Are you ready to rock this new back-to-school season? With students, parents, teachers and workers all gearing up for a fresh start, it’s the perfect moment for your brand to elevate its marketing strategy. Whether you’re aiming to boost your sales, engage with your audience or collect valuable first-party and zero-party data, a great back-to-school marketing campaign is the key to success.
Do you need inspiration to fuel your creativity? Look no further! This year, we’ve curated our top 8 back-to-school marketing campaign ideas designed to help you achieve your objectives while making a memorable impact on your audience.
Are you ready to dive in? Let’s go!
Foster lasting audience engagement with an interactive back-to-school marketing reward program
Are you looking to enhance recurring audience engagement? Launching a reward program might be the solution you’re looking for!
More than just a tool, reward programs are a key marketing strategy. They incentivise recurring interactions with your brand, offering points for each engagement that can be exchanged for exclusive rewards such as product samples, discounts, unique experiences, and much more. Hosted within customisable member portals, these programs provide seamless access and interaction, supported by Single Sign-On (SSO).
You will also be able to centralise all your campaigns into one convenient place, making it effortless for your audience to engage and participate.
You can launch a reward program any time of the year, whether you’re aiming for a general initiative or focusing on a specific theme. So what about launching your reward program for the new school year?
Check out our example in which we incorporated some of our ideas into a back-to-school-themed reward program launched by our fictional e-commerce site, Ecoshop. How does it work? Become an Ecoshop program member and dive into our quizzes and games to earn points and level up!
Are you curious about the format used in the program? Let’s explore some of them!
1. Sudden death quiz: it’s time for a test
Back-to-school season means it’s test time! Quizzes are a go-to for digital marketing, but you can make it more engaging and spice things up by creating a sudden death quiz for your back-to-school marketing campaign.
Check out our example in which participants will need to answer a series of questions asked by the teacher while keeping an eye out for the hidden answer in the image.
2. Swap & match special back-to-school
Can you imagine the start of a new school year without fresh school supplies? What if you could not only enhance your sales but also offer a delightful experience to your audience? Our advanced format add-on allows you to create fully customisable arcade games effortlessly without needing any coding skills.
Discover our back-to-school-themed swap & match game, in which participants need to swap school supplies to create rows or columns and earn points.
Are you looking to boost your sales? Reward top scorers with exclusive back-to-school discounts. And remember to include a compelling call-to-action on the exit screen to guide players back to your website.
3. Blind test: the sounds of the office
Finding creative ways to engage your audience and collect valuable data can sometimes be tricky. But have you ever thought about launching a blind test?
And with the back-to-school season also marking the return to work, you can create a work-themed blind test where participants need to identify different office sounds. This will also be a fun and interactive way to connect with your audience while increasing the time spent on your channels.
Creative back-to-school marketing campaigns for workers and students
1. Personality test: what type of student are you?
Whether you’re looking to engage your audience, collect data about participants’ preferences or boost your sales, a personality test is always a great idea. This year, focus on students by introducing a unique personality test designed to help them discover their ideal room decor or furniture.
At the end of the test, add a customised selection of products based on their answers, with a redirection to your e-commerce for them to complete their journey with a purchase.
2. Shell game: back-to-school
The more channels you use to promote your campaigns, the more engagement you’ll receive. Have you considered linking your digital channels to your physical ones? Not only will this move improve customers’ experience by making their shopping sessions more engaging, but it will also help you connect with your audience in a memorable way, creating shareable moments on social media.
Since the back-to-school season is a key shopping period, why not introduce a fun shell game? Promote it in-store using a QR code and reward lucky participants with exclusive discount e-coupons!
3. Swiper: your perfect home office furniture
In the era of hybrid work, many of us now juggle desks at both the office and home. Inspire your audience to create their perfect home office by launching a swiper in which participants need to swipe left or right to choose their favourite trendy furniture and decor.
Add a compelling CTA at the end of the swiper, redirecting them to their personalised selection on your e-commerce site and using their preferences data to tailor your future communications to their interests.
4. Runner: back-to-school run
If you would like to collect data while making it fun and interactive for your audience, our runner game is perfect for you! This year, introduce an exciting back-to-school-themed runner game using our Studio services. Our talented team will custom-design the game to perfectly align with your objectives and aesthetic requirements.
Alternatively, if you prefer a hands-on approach, you also have the possibility to create an obstacle run, a format included in your advanced format add-on.
5. Photo contest: back-to-school memories
Do you remember the excitement of your first day of school as a child? Maybe your parents still have those adorable photos of you excitedly meeting friends after a long summer break.
This next season, launch an engaging back-to-school marketing campaign in the form of a fun photo contest. Invite your audience to share their favourite childhood school memories through pictures and encourage them to vote for their favourite ones. And remember to reward the winner with an awesome back-to-school gift!
Engaging back-to-school marketing campaigns to leverage international days
1. Jackpot: world tourism day
International days offer excellent opportunities for brands to connect with their audience and collect valuable data. Did you know that September is not only the back-to-school season but also the month of world tourism day? Make the summer vibes last and seize the opportunity to inspire your audience to explore their dream destinations.
Create a customisable jackpot where participants can instantly find out if they’ve won or lost a free trip to their dream holidays.
2. Hidden object: international beard day
Mark your calendar for September 4th — it’s world beard day! Take this chance to pamper men with beard grooming tips and unique experiences. Do you want to launch a memorable back-to-school marketing campaign? Those events are the perfect times to leverage!
For instance, we’ve created an exciting hidden object game where participants compete to find the man without a beard as quickly as possible. Are you ready to take on the challenge?
Now, it is time for you to make this back-to-school season unforgettable! And if you need more inspiration for your back-to-school marketing campaigns, don’t hesitate to look at our past articles and e-books on the same topic. Do you have a unique campaign idea but can’t find a match in our catalogue? Reach out to us, and let’s bring it to life!
