Campaign Goals: General brand awareness and gathering a high number of UGC entries

Template: Design your own

Unfortunately for brands, a huge incentive for participating in a UGC campaign doesn't always guarantee quality content. Especially when consumers are asked to produce something complex, like a video, they need clear instructions and illustrative examples, which is exactly what Oreo did in its latest campaign. The Oreo Games, which run from now until mid-June, is divided into four photo / video contests: Head Stack, Stack Attack, Trick Shot, and Epic Fail. Each one builds on the last, culminating in a Finals Showdown Phase, where each round's winners produce an OREO Story-O to win the grand prize: $100,000. To make sure that the content submitted was worthy of such a hefty reward, the brand did the following:  

• Start simple. The first challenge, Head Stack, builds on the natural tendency to stack Oreos and has only two restrictions: they must be stacked upon the head and can't be held with the hands. The following challenge, Stack Attack, relies on the same theme but removes the head requirement: "The sky is the limit on what you can construct with cookies," the site reads. The next challenge, Trick Shot, adds another level of complexity, and the final challenge, Epic Fail, invites participants to use the outtakes from the three previous challenges.
  
  
• Keep it fun. $100,000 is a serious grand prize, but Oreo ensured that the campaign stayed enjoyable for both participants and viewers. The landing page keeps the mood light by using bright pastel colors and wacky animations, and the challenges themselves, like Head Stack, skew toward the silly.
  
  
• Turn to the people. After the four-week submission window, anyone can vote on the entries, a proven way to increase the campaign's visibility. Participants will not only return to the site to check on their submissions' progress, but they'll also broadcast the campaign across social media and recruit friends and family to support them.

It's a risky bet to offer stacks of cash as a grand prize. To be cost-effective, it requires confidence that the campaign will generate shareable content that positively reflects on the brand. By including clear instructions, goofy animations, and four potential challenges, Oreo ensured that their $100,000 is well spent.