The Rock Holds a Grown Up Easter Hunt
The Rock Bury added a high-tech twist to its Easter egg hunt this year: QR codes.
The QR (or Quick Response) codes were hidden away at a variety of stores, restaurants and leisure destinations. A flyer was handed out with the first code. Scanning the code with a smartphone and a code-reading application led shoppers to a web page containing the first set clues. They were sent to The Entertainer, a toy retailer in the center. Knowing the destination was only the first step, however. To find the next destination, they had to follow the clues:
“Look for the code at the back of the store,
Above the Strikers game where you shoot to score,
The code is below a smiley face,
So scan it with your phone to find the next place.”
The hidden code in the shop led to the next retailer, in a treasure hunt with ten stops along the way.
Once participants had thoroughly explored the center and discovered all it has to offer, they reached the end of the hunt, where an entry for a $500 gift certificate draw was waiting. And just in case some people found a way to skip ahead, entry required answering three questions about the hunt.
There’s a lot to love about the promotion, although if we could make one suggestion (for next year, perhaps) it would be to offer up some small goody bags or treats for everyone who participates. This sort of promotion asks for a lot of a shopper’s time, and a tangible reward alongside a chance to win might encourage even more people to get involved. But otherwise, it seems like a great way to get the attention of shoppers that might not normally pay attention to an Easter promotion.
According to Nikki Kitchen, marketing manager at The Rock Bury, “Digital and social media has been a big part of our visitor engagement strategy since launch in July 2010. Latest independent research indicates that 85% of the under 35 audience has directly engaged with our social media activity – but we continually aim to push the boundaries and find new ways to engage with the audience.”
