You’re probably familiar with Candy Crush Saga. Launched in 2012, it is the world’s most popular digital game, attracting more than 240 million monthly active players and accumulating more than 3 billion downloads.

Candy Crush is based on a simple Match 3 principle: line up identical items (in this case 3), swapping their positions to make them disappear and score points. Easy to learn and addictive, this mechanic is an asset for brands looking to energise their campaigns and captivate their audiences.

In this article, we explain how to create an online Match 3 game and customise it so that it fits into your world. We share examples of how to use this format as a recruitment and loyalty tool.

SUMMARY

• Why integrate the match 3 game into your marketing campaigns?
  
• Our tips for creating an engaging online match-3 game
  

The Match 3 game is a fun, intuitive and captivating format that brands can incorporate into their marketing strategy. This mechanic is used to engage, convert and build audience loyalty. Here are the reasons to adopt it to optimise your communication and move users through the sales funnel.

1. To boost your profile

The Match 3 game is ideal for attracting an audience because it is well-known and appreciated. Simple and addictive, it captures attention and increases brand visibility.

It’s easy to customise the design to reflect the brand’s visual identity and immerse customers and prospects. By adding functionalities (a ranking and the ability to share your score), Match 3 can go viral and amplify the reach of a campaign (on social networks).

Example: As part of the Men’s World Handball Championship, Lidl proposed a campaign aimed at increasing brand awareness through this partnership. The game was positioned as a strategic lever for capturing data and recruiting qualified leads in affinity with the brand.

2. To engage your audience

The Match 3 game immerses users in a fun and interactive world. Brands evoke positive emotions linked to entertainment, but also to the possibility of progressing in the game and winning rewards.

Because of its addictive nature, Match 3 extends the interaction between the brand and its audience and multiplies the points of contact (by tracking scores or adding new levels).

Example: SFR Caraïbes’ Mother’s Day game campaign aimed to increase brand awareness while engaging its audience. Backed by Adictiz Ads media coverage, the campaign was a success, with remarkable engagement: each participant spent an average of 11 minutes playing the game.

3. To generate leads

Brands can use Match 3 to enrich their database and collect new leads. To access the game or the rewards, participants have to fill in a registration form. The information collected can be used to segment leads (according to their profile and their behaviour or interactions with the game).

This format can be a conversion tool, via the rewards distributed. These are incentives to buy (such as promotions or discount coupons to be used on the next order).

Example: The Floa Sweets campaign was dedicated to increasing the visibility and awareness of the Floa Bank mobile app, in order to encourage its use. The Match 3 mechanic enabled Floa to recruit new users and build loyalty while boosting app downloads.

4. To enhance your database

Finally, the Match 3 game enables brands to enrich their customer base by collecting:

• demographic data (via the entry form),
  
• behavioural data (by monitoring player interactions),
  
• direct feedback (including micro-surveys at the beginning or end of the game).
  

The data obtained will be used to create highly targeted (retargeting) marketing campaigns. For example, a user who has unlocked all the levels could receive a personalised offer or message.

Example: Electrolux’s Ecoline campaign was launched with the aim of engaging consumers in reducing their energy consumption. At the same time, the brand aimed to recruit new opt-in leads. The media campaign exceeded its objectives, with over 70% of opt-ins coming from the Adictiz Ads source.

Before launching a gamified marketing campaign, here are a few practices to follow to ensure it is as effective as possible.

1. What software should I use to create a match 3 game?

Advertisers can use platforms specialising in playable marketing to create their match 3 game. These tools offer an intuitive interface and functionality tailored to their needs. They can be used to personalise their marketing game, optimise its distribution or track campaign performance.

2. How do I customise my match 3 game?

With Adictiz Box, you can fully customise your game to reflect your brand identity. The graphic elements (backgrounds, colours, icons) can be adapted to reflect the brand’s values and visual universe. The difficulty of the game can be configured and levels introduced to prolong engagement.

3. How do you manage endowments?

Rewards are essential to motivate participants. Gamification tools make it easy to manage rewards. Whether in the form of discount vouchers, free samples or physical gifts. Advertisers can configure random or conditional winning mechanisms (based on a minimum score), and automate the allocation of prizes to simplify management.

4. Can someone take charge of my campaign?

For companies lacking the time or resources to manage their campaign, Adictiz offers turnkey support via Adictiz Studio. The agency’s teams take charge of the creation, design and optimisation of the campaign.

5. How can I make my campaign more visible?

To maximise the impact of a match 3 game, brands can call on the services of a Media Agency. The latter will be responsible for promoting the game via targeted advertising campaigns on social networks. Partnerships with influencers and multi-channel actions to boost the game’s visibility and brand awareness.

6. How can I track the performance of my campaign?

Thanks to a gamified marketing tool, companies can easily track their KPIs using detailed dashboards. These allow you to monitor your metrics in real time. For example, the number of players, average time spent or data collected (leads). These insights will help advertisers adjust their strategy and achieve better results.

Conclusion

Creating an online match 3 game is an effective strategy for animating your community and boosting engagement. With Adictiz, the design and delivery of your campaign is seamless and easy to adapt to your objectives and your audience!

The second half of the marketing calendar is a strategic period for brands… Back-to-school, sales, Black Friday and the end-of-year festivities… A succession of high points provide opportunities to engage and convert audiences.

If you don’t want to miss out on an event that will help you achieve your sales objectives, it’s essential to be well prepared. In this article, we take a look at the key events not to be missed in the second half of the year. We also share tips on how to put in place an effective strategy and make campaign execution easier.

SUMMARY

• Second-half marketing calendar: highlights not to be missed
  
• 4 tips to boost your second-half marketing
  

The second half of the year is full of events that punctuate consumers’ lives and offer brands opportunities to engage them. From the summer holidays to the end-of-year festivities, not forgetting commercial festivities such as Black Friday and sales, each high point presents its own challenges and requires meticulous preparation.

Here are the highlights of the second half of the marketing calendar and how to position yourself to maximise these sales opportunities.

Holidays and summer sales (July-August)

The months of July and August are marked by two major events: the summer holidays and the summer sales. The summer holidays represent a challenge for brands. They need to adapt their communications to maintain the link and prepare for the new season. As for the summer sales, this is an opportunity to sell off stocks and boost sales. At this point in the marketing calendar, it is crucial to :

• Leverage an omnichannel strategy (physical and e-commerce) to engage a volatile audience and communicate its offers during the sales period.
  
• Implement a lead recruitment strategy to reach prospects who don’t know the company and boost the impact of sales.
  
• Once the sales are over, focus on customer knowledge and loyalty. August is the time to gather preferences and refine your positioning and offers for the autumn and the final quarter.
  

Back to school (September)

The back-to-school period is a key time for all sectors of activity, from fashion to high-tech, retail and culture. At this time of year in the marketing calendar, consumers are looking for suitable offers, but also attractive prices. Brands can :

• Capitalise on the data they have collected to propose personalised offers. They will meet the expectations of a demanding audience, who are looking for practicality and good deals;
  
• Take advantage of the back-to-school rush to boost their drive-to-store strategy and generate more traffic. It’s an opportunity to forge a bond with customers by encouraging them to visit the shop to discover products and take advantage of benefits (targeted advice, attractive promotions, etc.).
  

Halloween (31 October)

Popular in France, Halloween is a must for the leisure, food and ready-to-wear sectors. Brands can capitalize on the festive atmosphere with creative campaigns, limited collections or immersive experiences to capture attention. It’s a time to build brand awareness and engage your community, via social networks.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday (end of November)

These two commercial holidays mark a major peak in consumption, both in-store and online. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are opportunities to clear stock before the holidays, and to capture customers through flash offers and sales.

The challenge for brands is to attract consumers with attractive discounts. But also a smooth shopping experience (optimized logistics, secure payment, etc.).

Christmas and New Year’s Eve (December)

The marketing calendar comes to an end with the festive season. Brands need to attract consumers looking for original gifts. To stand out from the crowd, they need to optimize their offer (gift sets, special editions, personalization services), pricing and logistics. It’s also crucial to reach buyers with engaging storytelling and emotional communication.

Every highlight of the second half of the year represents an opportunity to increase brand visibility, boost sales and build customer loyalty. By anticipating these events and adopting the right approach, companies can maximize their impact and capitalize on consumer trends.

Careful planning and a good understanding of your audience are essential to turn these appointments into successes. Here are 4 ways to stand out in the second half of the marketing calendar!

1. Anticipate your campaigns

In marketing, anticipation is key. It’s essential to plan sales actions several months in advance to ensure smooth, efficient execution.
Planning your marketing calendar allows you to :

• Positioning of highlights according to strategic objectives, audience expectations and marketing budget;
  
• Define a coherent strategy for each highlight,
  
• Optimize advertising budgets (to avoid a tricky situation before the Christmas holidays).
  
• Ensure smooth logistics management (stock optimisation, etc.)
  

A structured marketing calendar facilitates the implementation of campaigns and avoids hasty actions that could impact on the brand’s performance and image.

2. A high point, a marketing objective

Each event in the marketing calendar must be linked to specific objectives:

• Acquiring new customers and increasing sales for Black Friday
  
• Conversion and loyalty during the festive season,
  
• Branding and animating the community for Halloween,
  
• Customer knowledge and preference gathering during August.
  

3. Capitalise on relevant gamification mechanisms

To position themselves at the best times, brands need to identify the interactive mechanisms that are relevant to their objectives. Their choice must take account of each event and the related strategic objective.

Instant Win games (a Wheel of Fortune or a scratch-off game) are suited to conversion objectives and to a commercial holiday such as Black Friday. More creative mechanics such as competitions and challenges are ideal for promotion and branding objectives and for high points such as the summer holidays or Halloween.

4. Measure and improve your marketing strategy on an ongoing basis

Conclusion

Every event in the marketing calendar represents an opportunity for your brand to increase its visibility, boost sales and build audience loyalty. By anticipating these highlights and deploying a strategy tailored to your audience, you can maximise the impact of your speaking engagements and achieve your sales objectives. Plan your second half of the year using our dedicated guide and turn these meetings into sales successes by distributing our marketing games.

With budgets back in hand, new purchasing intentions and the start of the sprint towards the end of the year, the strategic stakes are enormous. Provided you know where to focus your efforts. So how do you get your fourth term off to a good start and maximise the impact of your back-to-school communications?

SUMMARY

• The major marketing challenges of the autumn
  
• 3 tips for a successful back-to-school communication operation
  

The statistic to remember: Nearly 4 out of 5 French people (79%) are planning to change their shopping habits this autumn.

The marketing action to launch: a marketing campaign on social networks with an interactive and engaging format to maximise the brand’s visibility.

An example to follow: For its “Back to School” campaign, SFR relied on the Match 3 mechanic to promote the start of the new school year. This addictive game recruited over 4,200 leads and generated 38 games played per participant. The Adictiz Ads media campaign generated a 98% response rate, an essential factor in the game’s visibility.

2. Refine customer knowledge to improve future marketing campaigns

The statistic to remember: 83% of consumers say they are willing to share their preferences with a brand in exchange for a personalised experience. And brands that exploit first-party data generate 2.9 times more revenue.

The marketing action to launch: Brands can, for example, share an interactive Personality Test on their site to better understand their customers’ interests and needs. Customers will then be redirected to relevant product pages or automatically retargeted by email with targeted offers.

An example to learn from: The interactive quiz shared by MaGare+ as part of its back-to-school game enabled the company to collect valuable data on its audience. For example, it has been able to identify the station services that are most likely to be of interest to its customers.

3. Capitalise on purchase intentions to improve conversion

Key statistic: At the start of the new school year, families spend an average of 304 euros per person.

The marketing action to launch: Consumers are more likely to make a purchase or create a customer account in exchange for a discount or reward. Brands can boost their conversion rate by proposing an attractive welcome offer (a discount on the first order) or by distributing discount coupons via a 100% instant win.

An example to follow: For the back-to-school season, Kiabi launched a campaign focusing on lead generation and conversion, giving participants the chance to win attractive prizes, including shopping vouchers. Thanks to media coverage via Adictiz Ads, the operation recorded an opt-in rate of 68%, testifying to participants’ commitment to the brand and the effectiveness of the campaign.

4. Building loyalty and preparing for the last quarter of the year

The last quarter of the year (Q4) is crucial, with events such as Black Friday, the autumn sales and the festive season. Building customer loyalty from September onwards maximises sales during this strategic period and considerably reduces the budget for future marketing campaigns.

The statistic to remember: A loyal customer spends on average 67% more than a new customer (Source: Harvard Business Review). Not to mention that attracting a new customer costs five times more than bringing one back.

The marketing campaign to launch: to boost your retention rate, there’s nothing better than an innovative loyalty programme. This will encourage consumers to buy from the brand by giving them access to more attractive discounts or previews of Black Friday offers.

An example to follow: In 2021, Decathlon has decided to transform its traditional loyalty programme into a more inclusive offering, allowing customers to collect points through various actions (in particular their interactions with the brand) and no longer just when they make purchases. The catalogue of rewards has also been expanded, giving programme members the opportunity to spend their points at partner stores.

To maximise the impact of back-to-school communications, brands need to put the right strategy in place. Here are three tips for optimising your sales operation and achieving concrete results.

1. Identify your objectives and your target’s needs

An effective back-to-school marketing campaign must therefore be perfectly tailored to the expectations of its audience. To achieve this, brands need to collect data upstream. Marketing games will enable them to analyse the preferences and behaviour of consumers in greater detail, so that they can better qualify their leads.

2. Stand out from other advertising campaigns

SUMMARY

• What are the different objectives of an online One-Armed Bandit?
• 6 tips for programming a One-Armed bandit game

Aujourd’hui, le Bandit Manchot ne se joue pas qu’au casino et peut être intégré, sous un format digital, aux campagnes de marketing en ligne. Ce jeu leur permet d’engager et d’activer les consommateurs à chaque étape de leur parcours client , de la découverte de l’enseigne à la réalisation d’un achat.

1. Brand awreness and lead generation with an original one-armed bandit

Exemple : Eurotunnel a mis en place une stratégie de Wait Marketing (soit la gestion de l’attente), en diffusant une campagne gamifiée auprès des conducteurs. Ceux-ci pouvaient participer au Bandit Manchot pendant la traversée du tunnel après avoir renseigné un code inscrit sur leur titre de transport. Ce jeu captivant a permis à l’entreprise de recruter des leads de qualité (5K nouveaux inscrits via Adictiz Ads) tout en renforçant sa communication auprès de son public cible.

2. Promoting your brand community and points of sale

Exemple : Pour la Fête des Mères, les Galeries Lafayette ont proposé un Bandit Manchot 100% gagnant dans leurs points de vente via une borne interactive, installée pendant 3 jours dans 6 magasins en France. L’objectif était d’animer les points de ventes pendant le temps fort. Les résultats ont dépassé les attentes, avec une participation en magasin au-dessus de la moyenne. Le temps de jeu moyen d’1 minute 20 secondes a démontré un réel intérêt pour l’animation, confirmant le succès de cette initiative.

L’animation Bandit Manchot était disponible en ligne via un QR code affiché en magasin. Cette stratégie omnicanale a permis de booster l’engagement de l’audience et la portée de la campagne. Permettant à l’enseigne d’animer tous les magasins. Cette opération en co-branding a permis de collecter des opt-ins pour Galeries Lafayette et sa marque partenaire, Rosemood.

Boost your conversion rate and generate sales by creating a One-Armed Bandit

Exemple : La campagne Crazy Days, qui prenait la forme d’un Bandit Manchot en ligne, a permis à Showroomprivé d’attirer des clients tout en donnant une forte visibilité à la marque lors d’un temps fort commercial, celui des soldes. Le jeu était ici utilisé comme générateur de ventes, avec l’objectif de stimuler la conversion grâce à la distribution de bons d’achats. La campagne Crazy Days de Showroomprivé a affiché d’excellents KPI’s d’engagement avec 27k dotations distribuées, soit autant de possibilités de ventes sur le site de l’enseigne.

Pour atteindre ces objectifs stratégiques, il faut bien penser la conception et la diffusion de son Bandit Manchot en ligne. Voici 6 conseils à suivre pour booster l’impact de votre campagne.

1. How to customize the one-armed bandit online ?

Avec Adictiz, il est possible de personnaliser les graphismes de son jeu, des fonds en passant par les symboles qui vont s’afficher sur le rouleau de la machine à sous, sans oublier la poignée (ou le bouton Start). L’idée est d’uniformiser ces éléments graphiques afin de proposer une expérience cohérente.

2. How to set up a one-armed bandit online ?

• Le nombre de participations autorisées (par jour, semaine, mois ou sur toute la campagne). On conseille une limite d’une participation par jour pour encourager les joueurs à revenir sur la campagne ;
• Le nombre de dotation qu’un joueur peut remporter ; 
• Le nombre de rouleaux (jusqu’à 6). 

L’enseigne peut ajouter des étapes supplémentaires à son parcours de jeu pour booster ses résultats en termes de collecte. Elle peut par ajouter une étape dédiée à l’optin (push optin) ou insérer un formulaire de collecte de données clients après le jeu, avant que le participant ne découvre son gain.

3. How to manage the prizes for a Bandit Manchot instant win?

Tips : il est possible de faire remporter des dotations en fonction des symboles qui s’afficheront sur le rouleau gagnant. Les visuels du Bandit manchot peuvent correspondre aux cadeaux à remporter.

4. What’s the checklist before sharing your One-armed Bandit?

Lorsque les versions Desktop et Mobile sont finalisées, l’enseigne pourra la tester afin de vérifier que la mécanique fonctionne. Il ne lui restera plus qu’à la publier sur son domaine personnalisé et à la diffuser auprès de son audience.

5. Can we take over my campaign?

6. How to boost the visibility of your gamification campaign?

Conclusion

Christmas is a magical time when the French want to please their loved ones and themselves. Consumers are therefore more inclined to interact with brand content, especially when it inspires them to buy gifts.

For companies, Christmas represents an average of 20% of sales..
Dans certains secteurs, ce chiffre peut même monter jusqu’à 35 %.
Il est donc crucial pour elles de create distinctive Christmas marketing campaigns to capture the attention of their audience and boost their end-of-year sales.

In this article, we’ll be sharing some ideas for interactive formats and games to help you achieve your objectives and energize your Christmas marketing campaign.

SUMMARY

• Anticipate the festive season to optimise your campaigns
• 5 trends to boost your Christmas marketing campaign
• 3 ideas for Christmas marketing campaigns to stand out from the crowd

E-commerce is booming. At Christmas time 75% of French people buy their gifts on the Internet.

The French are more inclined to spend online and, above all, to plan their purchases in advance so as to spread them over several months and take advantage of the promotional periods that precede this marketing high point (such as Black Friday or Cyber Monday, for example).

For brands, this means anticipating their marketing campaigns as far as possible Christmas. By planning events in the weeks leading up to the festive season, they can multiply the points of contact with their audiences, and the chances of them making purchases on their e-commerce site (or in-store).

The marketing highlights leading up to Christmas (Halloween, Black Friday, etc.) can also be excellent opportunities for collecting leads. and customer data. Companies will be able to activate them over the festive season by creating personalised marketing campaigns that are more effective in converting prospects into customers.

Speaking out in advance also allows you to position yourself before everyone else. Brands that start earlier can boost their visibility and reduce their media budget by communicating at a time when competition is less intense and consumers are less affected by ‘advertising fatigue’.

To create an effective Christmas marketing campaign, it’s important to take account of your audience’s expectations, and market trends as a whole. Whether linked to advertising, marketing or new consumer habits, these trends will enable companies to capture the attention and better engage consumers during the festive season.

These include :

• Made in France. 1 consumer in 2 would prefer local products, Made In France, for Christmas presents. As well as highlighting the provenance of their products, brands can also capitalise on this trend to offer competition prizes that are more in line with their customers’ values;
• The end of third-party cookies and proprietary data collection. Brands need to focus on implementing zero-party data collection and opt-in tools to maintain contact with their audience and refine their customer knowledge.
• Influence marketing remains a powerful lever for engaging communities. Consumers are sensitive to partnerships between brands and content creators. These campaigns are particularly effective in collecting leads and generating new conversions.
• Short content is recommended to captivate your audience and communicate effectively. Companies need to take account of consumers’ attention spans and offer striking animations that will encourage users to stop scrolling.
• Native advertising (i.e. one that respects the format and codes of the channel on which it is broadcast) is crucial to optimising your presence on social networks and on your website. It makes for a smoother, more immersive browsing experience.

By capitalising on these trends to capture consumers’ attention, brands can create effective Christmas marketing campaigns, specifically targeting their strategic objectives.

To inspire them, here are 3 ideas for animations and interactive campaigns to engage and convert your audience at Christmas.

An engaging speed game to boost brand awareness

Gamification (i.e. incorporating playful elements into sales promotions) is an excellent way for brands to capture and hold the attention of consumers. One of the most effective formats at this time of year is an engaging mechanic like Tiny Wings.

This speed game was used by household appliance brand Electrolux for its ‘A Swedish Christmas’ campaign. The campaign aimed to The main aim was to highlight the company’s Swedish origins through a fun, viral game, and thus raise its profile over the festive period.

The engaging and addictive nature of the marketing game also enabled the company to capitalise on the interaction with participants to collect opt-ins. With an engagement rate of 92% and game sessions lasting an average of 1 minute and 18 seconds, this activity helped to strengthen the brand’s appeal to consumers over the Christmas period.

SFR Réunion also relied on this mechanism for its Christmas marketing campaign. Focused on lead generation, the campaign was a great success during the recruitment phase, thanks in particular to a media strategy based on native advertising.

Thanks to an attractive prize fund, the company was able to attract more than 10k new visitors. on its website. And with an average of more than 7 games played per subscriber and an average playing time of over 3 minutes, this interactive activity generated a high level of support for the brand among participants.

2. Instant win for Christmas coupons

Instant winners are also very effective during the Christmas period, when users are looking for good deals and discounts to save on their gift purchases.

The 100% winning Claw machine, for example, enables companies to distribute discount coupons to all participants. Showroomprivé.com banked on this Christmas marketing game during the festive season. 7,000 vouchers were distributed during the campaign, helping to convert prospects into customers and boosting the brand’s sales.

This animation can also be used as part of a Drive to Store campaign during the Christmas period. McDonald’s franchisees in the North of France have chosen to set up a campaign combining a Flappy and a 100% winning claw machine. These events enabled users to win discount vouchers to be used towards the purchase of a Maxi Best Of menu in participating restaurants, boosting traffic in the brand’s points of sale.

3. An omnichannel Christmas campaign to engage consumers

It takes an average of 8 interactions between a brand and its prospect before they are ready to buy. If brands want to to boost their Christmas sales, they need to multiply the points of contact and the incentives to buy with their audience.

This is what brands can do by implementing an omnichannel Christmas marketing campaign. Companies will deploy a marketing game tailored to this marketing high point (such as the Shopping List for example) across all their communication channels. Adictiz’s customisable form can be used in engaging interactive formats across 4 distinct channels: the e-commerce site, blog articles, live shopping sessions and native advertising.

Brands will be able to engage their audience across all their channels, multiplying interactions to convert as many prospects as possible and boost their Christmas sales.

Conclusion

To create an impactful Christmas marketing campaign, your brand can rely on engaging game mechanicsthat will capture consumers’ attention. Create differentiating brand experiences to boost your brand awareness, collect leads and generate more conversions during the festive season thanks to interactive marketing activities!