At the Swiss discount store Denner, football fever took over. During the 2021 European Football Championship, users of the Denner app could play a stock market game where they collected virtual coins and could collect jerseys of their favourite teams and sell them for profit.

Football motivates a lot of people, and even more people enjoy fun bonus content where, with a combination of effort and skill, great prizes can be won.

In Euro Game, players could collect virtual Denner coins by completing challenges and consuming content; these coins could then be used to buy jerseys representing the various teams in the tournament. The challenges offered coins involved quizzes and photo voting contests, among other things. But spinning a lucky wheel or reading blog entries also enabled users to collect coins.

These virtual coins then served as currency to purchase the jerseys of the participating teams. The purchasing behaviour of the players caused the value of the jerseys to rise and fall, and with a little skill, the jerseys could then be sold for a profit. The result was a stock market game that was played in parallel to the real sports event.

Main prizes, given away amongst the best players at the end of the tournament, kept spirits high for the users of the Denner app and also offered the chance of a voucher for a year’s free shopping.

Fun in the real world, too

During the tournament period, every player who actively participated in the jersey swapping received various instant prizes, which could be directly redeemed at any Denner branch in Switzerland.

The players of the app became real in-store customers and were rewarded with free goodies when shopping at Denner. That made them more willing to shop for other items there as well. Frequent awarding of prizes and the expiry date of these prizes motivated players to pick them up directly and visit the branches multiple times.

Alongside the motivation to get customers into stores, a further objective for Denner was to increase the use of the app in which the Euro Game was placed. The app was also placed on the Web site and app of 20 Minuten, one of Switzerland’s biggest news portals, to achieve the necessary reach. The Euro Game’s popularity was further boosted with campaigns in brochures, in stores, and on social media platforms.

Winning results

Within six weeks, a total of 61,662 users signed up for the Euro Game, and between them, swapped 3.4 billion jerseys in 46.8 billion trades. Compared to the World Cup Game, which was carried out in 2018, 25% more users signed up, with 7.5% more sessions overall. And, during the Euro Game, there was a 182% increase in app downloads.

During the football matches, in particular, the players were able to consume additional content related to the tournament, benefit from the exchange rate of the jerseys, and earn additional Denner coins in the challenges, generating an average use time of over five minutes.

Over the course of the tournament, a total of 621,370 prizes were awarded to the active players in the form of coupons; 188,908 of these prizes were redeemed in stores. In comparison to the statistics of the 2018 World Cup Game, 73% more prizes were redeemed.

The stock market game, which includes jersey swapping, has been used in a similar manner in other apps and can also be used for future football tournaments or adapted for other types of sports. When there are no sports tournaments on, the individual challenges can be used separately, which is also the plan for the Denner app.

Quizzes, photo voting contests, the lucky wheel, or various mini-games, for example, provide exciting entertainment in the app. Combined with discount codes or prizes the users receive through gamified activities, the app provides specific added value, directs users into stores and establishes a loyal relationship with the brand.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .