Keep It Simple (to a degree)

Here’s the latest promotional initiative from Swiss supermarket chain Migros, Dominomania:

Dominomania - image from Migros.ch

buy a playing board (a bargain at 6 Euros 50)
for every 20 CHF (about 13 EUR) you spend at a Migros checkout, collect 1 of 36 domino tiles (they’re wrapped to keep you guessing if you get one you haven’t already got)
HOWEVER: max. 10 tiles per person per purchase
HOWEVER: on “Double Dominoday”, collect 2 (TWO!) tiles per purchase value of 20 CHF
PLUS: on one previously announced day, a purchase over 60 CHF got you a “Joker” tile
Jokers are also available for successful players of a corresponding online game
spare tiles can be traded freestyle or during special trading days.

In the end, what you get is a Swiss-themed domino board game (playable even with less than the full 36 tiles).

Unattractive incentive? And way too complicated? Apparently not.

According to a Migros press release, 50 mio. tiles found a new home, the corresponding online game got played 4.5 mio. times and tiles were traded on 53 trading platforms (Migros: Die Dominomania im Rückblick). Swiss blog publisher blogwerk.com, at one point, counted 563 concurrent auctions on Ricardo.ch. Today, a Google search on “Dominomania” (not really a common expression) finds 164.000 entries. Not quite bad.

What do we learn?

collectibles work
trading and swapping works
a little bit of complexity is not necessarily doomed, especially if it builds on learned patterns
the journey is the reward - and a good journey seems to be one with group activities and a bit of competition.

Leo Burnett - Cultural Fuel