The Best Father’s Day Contest Ideas to Boost Your Brand

Kamila Palka
Kamila Palka
Father's Day is bigger than ever, largely driven by Millennials who are keen to splash out on celebrating dads. But at the same time, consumers are moving away from tired stereotypes and cringe-worthy gifts. We round up the best Father's Day contest ideas - updated for this year.

Father’s Day contest ideas for your brand

According to Statista, Father’s Day was worth more than $20.1 billion in 2021, up from $17billion in the previous year. Customer also increased their average spending to $149 per consumer. But we’ve come a long way from the traditional hand-knitted tie or bottle of whiskey. Nowadays dads are smart, smartly dressed, and social media-conscious superheroes.

Source: Statista

So what does that mean for your Father’s Day marketing campaign? Well, it’s time to get up to date, with campaigns that reach out to both kids and parents, and combine traditional themes with modern values. In this post, we’ll take a look at:

fathers day prom


Boost brand awareness with a Father’s Day branded game contest

Nowadays, the best campaigns are the ones that not only engage but also entertain the audience. Therefore, they should be interactive, and this means that this Father’s Day you should put your bets on branded games! There are many different gamified applications and ways in which you can engage your online community. At the end of the day, everyone likes a bit of challenge.


Entertain your audience with an interactive Father’s Day contest: Match It game

How many fathers like to watch big football events, or sit restlessly in front of their TVs during the Olympics? Many! So how about a sport-themed Match It game for Father’s Day?

father's day contest idea: branded match it game

In this example, participants are asked to match famous athletes with their sports. The fun thing is that these successful sportsmen are also… dads. This is an ideal way to entertain your audience with a topic that will most likely appeal to the majority of your followers. If you decide to use our Match It game for your Father’s Day campaign, remember to customize it with your logo and branding color for maximized brand exposure!

Interactive content is the current go-to, and it should be used if you’re looking to achieve your marketing goals in terms of engagement, lead collection, and entertainment.


Collect user-generated content with a Father’s Day contest

Photo and video contests are the most effective ways to obtain user-generated content that you can then reuse for promotional purposes. And did you know that users grant you permission to reuse their content once they submit the registration form?

Check this photo contest ideas to gather UGC like a pro!

If you’re looking to use your Father’s Day campaign to highlight a product you can organize a photo contest. But not just any photo contest…! PhotoFun is an interactive tool used to personalize and decorate pictures with frames and stickers chosen by… you! Upload your branded stickers and disseminate the promotion on your social media, and success will be guaranteed!

Father's Day photofun

To motivate more participants to this fun Father’s Day contest remember to add an interesting incentive. A good prize will always be the best motivation. Enable voting to drive even more traffic to your promotion. Participants will willingly share the promotion with their friends as a way of obtaining more votes, and concurrently they will also be taking care of promoting your business!

Organize a Father’s Day photo, video, or writing contest the most versatile Voting Contest.

Organize a Father’s Day writing contest

Celebrating dad is all about sharing good memories and a writing contest is the best way to invite your audience to do it. Ask participants to share a story about a memorable experience with dad and offer a prize from your product catalogue to the winners. Enable the public voting system and encourage them to share the promotion with their contacts to vet more votes, which will help your promotion go viral.

Father's Day Writing Contest


One of the main reasons for creating a Father’s Day campaign is of course a possible spike in sales. So what would the best Father’s Day campaign idea for someone looking to invoice more than usual? We say online promotions that not only allow you to entertain and engage your audience but also promote your products in a creative way! Take a look at this Father’s Day Word Search game.

Father's Day Word Search

Do you own a clothing shop? Or maybe an electronics store? The truth is that a branded Word Search can be created by any brand! The above example shows can a clothes shop can promote their products prior to Father’s Day. Simply create an easy-to-enter game and ask your online community to look for names of your bestselling products hidden in the grid.

To encourage participation raffle a trendy Father’s Day gift among all participants. You will not only generate new leads but also reinforce brand loyalty and awareness!

Check out these Father’s Day giveaway ideas to promote your products and engage your community on social media.


Father’s Day campaign idea: showcase and promote products with a Father’s Day Product Recommender

Once you’ve chosen your audience, it’s time to pick a promotional prize or Father’s Day gift. What will appeal to your target market?

To help you get started, here’s a round-up of the top Father’s Day gifts:

  • 47% of consumers plan to buy dad an experience
  • 43% plan to buy clothing
  • 42% plan to buy gift cards
  • 20% plan to buy consumer electronics
  • 19% plan to buy personal care products
  • 16% are interested in home improvement supplies, tools or appliances, sports, and leisure, or automotive accessories

And of course, greeting cards remain a classic option. 63% of consumers plan to give dad a card, as well as gifts.

The conclusion? Stereotypical “dad gifts” are less popular than ever before. Instead, consumers are looking for fun experiences and products which suit dads’ hobbies and self-care. Instead of focusing on the macho aspects of fatherhood, you can offer gifts that speak to parenting’s softer side.

Some children might actually encounter problems when it comes to choosing the right gift for their father. What do I get him this year, they wonder. We recommend you take advantage of this! Product Recommenders are interactive surveys that display a final personalized message based on the participant’s answers.

Father's Day Product Recommender

You can easily configure a short questionnaire where you ask your audience a few simple questions about their dads. Once they submit their answers you can display a message suggesting what present could be ideal for their fathers. But how do you increase sales? By adding discount vouchers and coupons!

Father's Day Product recommender

Product Recommenders are a fantastic tool to collect new leads. You can use the contact details to email discount codes and vouchers to redeem at your stores.

Do you think this Father’s Day promotion idea might appeal to your audience? Give it a go by trying out DEMO – you can even download our ready-made template to create your own Product Recommender for Father’s Day. And if you’d like to fond out more about this dynamic check out our blogpost dedicated to creating a Father’s Day quiz.


Reward and acquire clients with exclusive promotions for paying customers

Fairfield Forum is an Australian shopping center. With Father’s Day coming up, they decided to take advantage of the event and use it as a great excuse to increase footfall to their premises. All customers that spent $15 dollars or more in participating Fairfield Forum retailers had a chance to win shopping vouchers.

Father's Day action to reward paying customers

Users entered the promotion by filling in a registration form and attaching a receipt proving their purchase. Apart from collecting new leads, the organizer drove repeat sales and reinforced customer trust right in time for Father’s Day.

Are you looking into organizing a Father’s Day giveaway? Check out these ideas and examples.

Feeling inspired? Use the links in this blog post to learn more about each type of giveaway – or get in touch with us through our Online Chat if you have some questions or would like to share some Father’s Day promotion ideas with us!

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