Turning grocery spend into a digital rugby experience

Driving real-world sales without losing digital momentum.

To fully activate its Springbok sponsorship, Pick n Pay needed more than brand visibility, the campaign had to drive measurable in-store sales while increasing daily engagement within the ASAP app. The challenge was twofold: evolve a traditional gift-with-purchase mechanic into a behaviour-changing experience that customers would return to daily, not just redeem once; and ensure high-value rewards tied to real-world spend were distributed with absolute integrity.

With prizes contingent on specific purchase criteria (like R500 minimum spend in-store), any friction, manual processes, or loopholes would undermine trust at national scale. The risk wasn't just low engagement, it was fraud, user frustration, and a promotion that failed to convert short-term excitement into long-term loyalty.

A collectible campaign engineered for repeat engagement.

Sea Monster developed Collectaboks as a dual-layered gamified experience integrated directly into the Pick n Pay ASAP app, bridging physical retail with digital retention. The first layer transforms the physical card promotion into an interactive digital album. Users redeem unique codes from their in-store packs to unlock virtual collections featuring exclusive player stats and personal audio messages from Springbok stars.

The second layer, Smart Kicker, is a skill-based rugby game that challenges players to master wind resistance and kicking angles. By offering daily rewards like point multipliers and shopping vouchers, it keeps customers returning to the app between shopping trips, maintaining momentum when they're not in-store. Underpinning both experiences is a sophisticated CRM integration that automates prize validation at scale.

The system uses real-time API calls to verify Smart Shopper status and spending thresholds before awarding prizes, enabling instant voucher distribution while preventing fraud and duplicate claims. This seamless automation transforms a traditional sponsorship into a high-performance loyalty engine that operates with integrity at national scale.