category finalist
dkamp@mower.com
Challenge
At the start of 2025, an economic slowdown stalled Mower’s new business pipeline as client budgets tightened. Despite award wins and Agency of the Year recognition, we faced a clear awareness issue. Prospects did not know who we were or even how to say our name. We needed to break through a crowded agency landscape and drive meaningful engagement with a goal of increasing our pipeline by 2 to 3 times in nine months.
Insight
Active participation drives memory. Research shows interactive, play-based experiences lead to 60% higher recall than passive content. Gamified experiences are 90% easier to remember, and visual mnemonic recall rates are twice as effective as traditional messaging. If we wanted to be remembered, we had to be experienced.
Strategy
Create a disruptive, participatory brand experience that prospects would choose to engage with. Build something fun, competitive and unexpected that embeds Mower directly into memory while creating natural opportunities for conversation and connection.
Idea
Mower Mania. A retro-inspired video game designed as a live brand experience. Players raced against the clock on a customizable riding lawn mower, cutting grass, dodging obstacles and collecting cash. The mower itself became a visual mnemonic for our name. In-game pop-ups reinforced key messages about Mower’s credentials, employee ownership and expertise. The longer they played, the more they learned and the more they remembered.
Activation
We launched Mower Mania as a live activation at the ANA Masters of B2B Conference, the largest annual gathering of B2B marketers. Two weeks before the event, we teased the experience through social and targeted email.
On-site, ambient media drove traffic to the game while live leaderboards displayed top scores in real time. The experience quickly became a destination, with lines forming throughout the event. While attendees waited, Mower employees engaged prospects in meaningful conversations about their business challenges and goals.
To play, participants entered their name and email, turning gameplay into a lead generation engine. Every player received MOWER-branded socks as a physical reminder of the experience, while daily high scorers won Carhartt jackets, connecting the activation to a key client.
After the event, we extended the experience through a holiday email campaign inviting prospects, clients and employees to play. Each game triggered a donation to No Kid Hungry, adding a purpose-driven layer that reinforced goodwill and brand affinity.
Results
With zero paid media, Mower Mania exceeded every objective:
• More than 30% of ANA attendees played and shared contact information
• 378 website visits with an average engagement time of 11 minutes
• Holiday campaign reached 449 prospects with an 83% engagement rate
• 1,954 total game plays with an average time of 4.35 minutes
• 71 MQLs generated over nine months
• 6.2X increase in average pipeline value
• 50% RFP win rate
Mower Mania proved that when a brand shows up as an experience, not just a message, it earns attention, drives connection and delivers real business growth.
