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Turning Mall Footfall into Playable Brand Moments
Absa, one of South Africa’s leading banks, set out to turn heads with a bold experiential marketing goal: use cutting-edge tech to fuel real-world engagement and gather high-value first-person data. The task? Deliver a campaign that would leave a lasting brand impression—while offering users a shot at fantastic prizes, including the ultimate reward: a brand-new car.

With a crowded market and discerning audience, the challenge lay in creating an experience that was exciting, seamless, and tech-forward—all within a live retail setting.

We developed a three-day AR activation at Sandton’s Nelson Mandela Square and Checkers Court, transforming the showroom floor into an interactive mobile experience where participants collected geo-locked Virtual Asset Tokens (VATs) for the chance to win tiered prizes.

The journey included:

???? Geofenced prize drops tied to each location, encouraging foot traffic across both car showcase zones.
???? Mobile-first web app (no downloads!) that guided users from registration to prize redemption.
???? Loyalty mechanic: Participants had to collect a VAT at both sites to qualify for the grand prize—tracked via a dynamic progress bar in their wallet.

85%+ sign-up conversion rate from QR scan to registration.
2x re-engagement rate across the 3-day campaign window.
~15 minutes average session time
Thousands of unique participants, with 550–600 users signing up per day.
Captured high-quality first-person data with every interaction.
All 2,000 prizes issued.