Here’s something that keeps marketers up at night: Gen Z, a consumer cohort that wields $463 billion of buying power in the US (and $853 billion globally), has an attention span of just over one second for ads. 1.3 seconds, to be exact, according to a global study conducted by Yahoo! and OMD Worldwide. That’s active attention. You can squeeze maybe 7.6 seconds of passive attention if you’re lucky.
Moreover, Gen Z are on so many devices and divide their time across so many digital channels that it's hard to get them to stop long enough to consider any one brand. Those: 30 commercials on streaming services? You can bet that Gen Z viewers (and others too) are scrolling something on their phones while they wait for their shows to resume. So how can brands get their messages to stick? They must engage at a deeper level.
This challenge has led brand marketers to lean more on promotions and sweepstakes marketing. In fact, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) noted a 35% increase in online sweepstakes and contests between 2020 and 2023. And the whole industry is expected to double in growth by 2028.
There are three reasons why sweepstakes and contests are becoming the go-to marketing tactic for serious brands:
- Promotions are more engaging. Behavioral science has long supported the idea of reciprocity - that it’s a natural human tendency to pay more attention to someone who has given you something of value - no matter how small. In one study conducted by Psychologist and Author Robert Cialdini, consumers were found to be 42% more likely to make a purchase when they received a free piece of chocolate as they entered a store. Brands have designed campaigns around this concept for decades. Promotions offer a similar benefit. The brand is offering a chance to win something - potentially life-changing, like a huge sum of money or a car or a trip. The best campaigns offer smaller prizes so that a higher percentage of entrants get something. Receiving something for free - or even just the potential of receiving something - ingratiates a consumer to your brand exponentially more than seeing an ad.
- Promotions require consumers to spend more time with your brand. That 1.3-second attention span is a huge hurdle for marketers who hope to convert Gen Z consumers. And it’s a heavy lift when you consider all the additional steps they must go through before they reach conversion (a sale). However, if you can use that 1.3 seconds to convince them to take an action that requires less commitment, like filling out a short form, then you have another minute or two to have them interact with your brand. It doesn’t require any more decision-making and they don’t need to weigh the pros and cons of a purchase. Plus, the brand collects valuable consumer info they can use over the long term.
- Promotions have a long tail. Speaking of the long term, sweepstakes and promotions offer a starting point for a brand to build a lasting relationship with consumers. At the very least, the consumer’s name and email address are collected, along with any other preferences they might be asked to share through the form. The brand doesn’t have to worry about selling something on the first click (although that would be nice!). Instead, they have a way of bringing the consumer into a wider community of loyal buyers and hopefully keep them engaged for years.
When time is short, it becomes imperative to make the most of that time. No other generation has made that clearer than Gen Z, but this truth really applies to all consumers. Brands have to offer more in less time. Sweepstakes and promotions are a way to slow down time just a bit, and build lasting awareness and loyalty while doing it.
