To capitalize on the buzz surrounding the unprecedented $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot in November, JCPenney hosted an unprecedented giveaway to give lottery losers an opportunity to still win big. The weekend prior to the winning ticket selling, JCPenney saw an opportunity to execute on our brand mission – support hardworking, American families. Instead of joining the conversation with no payoff to consumers, we were able to support our shoppers and provide value to families via a $20 off $20 coupon for anyone with a losing lottery ticket.
To message our $20 off $20 coupon and join the conversation, we created Instagram Reels that quickly picked up momentum. We utilized trending audio from Instagram and TikTok to keep the videos fun while providing details on the giveaway.
One goal of this campaign was to keep the barrier to entry low. To receive the coupon, consumers simply sent a DM with their email and a photo of their losing lottery ticket to the JCPenney Instagram account. Team members documented the emails and confirmed the lottery tickets weren’t duplicates before responding to the message letting the sender know their coupon would arrive via email in the following days.
Once received, customers had 24 hours to use their coupon online. Additionally, shoppers were able to stack the coupon on top of pre-existing sales, including Black Friday All Month Long, providing savings that JCPenney has never offered before.
Over the course of a week, this campaign drove a 4,000% increase in messages received YoY, including 19,822 DMs to the JCPenney Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts.
Additionally, Instagram followers we added during this campaign accounted for 38% of our new channel follower growth in 2022. Our Instagram reel reached 15% of followers organically, 6x more than our average Instagram reach.
During this period, we also garnered 23.5M earned media impressions from national and local news sources, including FOX Business, AXIOS, and Yahoo! News.
