Scavenger hunts are a popular campaign category on Facebook, Twitter and mobile platforms.  The idea is similar: You look for physical or virtual (online) clues, you collect them, and when you are done, you either win a prize or are entered for a chance to win a prize.  Recently I have talked about the QR-Code based offline scavenger hunt we helped organize and develop an application for with game publisher THQ at Comic-con 2011. This post looks at an equally ambitous but online scavenger hunt we designed and developed for IDJ’s The Wanted.  Facebook users would give permission the to the application to keep track of their progress, and each day  they would have to correctly answer a question based on a clue shared by the band on their Facebook or Twitter page. The application featured hints (they could be turned on or off) and an administrate console that allowed the client to enter new question daily. At the end of the 30 day promotion, fans could enter for a chance to win a $2000 shopping spree with the band and view exclusive video content from The Wanted.

Last year at Comic-con 2011 we helped video game publisher THQ organize a QR code-driven web-based scavenger hunt to promote the release of their upcoming Voltron game. The idea was simple (See video below): 5 standees with QR codes were stationed in different locations around Comic-con and fans were encouraged to find and scan all 5 QR codes in order to enter in the “Hunt to Form Voltron” Sweepstakes. The result was buzz and interest around Voltron at Comic.con 2011. PRNewser named it as part of “4 Comic-Con Efforts That Hit the Mark”, Turner PR’s “5 Ways Social Media has Changed Comic-Con 2011”, and great coverage in blogs like Mashables and others (see results section below).

Overview:
This diagram illustrates the basic flow of the scavenger hunt. We were asked by the THQ marketing team to put together a comprehensive flow diagram to help partners and stakeholders understand how the promotional campaign would work (this is just one of the graphic pieces from that flow chart).

Web-Based Application:
Participants would simply scan each of the 5 codes using their mobile phones to unlock a badge. The Metablocks Scavenger Hunt application would keep track of each unlocked badge by associating it with the participant phone or email address.  Participants were able to share their badges on Facebook and Twitter (this helped created viral buzz around the campaign).

Marketing and Promotion:
The key to the success of any Scavenger Hunt is promotion and THQ did a great job of promoting the campaign. As part of the marketing, we created an attractive poster that was used at Comic-con.  The scavenger hunt poster summarized the key aspects of the scavenger hunt and prizing elements. A version of this poster was also added as a tab on the Voltron Facebook page. At the show, the THQ team also handed out physical badges (see photos below) and postcards to promote the campaign.

We also created a scavenger hunt microsite to help promote the campaign.

THQ worked with Comic-con and had staff members promote the scavenger hunt at the show. This included creating and promoting the campaign via video content as well. This was distributed through their YouTube channel and other media outlets.

Results:
THQ summarizes some of the results in the infographic below (from this Behance post).

– Check out more photos here

The promotion generated a tremendous amount of buzz at Comic-con 2011 and was covered widely by bloggers including PopArtistsVille.com, Building Social Bridges, PRNewser, MovieViral, TurnerPR, and Mashables.   

We recently implemented a Valentine’s Day Kissing Booth for One Direction on our new and updated Facebook Photo Booth application. Features include:

• Note: Also see Application Spotlight (with screenshots)…
• Ability to upload photos or use webcam
• Optional support to use photos from a user’s existing Facebook photo album
• Comprehensive photo editor with ability to rotate, position and scale the photo or logo layer
• Advanced photo editing features with ability to control brightness, contrast, hue, background color and other aspects of the photo
• Photo gallery with navigation ability (pagination, filtering by most recent or most popular)
• Management console that allows clients to moderate photos, as well as a whole suite of moderation features including white and black listing and various automated controls
• Analytics and stats including support for Google analytics and third party tracking
• Ability to publish photos directly into a user’s Facebook photo album
• Sharing capabilities on Facebook and other social networks (Twitter, i.e.)
• Optional My Photos gallery that lets users view and share their own photos
• Voting capabilities and ability to sort by most recent or most popular photos
• Ability to integrate with other Metablocks Facebook applications including custom sweepstakes and badge applications

AdvoCare has been running a nation wide bus tour with In partnership in the 2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series season and NASCAR No. 3 to Austin Dillon.  The tour features a QR-code driven sweepstakes as well as well as physical scratchers that allow participants to win prizes.

Running a sweepstakes or contest on Facebook is one of the most common ways to increase visibility and grow your community.  We have several sweepstakes and contest applications ranging from the very simple to the more complex.  Our clients have found that enter-to-win sweepstakes with viral components are an excellent way to grow their Facebook fan base, generate leads and create positive brand buzz.

Our contest and sweepstakes applications offer the following features and functionality on Facebook:

• Completely branded pages with customized look & feel
• Opt-in email collection, data entry including custom fields and COPPA compliance
• Administrative features (data export, reporting, tracking)
• Multi-page, co-branded support (running the same sweepstakes on multiple Facebook pages)
• Support for co-branded radio-driven campaigns (comprehensive database of Radio stations for Country, Christian, Urban and other genres). See examples
• Support for special user generated content (UGC) contests such as video, essay, and similar contests
• Comprehensive sharing on Facebook, Twitter and other social networks
• Integration with third party databases (Sony, UMG, i.e.) and analytics systems (Google Analytics, Overture, i.e.)

Advanced features and services include:

• Voter fraud prevention and security features
• Content moderation and filtering
• Winner selection and verification
• Contest statistics and analytics reporting
• Official rules drafting, legal counsel and prize fulfillment

Another in our long line of simple, yet successful, photo booth applications. This one allowed you to “get into the cover” of the Group 1 Crew’s new album (Outta Space Love) by “Suitting Up”! Users were able to upload their photo, use a webcam or select their Facebook profile photo and then create a custom album cover. Once done, they could:

• Publish it to their Facebook album
• Download the photo
• Share the photo on Facebook
• Use it for the Facebook profile photo

Also See:

• August Burns Red: Custom Baseball Card
• National Baseball Associations: MVP-Me
• Neon Trees: Everybody Talks Sunglasses