Nescafé needed a smart, controlled in-store promotional activation that rewarded shoppers instantly for purchasing — while capturing quality consumer data. Social Wiiv delivered a custom iOS iPad app, a bespoke Pick a Cup prize game, and a sophisticated prize management system deployed across 14 store locations over 4 campaign days.
In-store promotional activations live or die on execution. Nescafé needed a proof-of-purchase–gated instant-win experience that could operate simultaneously across up to 14 store locations, with different voucher allocations per store, controlled prize distribution throughout each activation day, and real-time visibility for the brand across all promoters and venues.
The brief had three non-negotiable requirements: first, every entry had to be validated by a genuine Nescafé till slip — no slip, no play. Second, the prize inventory had to be mathematically controlled so that no store ever ran out of prizes before closing time, and no store ever issued more prizes than allocated. Third, every promoter's activity — their start time, end time, entries handled, and prizes issued — had to be traceable in the reporting dashboard.
"The moment you give promoters an unconstrained prize pool, you lose control of the activation. The system needed to be the guardrail — not the promoter."
— Social Wiiv Development TeamSocial Wiiv designed and built a three-component system: a custom iOS iPad app for in-store promoters, a bespoke Pick a Cup prize game, and a backend prize management engine with per-store, per-day, time-distributed voucher control.
The promoter-facing interface was built as a native iOS app for iPad — deployed to each store location and used by the on-site promoter to guide shoppers through the full activation journey. The app handled registration, till slip capture, and launched the Pick a Cup game upon successful validation.
Social Wiiv designed and built a custom "Pick a Cup" game experience — a digitally animated cup-selection game where the shopper picks one of three cups to reveal whether they've won. The game outcome was determined by the prize engine backend, not by random chance in the app — ensuring prizes were distributed exactly as configured regardless of which cup was picked.
The prize management backend was the most technically critical component of the activation. It controlled exactly how many prizes were available per store, when they could be issued, and at what rate — ensuring prizes were evenly distributed throughout the day rather than all being won in the first hour.
Every promoter session was tracked from login to logout, giving the Nescafé team complete visibility over activation performance. The reporting dashboard broke down entries and prizes by promoter, by store, and by campaign day — with timestamps for every session.
The Nescafé Pick a Cup & Win campaign ran across 4 campaign days and expanded from 5 store locations on Day 1 to a peak of 14 on Day 3. Every entry was validated against a genuine till slip, and the prize engine maintained full control of voucher distribution throughout the campaign — no store issued more prizes than allocated, and every promoter's session was tracked start to finish.
Day 2 was the highest-performing day of the campaign — 153 entries from 10 store locations, nearly three times the volume of Day 1. Day 3 expanded to the widest footprint at 14 locations but with fewer entries, suggesting a shorter activation window or adjusted staffing on that date. The prize management engine maintained full control throughout, ensuring no store's allocation was exhausted prematurely regardless of the variance in daily entry volumes.
"Having the prize distribution engine handle the win logic — rather than relying on the app or the promoter — meant we could guarantee prize fairness across every store, every day, without any manual intervention."
— Social Wiiv Development TeamWhether it's a till slip–gated instant-win game, a gamified in-store mechanic, or a national promotional roadshow — Social Wiiv can design and deploy a fully controlled prize system with real-time reporting and promoter tracking built in.