Green Spaces Make Happy Places: The Rise x The Sill Sweepstakes

Campaign Overview

Rise Gardens makes indoor gardens for growing plants and produce at home. In March 2023 it partnered with houseplant retailer The Sill on a sweepstakes hosted at giveaway.risegardens.com. The headline was "Green Spaces Make Happy Places", billed as the Rise x The Sill Sweepstakes, and the offer was "a peaceful, lush sanctuary" for one winner.

The campaign ran from March 21 to March 29, 2023. It collected 4,806 sign-ups; the campaign did not require email confirmation. The page recorded 46,492 page views, and entrants made 4,202 visits to the two brands' Instagram accounts.

It was the second of two co-branded giveaways Rise Gardens ran on the domain. The first, with Big Green Egg for Father's Day in June 2022, drew 1,399 confirmed entrants. Across the two, the series collected 6,205 entrants: 4,806 sign-ups for The Sill campaign and 1,399 confirmed entrants for the Big Green Egg one.

Campaign Strategy

The prize was a ready-made plant corner, split between the two brands:

• From Rise Gardens: one 2-Level Rise Garden in Cloud ($1,049) and two Rise Houseplant Shelves in Cloud ($60).
• From The Sill: a $200 The Sill gift card.
• For everyone else: an exclusive discount on the new Rise Garden for non-winners.

The grand prize package totaled $1,309. The Sill sells houseplants and Rise Gardens sells indoor gardens and plant shelves, so the page could promise "the ultimate urban sanctuary grand prize for anyone that loves plants" and have both halves of the prize appeal to the same person. The non-winner discount meant the page still had an offer for every entrant but one.

Entry was deliberately light. The page's how-to-win line read: enter your email, follow Rise Gardens on Instagram, follow The Sill on Instagram, win prizes. The point values matched that simplicity:

• Visit Rise Gardens on Instagram: 1 pt.
• Visit The Sill on Instagram: 1 pt.
• Refer a friend: 100 pts per friend.

The Grand Prize reward was set at 3 points, a deliberately low bar.

Viral Mechanics & Growth Engine

With the Instagram visits worth 1 point each, referrals were the only meaningful way to build a bigger entry. One referred friend earned 100 points, a hundred times the value of an Instagram visit, so an entrant who wanted better odds had one clear move: share the link.

The partner mechanic is the other engine. Both brands had an identical action in the entry flow, and both drew almost the same response: 2,157 visits to Rise Gardens' Instagram and 2,045 to The Sill's, equal to 45% and 43% of sign-ups. The Sill got close to equal exposure to the host brand's audience, which is what makes a co-branded giveaway worth promoting for the partner.

The same structure worked with Big Green Egg in June 2022. That campaign offered a Triple Family Rise Garden with a Starter Kit ($1,079) and a MiniMax Big Green Egg package ($779), plus a $100 discount on Family Gardens for non-winners. It logged 975 visits to Rise Gardens' Instagram and 1,036 to Big Green Egg's, so in that edition the partner drew slightly more.

Results & Impact

• 4,806 sign-ups in nine days, with no email confirmation required.
• 46,492 page views on the campaign page.
• 4,202 Instagram visits: 2,157 to Rise Gardens and 2,045 to The Sill.
• Big Green Egg campaign (June 16 to June 20, 2022): 2,089 sign-ups, of which 1,399 confirmed (67%), and 27,388 page views. The Sill campaign drew 2.3 times as many sign-ups.
• Series total: 6,205 entrants across two campaigns (4,806 sign-ups plus 1,399 confirmed entrants).

Two campaigns, two partners and the same simple format gave Rise Gardens a repeatable way to reach plant and cooking audiences beyond its own. The Sill edition was the larger of the two, with a longer window and a prize aimed squarely at indoor plant lovers.

Why This Strategy Works

A co-branded giveaway lets two brands pool prizes and audiences without either paying for the other's reach. The Rise x The Sill sweepstakes worked because the fit was obvious: someone who wants a $200 The Sill gift card is exactly the person who wants an indoor garden and a houseplant shelf. The prize reads as one sanctuary rather than two brands' products side by side, and the entry flow split attention between them almost evenly.

The non-winner discount closes the loop. Only one person could win, but every entrant left with a reason to buy the product they had just spent time wanting. For any home, garden or lifestyle brand with a natural partner in an adjacent category, this simple partner sweepstakes is the template worth copying.

Key Takeaways

1. Pick a partner who sells to the same customer. Houseplants and indoor gardens made one coherent prize for one kind of buyer.
2. Give the partner equal billing in the entry flow. Matching Instagram actions sent 2,045 visits to The Sill, close to the 2,157 Rise Gardens received.
3. Keep something for the non-winners. An exclusive discount on the new Rise Garden meant every entrant had an offer after the draw.
4. Keep entry to a few steps. An email and two Instagram visits were all it took.
5. Reuse the format with a new partner and a new moment. Father's Day with Big Green Egg and spring with The Sill ran on the same structure.