Best Retail Innovation

by Kyle Swartz

“‘ Tis The Season was a bold campaign with multiple touchpoints ,” says NHLC Chairman Joseph Mollica . “ All the channels worked together to generate excitement with customers and drive them into outlet locations to be part of the program .”

“ Social media was a key component in creating excitement around the program , driving people online to the website and at retail to the outlet locations ,” Mollica adds .“ In addition to strong Facebook , Instagram , and Twitter engagements , we focused on growing our YouTube audience . Our ‘ Tis The Season video series generated 13,000 views and drove a 54 % increase in YouTube subscribers . Between scratch game signups ( 10,788 ), the bellyband teaser campaign ( 448 ) and Ski Journal contest ( 500 ), we grew our email list by 12,000 .”

The campaign was kicked off with a teaser : a ‘ Tis The Season branded belly-band for a regional print publication with a QR code , driving readers to sign up for updates , emails and video launches . The campaign officially launched at Thanksgiving with the first of six videos and a targeted announcement email to our existing email list . Holiday guides were shipped and landed in homes on the same day the first video launched , while the campaign kicked off in our 66 NH Liquor & Wine Outlets with posters , holiday music and holiday videos embedded in the TV stream . Customers who purchased more than $ 25 in product were given a scratch game at the register , and holiday guides were available to all customers while shopping in the outlets . The campaign also included traditional radio , digital and print advertising .

The NHLC collected new email addresses as players entered in their winning letters , emails that were used to remind players how close they were to winning , and to encourage continued play ( and return visits to the store ).

At the end of the campaign , a “ Thank-you for playing ” email went out , along with a gift card for a wine tote , encouraging customers to return to the stores again .

“ The opportunity to win prizes creates excitement for the consumer and encourages repeat visits to the outlets ,” says Mollica . “ More visits mean more chances to win . The scratch tickets featured both an instant-win component and a collect-and-win component . The process of scratching off the tickets is engaging . The instant-win component means that consumers are always one visit away from winning . The collect-and-win component encourages multiple visits .”

The campaign was a resounding success , the commission reports . Multiple emails were sent to the NHLC database of more than 213,000 subscribers , resulting in a 52 % increase of traffic to the commission ’ s website . More than 28,000 holiday guides were distributed , with a readership of 42,000 . Nearly 10,800 email addresses were collected . The video series emails drove over 12,400 YouTube views – representing 90 % of views during the promotional period . Digital media and ads garnered approached 3 million impressions . What ’ s next for such a successful program ?

“ In 2023 , we will build on the success of ‘ Tis The Season by using what we learned from 2022 and doing it even bigger ,” Mollica says . “ We will use similar tactics to engage

with consumers and drive them into the outlet locations . Understanding an opportunity to grow sales through the gift card channel , we will put more of a focus on gift card sales , with specific promotions that reward both the buyer and the receiver .”

StateWays | www . stateways . com | Fall 2023 17