up an impressive average of 1.36 minutes engagement time. 

The decision to add a store finder button turned out to be a particularly beneficial one. 1,400 campaign visitors clicked through to find their nearest Costcutter store. This represents a potentially valuable group of consumers who interacted with the brand, liked what they experienced, and went on to find out more. It’s a valuable lesson on how to convert visitor engagement into positive action. 

The beauty of the Playable platform is just how easy it is to experiment, put your imagination to work, and find out what works best for you and your customers. Full analytics integration allows you to measure results in real time and make changes quickly.  

For Costcutter, one of the big takeaways from the Valentine’s campaign was just how profitable it can be to add a location button. The business has gone on to discover that game concepts such as Spin the Bottle, the Shell Game and puzzles resonate really strongly with their audience. With one puzzle, Costcutter was able to collect 6,000 marketing permissions: a fantastic result for the team. 

Costcutter started out with holiday-themed campaigns. The company is now exploring further opportunities, including possible partnership offers with suppliers and staff-focused gamification initiatives. The team is also using Playable to encourage even more valuable customer engagement. This includes using the landing page builder to integrate inspiring recipe ideas and product recommendations into their game campaigns.

Costcutter’s experience shows just how effectively Playable can help retailers to bring a fresh lease of life to their digital presence, boost engagement and ultimately influence customer behavior. 

“As a business, gamification has been a pivotal step forward for innovation within our shopper activation offering for Costcutter. Gamification is the perfect way to communicate and engage with new and existing shoppers, whilst also giving us the opportunity to understand them better and create more personalised communication. It’s a dynamic and engaging platform that is easy to work with from our perspective and easy to engage with as a shopper. “

– Emma Sutton, Media & Activation Manager, Bestway Retail, Convenience Marketing