Discovery Inc. Captures Millions of New Data Records with Dream Home Sweepstakes

Discovery Inc. is one of the leading developers of engaging lifestyle content in the home, nature, science, and travel sectors for television, online, and emerging digital platforms.

Whether it be the Cooking Channel, DIY Network, Travel Channel, or HGTV (to name a few), Discovery’s portfolio of lifestyle brands has provided ideas, encouragement, and inspiration to viewers for over 20 years.

Discovery wanted to capture rich and valuable audience data…and lots of it. So, with a little helping hand from Marigold Engage+, they devised the Dream Home 2019 competition, giving viewers the incredible chance to win a fully furnished waterfront paradise in Merritt Island, Florida.

Marketing Campaign Objectives

Their objective was to capture a huge amount of first-party data while also growing subscriptions to the free newsletter of their subsidiary, Scripps (owner of HGTV, Travel Network, and Food Network), for future email marketing efforts. This data would help them generate additional ad revenue.

The Solution: Sweepstakes Campaign

With the 20th anniversary of HGTV looming, Discovery wanted to deliver something extra special to mark such a momentous occasion.

HGTV website with competition email sign-up form


With the prize of a luxurious home, they just needed the mechanics to process competition entries and harness all of the data. Discovery chose Marigold Grow as their partner because we provided the ability to launch a simple sweepstakes competition that could be completed in three easy steps.

To enter into the sweepstakes, viewers were asked to:

  1. Enter an email address
  2. Provide a small amount of personal data and select newsletters from its portfolio of lifestyle brands (they could sign up for none, one, or more) 
  3. Submit their information

[Marigold Grow] has allowed us to securely collect customer data and activate key audiences. We have experienced an uptick in response rates and customer engagement as a result.

JOSHUA ELDRIGE, BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE DIRECTOR, HGTV

Discovery also utilized social sign-in integration, meaning participants could use their contact details from Facebook, Twitter, or Google Plus to quickly populate data fields and speed up the already-simplified user journey.

After completing their basic personal information, entrants were then nudged to sign up for some of Discovery’s various weekly and monthly brand newsletters to further drive engagement once the marketing campaign had finished.

To help generate additional ad revenue, Food Network used an event module in the Marigold Grow Platform to trigger new ads to display as the participant moved between the stages of the sweepstakes. The winner of the Dream Home 2019 was selected in a random drawing.

The Results

With Marigold Grow, Discovery was able to create a sweepstakes that was integrated across channels and captured 483 million first-party data records.

Discovery is poised to continue creating personalized customer experiences by engaging millions of viewers with lifestyle content for television, online, and emerging digital platforms.

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