Southern retailer Belk recently finished its 125 Days of Prizes Campaign, resulting in a large increase in mobile activity and social engagement.

The sweepstakes celebrated Belk’s 125th anniversary and gave away daily prizes from brands such as Michael Kors, Calvin Klein and KitchenAid. Belk partnered with ePrize to run the campaign, and as a result 13.1 percent of registrants opted in to receive text messages with exclusive offers from Belk.

“To celebrate the company’s 125th anniversary, as well as increase customer engagement with the brand, Belk decided to launch a 125-day long multichannel campaign called ‘125 Days of Prizes,’” said Sara Kowal, vice president of innovation at ePrize, Pleasant Ridge, MI.

“The program leveraged the chance to win across multiple channels – microsite, Facebook and mobile channels – to engage consumers when and where they chose,” she said. “The campaign exceeded our expectations, hitting almost 220,000 registrants.

“We were also pleased with the social engagement, with Pinterest followers doubling from around 7,000 to around 15,000, and Facebook registrations hitting over 37,000.”

Belk is based in Charlotte, NC and has around 300 stores in 16 Southern states.

125 Days of Prizes
Belk’s anniversary campaign ran from March 11 to July 12 and asked consumers to enter via a microsite that was optimized for mobile or via the company’s Facebook page (see story).

According to Ms. Kowal, the 125 Days of Prizes promotion was designed to be fully completed on a mobile device. Consumers could enter when and where they chose.

Consumers had the chance to win bonus sweepstakes entries by referring friends or submitting a Belk memory by uploading a photo. They could also engage with Belk on social media to earn bonus entries.

As a result of the campaign, Belk more than doubled its Pinterest followers, increasing from 7,247 followers to 15,275.

The company also saw a great deal of activity on Facebook. There were a total of 61,695 Facebook posts on the campaign, 37,775 Facebook registrations and 12,075 registrant referrals.

SMS boost
After registering for the sweepstakes, 13.1 percent of entrants opted in to receive text messages with exclusive offers from Belk.

This provides Belk with a valuable asset. The company can leverage the increased SMS base to send out blasts and drive future marketing campaigns.

According to Ms. Kowal, 97 percent of text messages are read, most within a few minutes, whereas email could take up to a few days.

“SMS is significant to brands for several reasons,” she said. “First, it works across all mobile phones. Second, it is the most personal form of communication.

“From a brand perspective, it’s great to be able to send out time sensitive information on sales or offers to drive to store, to reach people while they are on the go and to, overall, stay top of mind with your consumers.

“This is a turning point in the world of retail, where customers are beginning to understand the value of mobile as a channel to create a more intimate, personal line of communication with their favorite brands.”

Final Take
Rebecca Borison is editorial assistant on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York