How to triple gift certificate sales with an Instagram filter: Silpo and FFFACE.ME case

FFFACE.ME developed an Instagram filter for Silpo that helped customers reconsider the value of gift certificates. So thanks to targeting the interests of their audience and carefully thought-out placement, Silpo's gift certificate sales tripled.

Background and idea

Silpo, one of Ukraine's largest supermarket chains, issues gift certificates. But the chain had a problem: customers did not understand the independent value of gift certificates and did not love them as they did other Silpo products. We needed to change that perception and increase gift certificate sales.

Our question: what is the appeal of certificates? And the appeal of gift certificates is that they literally are the Silpo products that everyone loves so much — hot pizza, fresh lettuce and radishes, sweet doughnuts and crispy baguettes.

AR filter

We visualized this idea as an Instagram filter. When launched, a certificate appears, and the magic happens right away. On the user's head, they get edible accessories that change one by one — a cabbage hat, a baguette decoration, radish bows etc.

Since we understood that the main target audience of Silpo is women, we used that info to create a beauty filter: products act as headwear, earrings and other jewellery complemented by bright makeup.

We sold the idea that the Silpo gift certificates are a gastronomic celebration.

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Coverage

An important element to the success of this case was its spread. The filter was shown at all contact points and through various offline and online channels: on Instagram, on video displays in salesrooms and in the Silpo app. It was also sent out to bloggers.

To actively involve customers, using the filter would allow them to win the same gift certificate.

Result

121,000 promo impressions across all media
10,000 QR code scans with the filter
1744 stories created using the filter
$10 CPM
$0.7 CPA
30,000+ certificates sold in 4 weeks (3 times higher compared to the same period last year)

Insights

It is important to carefully choose the promos placement and not forget about offline channels. We placed the filter exactly where the audience would be motivated to get a certificate and come into contact with it: at points of sale and in the Silpo app. This method can work for a variety of industries — from banks to beauty retailers.
Accurately targeting the interests of the audience enhances the promo effect. We considered that most of Silpo's clients are women and introduced beauty images into the filters, which motivated them to use the filter and share stories actively.