Each year, the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball Tour marks the start of the holiday season. Since it is the season of giving, iHeartRadio wanted to show its gratitude to its biggest fans and listeners by creating the first-ever iHeartRadio Jingle Ball Tour White Elephant Gift Exchange. In addition to rewarding iHeartRadio's most active users, the promotion and Livestream were designed to drum up excitement for the 2021 iHeartRadio Jingle Ball show at Madison Square Garden in New York City. If you are not familiar with a White Elephant exchange, it is a traditional holiday game where players choose and open gifts while the other players have the opportunity to then steal or swap gifts.
For the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball Tour White Elephant Gift Exchange, participants were selected based on a few key factors, including their attendance at iHeartRadio tentpole events throughout the year, total listening hours in the iHeartRadio app, engagement with iHeartRadio on social media platforms, and their overall digital activity within the community. Fans were shocked and surprised to receive a DM from the iHeartRadio Instagram account inviting them to participate in this first-of-its-kind promotion.
Once they accepted their invite, these ten lucky fans joined a private Zoom video conference where they got to interact with each other, meet iHeartRadio Digital Host Emily Curl, and begin selecting the order in which they would open gifts. During the game, the players chose, stole, swapped, and stole again some incredible gifts like flyaway trips to 2022 iHeartRadio signature events, signed artist merch, tickets to must-see tours, and even a Taylor Swift signed guitar. The game was streamed live on the iHeartRadio, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube accounts.
In its inaugural year, the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball Tour White Elephant Gift Exchange exceeded the team's expectations. The Livestream generated over 12 Million social media impressions and was viewed by over 385,000 fans and followers. The event produced over 8,000 social media engagements and created some serious FOMO for fans everywhere. The iHeartRadio Jingle Ball Tour White Elephant Gift Exchange contributed to a 72% increase in social media activity for the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball Tour year over year. Finally, once the prizes were shipped, the contestants took to their socials to unbox their gifts and boast about their incredible experience.
