An interactive Web hunt game has helped Woodbridge, Va.-based Belvoir Federal Credit Union spread the word about how it can help locals.

Launched on the first anniversary of its website redesign, the game, created in partnership with marketing technology firm Code Green, exceeded participation goals by 400% as more than 1,000 members took part in the search.

Participants were challenged to locate nine “slices of life,” each of which tied back to a specific product or service on the site, over the course of 45 days. Those who successfully completed the challenge were entered for a chance to win prizes including a 5% one-year certificate of deposit, two Washington Nationals first-baseline baseball tickets with parking, two VIP season passes to Kings Dominion and family four-pack AMC movie tickets with a concession gift card.

“Ultimately we wanted to build brand awareness of what was available on the website because it is constantly evolving,” said Amy Shanks, Belvoir FCU e-marketing specialist.

She added that the first day alone drew some 95 visitors, who each spent more than 12 minutes on the web hunt site searching for the nine “slices of life” icons in the shape of pie slices to win prizes.

“As they searched they were all learning more about the credit union and what we do,” Shanks said. “The slices really helped reinforce our brand that we are there for everyday people for life, by showing how we have products and services that grow with members at every stage of their financial lives.”

The credit union's website essentially became a game board for a site-wide scavenger hunt. As players found each icon, the game console displayed their progress and encouraged them to continue hunting around the site. Each player's progress was tracked and remembered by the system for the duration of the campaign, and once players found enough icons, they were entered into a sweepstakes for a prize giveaway. As participants found and collected the pie slices, product details and little-known fun facts about the services were revealed. Rather than use lifestyle photos of people, each slice featured icons relating to specific life events from having a baby or graduating to a new job or retiring.

“Our main goal with this web hunt was to engage viewers to visit the site and go through the page views while building a sense of community and fun,” Shanks said.

The credit union certainly met its goal. The 134,380 online users who visited the site during the web hunt represented an increase of almost 40,000 over the initial launch of the redesigned website. In fact, these individuals viewed 255,284 pages throughout the course of the web hunt which, almost double the number of page views in the first month of the redesign launch.

“The member reaction was amazing and we definitely would like to see this turn into annual event that grows as the credit union grows,” Shanks said. “This year it was about overall brand awareness so potentially next year maybe it'll be to target a specific product. We'll see.”

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