How Starburst's Pink Passion Protection Program Makes Post-Holidays Waves with Personalization and Engagement

Starburst’s Pink Passion Protection program, launched in early December, skyrocketed in popularity through the holiday season, providing fans with extra cash to pursue the passion of their choosing. The program drove 4X beyond its enlistment goals by mid-December and has continued to generate substantial buzz across various media outlets. BambuMeta and Starburst have been building an audience of engaged fans through wallet passes through the Juicyverse activation since April of last year, which served as the base audience and, therefore, avoided the cost of re-acquiring loyal customers by simply converting one pass to another.

What is Wallet Pass Engagement and what is the Pink Passion Protection Program?

While wallet passes have historically been used for flights ticketing, events and movies, BambuMeta’s Wallet Pass Engagement extends the purpose of Apple’s and Google’s native wallet passes to communicate directly with your most loyal customers by delivering messages, coupons and gift cards and providing the ability to share with friends and family, all in a single pass.

The PPPP began as a single activation and evolved into a loyalty membership, the PPPP wallet pass and soon, the winners’ passes. Existing pass holders were given the chance to vote on a passion of their choosing and enter the sweepstakes directly, bypassing the entry form.

What are the mechanics of the Wallet Pass and building an engaged audience?  

Part of the challenge with continually operating activation after activation is that you are paying to acquire the same customer repeatedly. The PPPP started from a base of fans dating back to the Juicyverse Activation with BambuMeta that has been operating since last April, continuously building.

Step One

Having converted all the passes from the Juicyverse to a Standard Starburst Pass, Starburst was ready to take the first step in customer acquisition: convert existing cards.

Wallet Pass Convertion

When Pass holders selected their Passion of choice, their wallet pass was automatically updated, and the entry to the sweepstakes was recorded.

In addition to conversion, Weber Shandwick and The Mars Agency supported the design and press around the program, which drove customers to a landing page where they could download their PPPP Card.

Step Two

Having set up the landing page for entry, anybody not part of the program could register online and add their Wallet Pass to their phone. Now, everybody who is a member of the PPPP and is part of the updated fan base will be eligible for future activations as Starburst continues to expand and reach its audience through mobile wallets. Therefore, the audience keeps building and does not require constant re-acquisition.

Step Three – Winners

All who participated are now waiting for the sweepstakes results, which will be revealed on February 1st, 2024. The winners' PPPP wallet passes will be updated and reveal a gift card code they can conveniently use from their mobile device wallet pass or via email if that’s their preference.

Some stats

The program reached its goal successfully and attracted over 4X its anticipated enlistment goal. As of mid-December, the program had issued over 21K wallet passes to participants. It has also seen high engagement across different categories, with crafting, music, and gaming selected as the top categories.

Additionally, the program has received considerable media attention from various national outlets, drawing attention to the program's unique approach to promoting brand loyalty (311M impressions as of December 15th).

A final note about the PPPP

The program was inspired by the idea that the average person spends $312 more on holiday gifts than they do on themselves and for 100 lucky fans, Starburst sought to put those $312 back into their pockets to fuel their own juicy fun. 

Conclusion 

Starburst's Pink Passion Protection program is a fantastic example of a well-planned, partner-assisted program designed to drive engagement and promote brand loyalty. As we move forward on 2024, the program's unique approach to promoting brand engagement is more relevant than ever. It allows the brand to stand out and make meaningful connections with its customers while streamlining acquisition costs.

At BambuMeta, we are proud to have been a part of the wild success of our friends at Starburst and look forward to seeing similar programs developed by other brands in the future. If you are looking to implement your own mobile wallet pass program, BambuMeta is here to help you bring your engagement vision to life.