When the prize is the experience: 5 contest case studies

Five brands that stopped giving away things and started giving away memories

A product prize has a clear value and a short life: once it is used, its role in the relationship with the brand is largely over. Experiential prizes, by contrast, create value before, during and after the event itself. This is the logic behind prize strategy: the prize is not just an incentive, it is a message about what the brand stands for. Five recent Promosfera cases show what that looks like in practice, across football, sailing, tennis, food delivery and a football simulation.

Quick answer: An experiential prize (a trip, a match, a live event) tends to create a stronger and longer-lasting connection with a brand than a product prize, because it is anticipated, lived and shared. It works best when the experience is specific and consistent with the brand’s world, as in Paulaner’s football casting, Santero’s sailing trip, Smash IT x Dunlop’s tennis tickets, Deliveroo’s World Cup final package and Kumho’s AC Milan match.

Why experiential prizes create stronger brand connections

Across these five cases, the same principle recurs in different forms: a prize connected to something the audience already loves, and specific enough to be imagined in detail, generates a different kind of engagement than a generic reward.

Case	Brand’s world	Experience offered	Mechanic
Paulaner	Football, FC Bayern Munich	Live casting in Germany, chance to play against FC Bayern Munich	Video UGC + public vote + jury
Santero	Celebration, conviviality	A week-long sailing cruise for two	Draw among purchase-linked entries
Smash IT x Dunlop	Tennis, ATP calendar	Tickets to Internazionali BNL, Davis Cup, ATP Finals	Fantasy sport league, per-tournament and season rankings
Deliveroo	Football, FIFA World Cup	Trip to the World Cup final in New York	Automatic entry with every order to the final draw
Kumho	Football, AC Milan	Tickets to an AC Milan match at San Siro	Timed quiz with Instant Win

Case study: Paulaner “The Match of Your Life”

At a glance
Where and when	Italy, launched 8 April 2026, in collaboration with FC Bayern Munich
Prize	For 5 winners: a live international casting in Germany, with the chance to play against FC Bayern Munich professionals in 2027; all 5 winners are guaranteed the chance to attend the match
Mechanic	Multi-stage selection: registration and questionnaire, a football-skills video (max. 90 seconds) featuring a Paulaner product, a Top 10 selection, public online voting, and a final jury round

How it worked

After registering, participants uploaded a video showing their football skills while creatively featuring a Paulaner product. A Top 10 was selected, then finalists collected votes by sharing their content. Among the finalists, the most-voted participant advanced automatically; the other 4 winners were chosen by a panel on quality criteria (football technique, creativity, spectacle). The panel included Lena Oberdorf (FC Bayern München women’s team and the German national team), Konrad Laimer (FC Bayern München) and Stefan Lehmann (stadium speaker and radio host).

Why it fits

A product prize’s value fades once it is used; an experience is anticipated, lived and retold. Here the prize combines exclusive access, a direct connection to a global football club and a personal dimension validated by a jury and amplified through sharing. Even participants who don’t reach the final round still get to attend the match, so the experience keeps value for everyone involved. The video format also generated voluntary, authentic user-generated content, with the product woven into each participant’s own story rather than presented as a review or an ad. The jury acted as more than a decision-making body: it lent legitimacy to the contest, reinforced its connection to the football world and generated media attention.

Case study: Santero “Brinda e Parti” (“Toast and Go”)

At a glance
Where and when	Italy, 3 April – 3 June 2026
Entry	Purchase at least one Santero product (in-store or online) and register at www.brindaeparti.it with the receipt; multiple entries allowed with different receipts
Prize	2 winners: a flotilla cruise to the Aeolian Islands (1-8 August 2026) or a week in Croatia’s Kornati Islands (15-22 August), both for two people

How it worked

Consumers could enter by purchasing at least one participating Santero product, online or in-store, and uploading their receipt to the campaign website. Each valid receipt counted as an entry. Two winners were randomly selected to win a sailing cruise, turning a simple purchase into an aspirational experience.

Why it fits

Experiences generate a more lasting memory and a stronger emotional association than objects: a cruise is not just a prize but an experience the winner will tell and share, turning the brand into a personal memory. The partnership with Sailsquare, a marketplace connecting sea and nature lovers with verified sailing operators, matters here too: Sailsquare builds and guarantees the experience, and that credibility transfers to the prize and, in turn, to the brand offering it. The mechanic reinforces the message: one entry is enough to take part, but loading more receipts increases the chances, a subtle incentive toward repeat purchase without minimum thresholds or complex rules.

Case study: Smash IT x Dunlop FantaContest 2026

At a glance
Period	11 ATP tournaments, from the Australian Open to the US Open, January-September 2026
Entry	Download the Smash IT app, build a fantasy tennis team, join the public “Dunlop Italia” league
Prize	Per-tournament: top 5 rankings win prizes including event tickets, a Dunlop racket, co-branded merchandise. Season-long: the overall winner gets tickets to the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin. Three of the top prizes are experiential: tickets to the Internazionali BNL d’Italia (Rome, 6-16 May 2026), to the Davis Cup (Bologna, 24-29 November 2026) and to the ATP Finals (Turin, 15-22 November 2026)

Why it fits

Attending a Masters 1000, the Davis Cup or the ATP Finals live is a high-emotional-value experience for a tennis fan, capable of creating a deep connection with the brand. Spreading 55 prizes across 11 tournaments keeps interest constant over time and reduces drop-off, while prizes stay contextual to the sport (tennis balls, rackets, event tickets) rather than generic. Downloading the app is the first required step, so every participant becomes an active user of the platform, and the public league adds a social layer, since participants compete against other fans rather than against themselves.

Case study: Deliveroo “Vinci con Deliveroo FIFA World Cup 2026™”

At a glance
Period	13 April – 24 May 2026, on the Deliveroo app in Italy
Eligibility	Deliveroo Plus subscribers (Gold or Silver, including free-trial users)
Entry	Every order placed through the app automatically generates an entry into the final draw, no codes or extra steps required
Prize	A trip to the FIFA World Cup 2026™ final on 19 July at MetLife Stadium in New York: round-trip flight for two, transfers, hotel and two match tickets

Why it fits

A final draw is often seen as passive, but that reading misses what happens between entry and the draw: participants stay engaged, keep ordering to increase their chances, and maintain an active relationship with the brand. Restricting entry to Plus subscribers targets the segment most valuable in order frequency and retention, encouraging existing users to order more often while making the subscription more attractive to new users. Deliveroo can offer World Cup final tickets because it is an official Supporter of the FIFA World Cup 2026™, turning the brand from a football supporter into a brand that brings its customers inside the tournament.

Case study: Kumho “Kumho Quiz”

At a glance
Where and when	Italy, 9-17 March 2026, on a dedicated campaign website
Context	Kumho Tire has been Premium Partner of AC Milan since 2023
Entry	A timed quiz; correct answers gave immediate access to the Instant Win, wrong answers gave a second chance via a Kumho-themed quiz
Prize	4 pairs of tickets to AC Milan – Torino FC (Serie A, 21 March 2026, San Siro), assigned randomly and immediately among qualified participants

Why it fits

In a context where football represents identity and belonging, an experiential prize tied to the club has a deep impact on the fan community. The quiz was built entirely around knowledge of and passion for AC Milan, testing fans’ sense of belonging, with fan identity and San Siro as a symbolic destination as the two communicative levers. The chance to attend a match at San Siro turns the prize into an occasion to live the fan experience firsthand, making the contest a memorable moment rather than a simple incentive. Integrated into a sponsorship, the contest reinforces brand recall by associating the brand with a positive experience, and it favors organic amplification on social media through spontaneous sharing within fan communities.

What these five cases have in common

• Specificity beats abstraction. The more concrete an experiential prize is, the more effective it is, because the participant does not have to imagine an abstract reward: they can already picture themselves there.
• The experience matches the brand’s world. A cruise fits a brand built around celebration and conviviality; football experiences fit brands already connected to the sport through sponsorship or partnership.
• A credible partner strengthens the prize. FC Bayern Munich, AC Milan and the FIFA World Cup each lend their own credibility to the prize, which transfers to the brand offering it.
• The mechanic supports the wait, when there is one. A final draw or a multi-stage selection keeps participants engaged during the time between entry and the outcome, which is where much of an experiential prize’s value is built.

For more on how to choose a prize that fits your brand and your goals, see our full prize strategy guide.

Want to build a contest around an experience your audience will remember?

Promosfera designs and manages prize contests in Italy and around the world, from prize strategy to mechanic design, compliance and prize logistics.