Gabe’s experience in running successful product launches using UpViral is one you shouldn’t miss out on. He knows his stuff when it comes to marketing, getting leads, and selling in the music industry.
Interesting fact: Before Gabe’s previous $200,000 campaign where he sold a $17 product, no one ever did a 6-figure launch in his industry. Only Gabe did it… which makes him an interesting case.
Recently, we learned that Gabe was in the middle of another campaign. Excited to know his latest techniques, we decided to invite him as our Co-Pilot Show guest.
Check out the 1-hour video recording below and breakdown of his recent campaign featuring rap icon Snoop Dog. 🔥
The results? Here’s what we know so far:
🔥At the time of our interview, Gabe mentioned earning over $80,000 from a $17 product (“The Snoop Contest Gold Pack”) that he offered within the campaign as a ticket to join the Snoop song contest.
🔥He did a launch for a $47 product in the middle of the contest where he made $10,000 within the first 10 minutes.
🔥He launched another product which he put on sale (only $7 for a $2,700 value product) during the contest winner announcement on Facebook live. It also sold out in minutes.
Before we dive in, let’s first get to know Gabe.
Gabe’s Story and How It All Started
Gabe Schillinger is a music producer and engineer in the genre of hip-hop music with over 20 years of experience. He’s worked with top artists like Kendrick Lamar and Snoop Dogg.
He also founded Legion Beats, a music production company that sells high-quality beats, and Midi Money, which helps producers start and grow their beat-selling business.
Gabe told us that during the first 10 years of his music career, he took the traditional route selling music to record labels. He said, “I was just being the artist and not the entrepreneur.”
He then realized that what he was doing wasn’t sustainable. Gabe wanted a real career to focus on. He mentioned being 30 years old at that time and still living in his dad’s house.
Then things started to change.
With zero marketing experience, Gabe made his first 20 bucks selling beats online. That sparked his interest. ✨
Gabe thought to himself: If he could get more traffic, maybe he could earn more money. By coming across Russell Brunson and learning how to create funnels, he gained a new perspective. “Marketing could be really fun,” Gabe said.
Why Gabe Chose UpViral:
He wanted to get leads without spending a lot of money, and so he decided to try UpViral. As mentioned earlier, his previous campaign in 2020 generated over 41K leads, $200K in sales, and 10K social media shares. If you haven’t read/watched that case study yet, make sure you do.
The rest of this case study will reveal the details of Gabe’s current contest including relevant screenshots. Whether you’re new to running contests or need a change in your strategy, hopefully, you’ll gain lots of knowledge from this case study.
How the Snoop Dogg Contest Works
Gabe usually structures a contest campaign this way:
- Offer a prize that his audience can win.
- Run the contest for 4-8 weeks.
- Host a big live event where he announces the winner.
- After announcing the winner, launch a product, and then do a time-limited discount offer.
The Snoop Dogg contest, which Gabe and his buddy music producer Anno Domini created, was structured a bit differently. Here were the key differences:
1. Longer contest duration
Instead of the usual 4-8 week contest, this current contest lasted for about 16 weeks, from November 1 to February 21. Gabe noticed that the campaign was consistently getting traffic and leads. This showed that in his case, a longer time frame works well.
💎Our thoughts: Some sources may tell you that longer campaigns aren’t as effective as shorter campaigns. Yet, Gabe’s campaign shows otherwise. One reason was that Gabe was able to maintain the buzz and excitement from day one until the winner announcement date.
2. A contest within a contest
The Snoop Contest consisted of 2 parts.
First part:
This part works just like a traditional contest. People enter their first name and email. On the share page, they share the campaign link with their friends and take other actions to earn more points and incentives.
Second part:
Once entered, participants can also qualify for another contest — a song contest where they need to submit their music to a panel of judges, and if chosen, they can win a Snoop Dogg feature on their song.
To qualify, they can do one of two things — get The Snoop Song Contest (Silver Pack) by earning 15 points… OR buy The Snoop Contest (Gold Pack) for only $17.
3. Collaborating with an industry influencer
Snoop Dogg is a highly respected American rapper and songwriter. It’s no secret that working with a celebrity like himself effectively builds hype and promotes the contest including Gabe’s message.
4. Incentivizing people along the way
In a lot of contests, participants can feel hesitant to share the campaign with their friends for fear that they may not win or because they don’t have a huge following on social media.
So here’s what Gabe did: He started giving out prizes to those who got as little as 2 points just for sharing the contest. “Every single step of the way, they’re incentivized to keep doing more,” said Gabe.
5. More Custom Actions
Gabe’s previous UpViral campaign only had 1 custom action on the share page which was “Follow us on Instagram.”
However, this time, Gabe leveraged more custom actions that were geared towards boosting social engagement for the campaign. We’ll get into these custom actions in a while.
6. Two product launches
The first product worth $47 was launched in the middle of the contest. That brought in $10,000 within just 10 minutes. Gabe attributes this success to the custom action where people had to send a text message “Text BEATS to (415) 818-9808” so they can get updated about that launch.
The second launch was done at the end of the contest, during the winner announcement live stream. (Watch the embedded video in the Winner Announcement section below.)
In that recorded live stream, you can see that Anno Domini mentions the product getting sold out quickly after making it available for only $7. This product was actually one of the prizes offered in the contest. People already wanted it and now it was available at a very cheap price.
The Opt-In Page And Share Page That Kept People Engaged
Every contest or giveaway needs a great opt-in page and share page not just to convince people to sign up, but also to encourage them to keep sharing. Obviously, these pages should have the following basic elements:
- Headline/headings
- Visuals (images, videos, emojis, etc.)
- Copy
- Forms
- Call-to-action buttons
But what makes the DIFFERENCE is how well these elements are constructed. Check out the screenshots:
Opt-In Page
1. Pre-headline
The opt-in page starts with the pre-headline “Contest for Rappers & Singers.” We like how Gabe used this to draw the right people into the contest by calling them out. If you’re a singer or rapper, then you know that this contest is for you.
💎The takeaway: Use the pre-headline as a chance to pre-qualify your target audience and weed out less qualified ones. This is the first step to growing a quality email list through a contest.
2. Big headline
Below the pre-headline is a headline that stands out: “WIN AN EXCLUSIVE FEATURE FROM SNOOP DOGG!” Even though Gabe offered other prizes in the contest, he chose this attention-grabbing headline. Working with Snoop is a dream come true for anyone pursuing a music career.
(Recall that in order to qualify for the song contest and win the exclusive feature, participants need to get The Snoop Song Contest Silver Pack first worth 15 points or purchase The Snoop Contest Gold Pack worth $17.)
3. More prize details
Right beneath the big headline, you’ll see the rest of the prizes such as free beats for life, studio gear, etc. It’s almost impossible for any qualified audience not to opt-in.
💎The takeaway: If you’re giving away multiple prizes, be sure to also mention them on the opt-in page while highlighting the most popular one (in Gabe’s case, the Snoop Dogg feature) as the headline.
4. Image
The image of Snoop Dogg complements the headline. It draws further attention to the Snoop feature prize. Also, it stands out not just because it features a celebrity, but also because it’s clear and visually appealing.
5. CTA button
The blue call-to-action button “YES, I WANT TO WIN! Click HERE to Enter” is written in the first person. This makes the CTA more personalized and actionable.
Notice that Gabe also added the checkbox icon and flame emojis to serve as visual cues. Such tiny details can quickly convey a message even without reading an entire text.
6. Social proof
Social proof is a great element to add on your opt-in page because it boosts people’s perceptions about your business.
Below the CTA button is a social proof text that says, “We’ve worked with artists like Kendrick Lamar, 2 Chainz, Tech Nge, Too Short, and YOU…” Since these celebrities are associated with Gabe’s company, people are more likely to participate in the contest.
💎Don’t have this kind of social proof like Gabe? Use these instead: Product reviews, testimonials, social media comments, or numbers (years in business, subscriber count, monthly readers, or customers.)
After clicking the CTA button, a form pops up where you enter your name and email.
Note: Gabe used double opt-in to prevent spam addresses. This means that a participant’s entry is not complete unless they click the confirmation link in their email.
Share Page
After clicking “Yes! I Want In!” they’re taken to a share page with more details about the contest.
1. Big bold headline
A lot of people who run contests don’t do this. Once again, Gabe uses a question-type headline that grabs attention.
This may be a closed-ended question, but here’s why it works well: People are already aware that they want to win in the contest. But what about increasing their chances of winning 100X? 😮That’s something new.
2. Explainer video
Gabe features a 9-minute video where he and his partner Anno Domini give all the details about the contest. Here’s what the video includes:
- Snoop introduces himself, calls out Legion Beats and Anno Domini, and gives a short overview of the contest.
- Gabe shares their mission behind the campaign: “To empower independent artists to take control of their own success by creating opportunities that they can’t get anywhere else.”
- Explanation of the song contest + giveaway, how people can qualify, and all the prizes they can win. Gabe emphasizes that everybody gets to win.
- The ways participants can earn more points.
- Warning for those who try to game the system.
Here’s a screenshot of that video (below). Or if you want to check it out for inspiration, head over to this page. You’ll find the video at the bottom of the page.
3. Instruction list
To guide participants further, Gabe includes a 2-step process on what to do next. For step 1, they need to collect points by first confirming their entry, sharing the giveaway via the unique referral link, and taking the custom actions.
Notice that there’s another video below step 1 explaining how they can win.
Down below, you’ll find the referral link that people can copy and paste anywhere to share the contest, social media sharing buttons, and custom actions.
Notice that Gabe used 7 custom actions.
These included purchasing the gold beat back to gain entry to the song contest, following Legion Beats and Anno Domini on Instagram to stay updated on the campaign and texting BEATs to be the first to know about the first product launch.
For step 2, people are given the option to purchase the Snoop Contest Gold Pack for $17 if they’re ready to submit a song and no longer want to collect 15 points.
4. Prizes
Below this option is the list of prizes that can be won in the contest.
This is what makes Gabe’s contest extra special: It has generous prizes that get people psyched no matter their level of participation.
Here are all the featured prizes:
- Most points – $1,000 home studio makeover + beat pack
- Raffle winner – Free beats for life (hundreds of beats each year)
- Top 100 points – Beats, training, and more
- 20 points – Legion Pro Tools template + special beat pack
- 15 points – Snoop Song Contest (Silver Pack) to enter the song contest
- 2-10 points – Free beats (2 points = 2 free beats, 6 points = 4 free beats, etc.)
💎 UpViral tip: If you’re offering multiple prizes in addition to a grand prize, make sure that those prizes are also relevant to your audience, just as Gabe did.
5. Song Contest Panel of Judges
Contests that involve participants’ creativity require a panel of judges who are industry/field experts. This ensures that everyone is judged fairly.
Gabe featured the panel of judges for the song contest which included himself and Anno Domini as well as American rappers and musical artists Killah Priest, Kurupt, Rob Level, and Planet Asia.
To establish credibility and trustworthiness, each judge had a picture and their professional titles in the music industry.
6. Partners & Prize Contributors
One of the things you can do to create a contest is to partner up with other brands to put together a prize bundle. This accomplishes multiple things:
- Makes running the contest more manageable since workload is shared
- Gives other brands the chance to be featured while you receive their help
- Increases social proof especially if you’re featuring well-known partners
Traffic and Engagement Techniques
On top of the virality that Gabe gained through UpViral’s system, he used these strategies to drive traffic to the Snoop campaign and keep everyone engaged from day one:
1. Share the mission
When it comes to getting people to spread the word about your contest, Gabe considers this his go-to strategy.
Gabe also stresses out the importance of choosing a prize that’s in line with your mission. If you watched his explainer video, recall that his mission was to empower independent artists by creating opportunities for them. And that’s the point of the prizes he gave away which were the Snoop feature, beats, studio makeover, and tools.
2. Run paid ads
Gabe used Facebook ads to drive traffic. We think this was a great strategy considering Facebook’s targeting capabilities. Gabe mentioned doing a little bit of retargeting using the same type of ad. “The focus has been on reminding people about the contest and what they can win,” said Gabe.
If a simple Facebook ad can effectively drive traffic to your campaign, then you’ve already done a great job.
Check out this resource: How Do Facebook Ads Work? A Definitive Guide on Getting Started
3. If you’re launching a product, make that the prize
Gabe sparked people’s desire for his launched product by making it one of the prizes in the contest. With this strategy, you get a bunch of customers on the launch day who wouldn’t normally do so without that “initial exposure” to the prize.
4. Leverage affiliates
Aside from running Facebook ads, Gabe set up an affiliate program where affiliates would be incentivized for sharing the contest.
He provided his affiliates with ready-made swipe files for their social media posts and emails. Gabe considered the possibility that not everyone had the skill and time to create marketing content.
As Gabe puts it, “The easier it is for affiliates, the more likely they are to take action and share.”
5. Get featured on renowned websites
The Snoop contest got featured on music media brand Billboard Magazine. See the screenshot below:
To increase the popularity of that article, Gabe did an email blast to everyone, asking them to check it out in case they haven’t entered the contest yet!
6. Keep on emailing participants
Gabe sent lots of broadcast emails to his list. When people first enter the campaign, he already engages them with a 14-day email sequence.
This includes indoctrination emails explaining what the campaign is about, how it works, including the first product to be launched.
Check out this resource: How to Write Emails That Your Giveaway Audience Will Want to Read and Take Action From
Winner Announcement
Finally… the big day. This is perhaps the most exciting part of any contest or giveaway — announcing the winner. Knowing Gabe, he makes the winner announcement day super special by hosting a live event.
Here’s the embed of that live event that lasted nearly 2 hours:
The event garnered massive engagement with over 1.5K reactions and 35K comments.
Actually, everyone was already a winner because they were incentivized just for earning as little as 2 points. However, they stuck until the end to also find out the ultimate winner of the Snoop Song Contest.
The judges took time to listen to every song.
Towards the end of the live event, Anno Domini announced a sale for their newly launched product. It sold out in minutes. 🔥
Final Thoughts
Gabe has taken his contest to a whole new level. He used the original structure of his campaign that worked and added new elements to meet his goals.
His campaign ended up becoming more advanced compared to his previous campaign. So, he would not recommend this to anyone doing a contest for the first time. “You don’t need to start with something huge. Start with something small and build from there.”
In summary, it was a huge success.
One of the things that Gabe loves about UpViral is that he’s able to do whatever he can think of. (If you check our other case studies, you’ll realize that every campaign is different!)
Now that we’ve shown you Gabe’s campaign, it’s your turn to put what you’ve learned into practice. 💪
Ready to start? When you are, try UpViral’s $1 trial.
Who knows… This might be your chance to get your first 100, 1000, 10,000 leads (or more) and build a thriving business.
