Father’s Day is a chance to recognize dads and father figures for their many contributions to our lives. Although a 2012 H&R Block study found that spending on Father’s Day was considerably less than Mother’s Day, ($9.4b vs $14.6b,) the same study also found that 94% of dads surveyed said that “small gestures are more important than buying expensive presents”.

Why not give your audience a chance to make that small gesture through a social media contest, like these brands did:

MLB - My Dad, My MVP Baseball is one of the oldest father-child traditions in North America, and Major League Baseball sought to take advantage of this with their “My Dad, My MVP” photo/essay contest. Participants were required to submit a photo and a short story of why their dad was their “Most Valuable Player”.

The contest inspired powerful stories of fathers sharing their love of baseball with their children, and participants were also required to choose their dad’s favourite team as part of the entry process. Winners were chosen by popular vote, and prizes included baseball memorabilia related to the selected favourite team that any baseball-crazy dad would love to receive. The contest is still live here.

Vizio - This One’s For Dad When creating their Father’s Day contest for this year, Vizio and Walmart took a similar approach to MLB’s contest, but opted to accept videos as well as photos to support participants’ entries.

An additional point worth noting in Vizio’s contest is the inclusion of a prize for all participants; 5000 points in their “Vizio Fandemonium” rewards program. If an opportunity exists, prizes for all participants is a great idea for any promotion.

Macy’s - The Ultimate Gift Sweepstakes Macy’s’ “The Ultimate Gift” sweepstakes is the perfect example of the simplest way to engage potential customers through a promotion related to Father’s Day. Partnering with Ralph Lauren’s POLO brand allowed them to offer a highly attractive prize/gift for Dad; a trip to the winner’s choice of Maui, San Francisco or Nantucket. You can view the contest here.

Macy’s sweepstakes was a great brand-fit for the promotion’s sponsor, Ralph Lauren POLO, and also illustrated the importance of an attractive prize to entice participants to enter. Although airfare and hotel might not be within your budget, here are a few other prize ideas that might work for your promotion:

• An “all-included” outting, (i.e. dinner and tickets to the game)
• New items for Dad’s tool collection
• Anything for the grill, ranging from accessories up to a grill itself
• (Got other ideas? Add them in the comments section!)

Use Strutta’s Social Promotions Platform to run an Instagram Contest this Father’s Day.

Picture of Cliff Huxtable taken from Huxtable Hotness. The Cosby Show is copyright of NBC.

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