Ever thought about running a treasure hunt or scavenger hunt as part of your brand’s marketing efforts? A legal scavenger hunt is the way to engage your loyal customers and offer a fun, immersive experience.

Depending on the level of skill involved in your scavenger hunt, the promotion may be deemed a contest (skill-based) or a sweepstakes (game of chance). Either way, you will want to have a full set of legal, official rules in place to govern the promotion to cover all possibilities – such as what the tie-breaker would be if two people found the treasure at the exact same time, or what happens if no one wins.

Speaking of not having a winner, you should be mindful that you don’t create an unwinnable promotion – or endanger lives. A real life treasure hunt from 2010 has inadvertently caused the deaths of several treasure hunters. Learn from the mistakes of that fiasco by offering a clear resolution should the treasure not be discovered in a certain amount of time, or a way to shut the promotion down should things go awry.

In that same vein, creating a simple promotion is always the best way to go. The more complicated you make it, the fewer people will want to play, since “oh, someone else has probably already figured it out.”

Eliminate the need to spend money to play – especially if it is a sweepstakes – unless there is a way to play without purchase. The no purchase necessary element is a legal requirement, and if someone can win just by outspending someone else, then how can the competition be fair to all?

Now that you know how to make your scavenger hunt legal, here are three ideas for your next scavenger hunt:

1. Go high tech and use augmented reality, geo-location services, or video game sponsorships to allow your players to find a virtual prize, or find virtual clues to solve a puzzle to win a real prize.
2. Post clues on social platforms like Twitter or Facebook to lead players to the prize. A scavenger hunt on social has the added benefit of increasing your followers or getting your followers to opt-in to notifications on social, since people will want to be the first to see your posts to get the next clue.
3. Host a traditional scavenger hunt event to create a true brand experience. You could send participants in groups out with a list of items to find and post to social platforms like TikTok or Snapchat or Instagram with the appropriate hashtags. First group to complete the list and post to their feed wins!

If you need help planning your next treasure or scavenger hunt, contact us. We can help with drafting official rules, the technical work, and the event planning to make your hunt a success.

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