Find the fan favourites with this real-time live-poll activation

Not all campaigns are suited to live in-person events. It can be expensive to bring activations on the road or build-out big event spaces. Sometimes the best option is to instead run a fully digital, online activation over the course of days or weeks.

The live-poll is an ideal activation for these situations. Give customers the choice to vote for their favourite and watch as the results flood in. Scores change in real time, keeping things exciting and dynamic. Customers will be tuned-in as the timer counts down and the winner is revealed.

Picking the right question is crucial. You'll want to split opinion in the best way possible, prompting fans to weight in and get their view out there. Here are a few ideas.

• 🍔 Food and beverage: Let customers vote for their favourite brand flavour in a "the country's favourite …" campaign.
• 🏆 Sports: get crowds voting in real-time during games with "man of the match" poll.
• 🎙️ Conferences: let attendees vote for their favourite talk or speaker.
• 👔 Corporate: ask employees to vote for the "employee of the year" at corporate get togethers.
• 🍿 TV and movies: ask fans “what was the best episode of season 4?”

Here's how it works.

• Customers are prompted to play along via social media posts, digital or physical ads or anywhere else you can post an URL or QR code.
• They scan the QR code or URL and are brought to a landing page. No apps here - everything is powered via the browser.
• The customer is asked to enter their details and accept the terms and conditions.
• They are then asked to choose their favourite from a list.
• Once chosen, they're shown the current real-time scores and prodded to share their vote with their friends via socials or messaging apps.
• After a day, a week, a month or whatever the length of campaign is, the results are shared with the public.

So what are the benefits of the live poll?

• Live and dynamic. It's crucial to show the live up-to-the-minute results to keep everything feeling dynamic and “live”. That means using beautiful animations and real-time technology to update the scores as the players load up.
• Always-on. Run this activation for a number of days or weeks and have it do the work for you in the background. Encourage voters to share their choice with friends and see votes rush in 24/7.
• Accessible. By using real-time web technologies, you can avoid frustrating users with app downloads or other barriers to entry.
• Flexible. Although designed for fully digital campaigns, you can put this on-site at live events using a big-screen touch screen.

There are also quite a few ways to customise the experience:

• Knock out. Instead of asking a single question, do a knock-out where the least popular option gets removed every day until there's only one winner.
• Product Sample. Pair this activation with a sampling element. For example, reward everyone who votes for the winner with a sample (or coupon), using their saved details.
• Crowdsource. Instead of asking for existing favourites, put a new idea up for interrogation. ”What should we call our new flavour?”, ”Who should be our next mascot?” Etc.
• Multipliers. Give votes the edge if players complete a number of tasks, like sharing with friends.