Customer Experience Architects, Point Iconic, has won two golds and one silver for its Ultra Liquors ‘Black Friday Like Never Before’ campaign at the Smarties Awards. The two gold wins were in the Customer Journey Marketing and Lead Generation categories, while the silver was awarded for the Small Budget, Big Impact category.

The Smarties Awards celebrate mobile marketing excellence. Campaigns entered must demonstrate power over the medium. Winning campaigns effectively bring together a great idea, compelling creative and air-tight execution to deliver significant results. Mitch Bowker, Chief Creative Officer (Acting) of Point Iconic, shared, “These are the only awards where business impact is weighted more heavily than anything else, cementing our focus on delivering effective campaigns, again and again, no matter the budget.”

Black Friday tends to become saturated with superficial deals and promotions, creating a noisy environment for any brand to be distinctive and meaningfully engage customers. Point Iconic’s Strategy Director, Carla Gontier, expressed, “To stand out, the campaign aimed to create hysteria among customers, driving them in-store and online to take advantage of the discounted prices, thereby boosting sales. Simultaneously, the intention was to enhance brand affinity and salience, attract new customers, and retain existing ones by delivering on the brand’s proposition of ‘Big on liquor. Big on saving’.”

The creative strategy revolved around customer collaboration as a catalyst for engagement, differentiation, and sales through leveraging technology to enable this co-creation. Ultra Liquors invited customers to co-create the Black Friday offerings. The campaign slogan ‘Black Friday Like Never Before’ encapsulates the innovative approach of empowering customers to shape deals and promotions. By positioning customers as co-creators, the brand aimed to foster a sense of ownership and excitement, distinguishing itself from competitors who merely offer standard discounts.”

The campaign narrative delivered authentic and meaningful engagement. Through collaborative efforts, Ultra Liquors curated a selection of products that aligned closely with customer preferences, addressing the common sentiment of dissatisfaction with traditional Black Friday offerings. The campaign generated buzz, drove digital and in-store foot traffic. Ultimately, the winning campaign saw a 46% increase in sales and earned over 3,000 new subscribers during the Black Friday four-day campaign.

“We’re very proud of the work and the recognition its received. It affirms our obsession with helping our clients build meaningful brands, and drive increased revenue efficiently, effectively and ethically,” concluded Bowker.