Case study — Prize competitions
4,000+ site visits at 14p a click for a UK prize competition brand
How we got Proudlocks Competitions authorised, tested seven creatives, and scaled the winners — all inside an ad account they own outright.
Landing page views
Avg. cost per view
People reached
Creatives tested
Result: Sold out — all 2,000 tickets gone, 24 hours before the live draw
Read the full story →The Challenge
Prize competitions sit in Meta's restricted online gambling and gaming category. Most agencies won't touch the sector — and most that do run the ads through their own infrastructure, which means the client loses everything if the relationship ends or the account gets flagged.
Proudlocks needed two things: an ad account properly authorised to run in the category, and a steady flow of low-cost traffic to their competition site — including a fast-turnaround push tied to England's semi-final.
What we did
The playbook.
- 01
Authorisation first.
Secured Meta's online gambling and gaming authorisation on an ad account registered in the client's own name — no spend until it cleared. Every ad carries 18+, T&Cs and the free postal entry route.
- 02
Test wide, spend small.
Launched seven creative angles at £12/day each — car giveaway hero shots, lifestyle video, gift card promos — and let the data pick the winners.
- 03
Kill fast, scale the winners.
Cut underperformers early and moved the two strongest ads to £60/day. Cost per visit held at 15–16p even at 5x the test budget.
- 04
React to the moment.
When England reached the semi-final, we turned around a half-price ticket creative and matching email hero inside a day, tied to a live draw deadline.
Restricted category
Most agencies won't run competition ads. We got them authorised.
Prize competitions fall under Meta's online gambling and gaming rules. Run ads without authorisation and the account gets flagged, restricted or banned — often taking the page down with it.
Before a penny of ad spend went out, we took Proudlocks through Meta's authorisation process on an ad account registered in their name. Not ours. So the authorisation, the account and its clean history belong to them — not to an agency they'd have to stay with to keep it.
Every ad runs compliant by default: 18+ targeting, T&Cs, and the free postal entry route visible on the creative.
The creatives
The creatives that did the work.
The numbers
The numbers.
| Creative | Landing page views | Cost per view | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Final week video | 1,296 | £0.15 | Scaled to £60/day |
| Hero image v2.1 | 955 | £0.16 | Scaled to £60/day |
| Static ad 1 | 589 | £0.13 | Retired after test |
| Lifestyle video | 492 | £0.12 | Retired after test |
| Static ad 3 | 251 | £0.13 | Retired after test |
| Static ad 2 | 238 | £0.12 | Retired after test |
| Gift card promo | 195 | £0.18 | Cut early |
Figures from Meta Ads Manager, 22 June – 17 July 2026. Results are landing page views from traffic campaigns; every account is different and results vary.
They own all of it.
The ad account, the pixel data, the audiences and every creative belong to Proudlocks — registered in their name from day one. If they left tomorrow, they'd take everything with them. That's Built to Keep™, and it's how every 99 Ads account works.
Want numbers like these?
£99/month. No contracts. Leads in 14 days or we work free.