What is a challenge coin? It’s a coin or other token that commemorates an event, an achievement, or a different item of note. Historically, they were issued by military units in recognition of meritorious service, wins in battle, or just to boost morale and esprit de corps. They were designed to be collectible and/or tradeable so that members of different units could exchange them in celebration.
Modern Challenge Coins
In the 21st century, challenge coins are seen as being used more in the business world than in the military world. The idea behind them remains the same, however. They still signify good events, achievements, and other positive messages. They come to stand for a business’s core values and mission. Often, the business designs a succession of such coins. Each coin then signifies a milestone toward a shared goal. As the business achieves each milestone, it will issue the coins to the employees. The secondary idea of collectibility also remains, making challenge coins also a fine tool to promote networking.
Those aren’t the only goals, as challenge coins can also help build employee loyalty through recognition and connection. Many employees feel that recognition of good work is at least as important as remuneration for jobs well done. Of course, simply having the coins won’t achieve the desired outcomes without a commitment from management. The business has to “walk the walk” as well as “talk the talk.”
The Role of Challenge Coins in Marketing
The collectibility of challenge coins can make them a unique marketing tool, especially when used creatively in campaigns targeting specific customer segments. Rather than putting commemorative text on the coin, you can put text and/or images designed to reach your target demographic for a particular service or product. One good example would be your company slogan and logo on one side of the coin and information regarding an event, product, or service on the other side. If you make the marketing challenge coin attractive, then you can inspire interested customers to trade them. In this way, challenge coins are roughly the same as pens, hats, or drinking glasses imprinted with your company logo. The difference is that you have more flexibility with what you put on the coins. Once you’ve created a series of challenge coins, you can release them with the message ‘collect them all.’ While these coins are designed to engage and inspire interest, they are primarily promotional items and are not intended as investment vehicles or valuable collectibles.
You can even incorporate them into your other marketing strategies. That could be as simple as adding a tagline of “Ask us about our custom collectible coins” to an ad that you have appear in YouTube videos that your prospective customers may watch. Remember, different demographics will have different preferences.If your product appeals to Generation Z, you could make the challenge coins virtual so that people can collect them on their phones. If there are any costs or in-app purchases related to these digital coins, make sure these are clearly disclosed to users upfront. Other generations might prefer the physical coins, though. So, be sure to match the right kind of coin to the right generation in your overall marketing strategy.
For decades, challenge coins have been an important part of history, and now they can play an important part in a marketing campaign both now and in the future.
Published by: Erin M.
