We’re thrilled to share that Sonic Promos has been recognized with a Silver Award in the Consumer Programs category at the 2025 Chesapeake Promotional Products Association (CPPA) Peake Awards. This honor celebrates our creative promotional campaign for Northwest High School, where we designed and executed an interactive prize wheel experience that transformed school spirit merchandise into an engaging, memorable experience for students and parents.
The Challenge: Boosting School Spirit and Merchandise Sales
Northwest High School came to us with a common challenge facing schools everywhere: how to increase engagement at sporting events while driving traffic to their school merchandise store. They wanted something more exciting than typical promotional giveaways—they needed an experience that would energize the crowd, create buzz, and generate tangible results for their PTSA-operated online store.
With a modest budget of $1,500, we needed to create maximum impact. The target audience was high school students and their parents attending a Friday night football game, a captive audience already in school spirit mode. The question was: how could we turn that energy into lasting engagement and sales?
Our Solution: An Interactive Digital Prize Wheel Experience
We designed a multi-touchpoint promotional campaign centered around an interactive digital prize wheel. Instead of simply handing out promotional items, we created an experience that combined branded merchandise with strategic digital engagement.
The promotional products included custom Northwest Jaguars branded t-shirts and sweatshirts, along with discount coupons worth $5 off purchases at the school’s online merchandise store. But the real innovation was in the delivery method.
During the football game, cheerleaders held up posters featuring QR codes throughout the stadium. When attendees scanned these codes with their smartphones, they were directed to a custom-branded prize wheel landing page. After entering their name and email (automatically added to the Northwest High School newsletter), participants could spin the digital wheel to win their prize instantly.
Winners received a congratulations screen showing exactly what they’d won, then headed to the stadium merchandise booth to pick up their items—creating an immediate connection between the digital experience and physical merchandise.
The Results: 300 Participants and 25% Sales Increase
The campaign exceeded expectations across every metric. Over 300 people participated in the prize wheel during a single football game, generating substantial email list growth for Northwest High School’s ongoing communications.
Most importantly, merchandise sales increased by 25% that night compared to previous games—a significant boost that demonstrated the power of engaging promotional experiences over passive giveaways. The combination of immediate prizes and discount coupons created both instant gratification and future purchase incentives.
Kim, the Northwest High School PTSA President, summed up the client experience: “This was so much fun and I would definitely want to do it again! For the people that won, they have had very positive feedback and we definitely saw some traffic in the online store using the discount. Thank you so much for your sponsorship and support! We value your partnership and commitment to making Northwest great!”
Why This Campaign Earned Recognition
The CPPA Peake Awards recognize excellence in promotional products campaigns, and our Northwest High School prize wheel demonstrated several key elements that make promotional programs successful:
Strategic Integration: Rather than treating promotional products as standalone items, we integrated them into a complete experience that connected digital engagement, physical products, and ongoing marketing objectives.
Measurable Results: By tracking participation numbers, email signups, and sales increases, we could demonstrate clear ROI for the client’s investment.
Creative Execution: The QR code and digital prize wheel approach turned passive spectators into active participants, creating memorable brand interactions that traditional giveaways can’t match.
Appropriate Scale: We designed a campaign that fit the client’s budget while delivering outsized impact through smart strategy rather than bulk spending.
The Boutique Advantage in Promotional Programs
This award-winning campaign exemplifies why boutique promotional products distributors deliver superior results compared to large online catalog companies. When Northwest High School partnered with Sonic Promos, they didn’t just order products—they gained a dedicated creative partner who understood their goals and designed a custom solution.
Large online distributors can fulfill product orders, but they don’t strategize campaigns. They don’t consider how promotional items integrate with digital experiences, or how to maximize engagement within budget constraints. They certainly don’t provide the art services needed to create custom-branded digital prize wheels with school mascots and colors.
Our approach starts with understanding what success looks like for each client. For Northwest High School, success meant both immediate merchandise sales and long-term email list growth. We designed every element of the campaign—from product selection to distribution method—around those specific objectives.
Lessons from an Award-Winning Promotional Campaign
If you’re planning promotional programs for your organization, here are key insights from this Silver Award-winning campaign:
Think beyond the product itself. The t-shirts and sweatshirts were quality branded merchandise, but the prize wheel experience made them memorable and desirable. Consider how you can create engagement around your promotional items.
Connect digital and physical touchpoints. The QR code bridge from smartphone to prize wheel to physical merchandise booth created a seamless experience that kept participants engaged throughout the journey.
Build in future value. The $5 discount coupons ensured that even after the event ended, participants had reasons to return to the school store. One-time promotional events should create ongoing opportunities.
Make participation easy and fun. Scanning a QR code and spinning a digital wheel required minimal effort but delivered maximum engagement. Remove barriers between your audience and their participation.
Track everything. By measuring participation numbers, email capture rates, and sales increases, we could quantify success and prove ROI. Whatever you can measure, you can improve.
Ready to Create Award-Winning Promotional Campaigns?
Whether you’re a school organization looking to boost merchandise sales, a business planning a product launch, or a marketing professional seeking creative promotional solutions, Sonic Promos brings the strategic thinking and creative execution that turns ordinary promotional products into award-winning experiences.
Our dedicated brand managers work with you to understand your specific goals, then design custom campaigns that deliver measurable results. From concept development through execution, we handle every detail—including art services, product sourcing, and campaign strategy—so you can focus on your core mission while we make your promotional programs shine.
Ready to explore what’s possible? Contact us at info@sonicpromos.com to discuss your promotional product needs and discover how creative strategy can transform your next campaign into something truly memorable.
