Case Study: National Cherry Blossom Festival achieves 7,543 contest entries and 3,800+ new leads with ShortStack

How a national festival used referral rewards to gain leads and boost awareness

The National Cherry Blossom Festival wanted to boost awareness and collect qualified leads for itself and sponsor All Nippon Airways (ANA) through a travel-themed giveaway. To meet a target of 3,000 entries (a milestone that would trigger ANA to plant up to 30 cherry trees), the National Cherry Blossom Festival used ShortStack’s Refer-a-Friend giveaway template and tools to run the “Travel Blossoms Here” campaign.

Using ShortStack’s template, refer-a-friend feature, entry form, field points and autoresponder, the campaign made sharing simple and rewarded referrals. The results: 7,543 unique entries, 39,552 total views (23,236 unique), 2,329 shares, and over 3,800 new leads for ANA; referrals generated more than 1,800 leads (top referrer earned 393 bonus entries) and the autoresponder saw a 33% open rate—exceeding the 3,000 goal so ANA fulfilled the full 30-tree pledge. ShortStack’s features were credited with driving the engagement and measurable lead growth.

National Cherry Blossom Festival

Nora Strumpf

National Cherry Blossom Festival