How a Growth Marketing Consultant Helped Tommy French Competitions Cut CAC by 20% and Boost Repeat Purchases by 25%

The Client

Tommy French Competitions is a prize draw and online competitions platform serving the UK and Ireland. The platform offers participants the chance to win life-changing prizes — from cash jackpots of up to £50,000 to luxury cars, dream holidays, houses, and tech bundles — all through affordable ticket purchases and live-streamed draws.

The brand is rooted in Tommy French Bookmakers, a family-run independent bookmaker established in 1933 in Lurgan, Co Armagh, Northern Ireland. Now in its third generation, the business operates six betting shops across Northern Ireland alongside its thriving online competitions arm, which launched in 2020. Since launch, Tommy French Competitions has given away over £15 million in prizes, building a loyal community of thousands of winners across the UK and Ireland.

With 143,000 Instagram followers, 89,000+ Facebook fans, and a 4.8/5 Trustpilot rating from 726+ reviews, Tommy French Competitions had built strong brand recognition — particularly in Northern Ireland — but needed a strategic growth partner to scale customer acquisition across new channels and markets.

The Challenge

Tommy French Competitions had grown rapidly off the back of Meta advertising, but the business had hit a ceiling. Customer acquisition was almost entirely dependent on a single paid channel, and the team lacked senior marketing leadership to build a scalable, multi-channel growth engine. The founder was personally managing email, sponsorships, influencer collaborations, and physical advertising (including Belfast Airport placements), but there was no cohesive strategy tying these efforts together.

Three core problems needed solving:

• Over-reliance on Meta ads: Nearly all customer acquisition flowed through a single Meta agency. While the campaigns were performing reasonably well, there was no full-funnel strategy targeting different stages of the customer journey — top-of-funnel awareness, mid-funnel consideration, and bottom-of-funnel conversion were not being addressed separately.

• Declining organic reach and no brand consistency: Organic social media reach had declined significantly over the preceding two years. The brand lacked a consistent voice and identity across channels, making it difficult to build the community feel that drives long-term retention in the competitions space.

• No senior marketing leadership: Tommy French Competitions had never had a dedicated senior marketing hire. Agency relationships needed oversight, email and SMS (Klaviyo) were being set up but lacked strategic direction, and new channels like referral marketing, affiliate programmes, and platforms such as Twitter and Snapchat had been trialled without a clear framework for measuring success.

Our Approach

GrowthSpin stepped in as Tommy French Competitions' fractional growth marketer — their first senior marketing hire. Rather than replacing existing agencies, we provided the strategic leadership layer the business needed to coordinate all marketing efforts, audit what was working, and build a growth engine designed to scale.

Phase 1: Full-Funnel Audit & Ad Strategy Restructure

We began with a comprehensive audit of all existing marketing channels, ad accounts, and agency performance. The immediate priority was restructuring the Meta ad strategy to target all three funnel stages — top-of-funnel (TOF) awareness campaigns to reach new audiences, mid-of-funnel (MOF) engagement campaigns to nurture interest, and bottom-of-funnel (BOF) conversion campaigns to drive ticket purchases. This full-funnel restructure replaced a flat campaign approach that had been treating all prospects the same, regardless of their familiarity with the brand.

Phase 2: Retention & Repeat Purchase Campaigns

With acquisition becoming more efficient, we turned attention to the other side of the growth equation: retention. We identified high-converting customer segments and built targeted campaigns specifically designed to drive repeat purchases. This included tailored ad creative and messaging for existing customers who had previously entered competitions, nudging them back with personalised offers and new prize draw announcements. By focusing marketing spend on proven high-value segments rather than treating all returning customers equally, we were able to significantly increase repeat purchase rates.

Phase 3: Multi-Channel Strategy & Agency Oversight

Beyond paid media, we provided strategic oversight across all of Tommy French Competitions' marketing efforts. This included guiding the Klaviyo email and SMS setup for lifecycle marketing, evaluating trial campaigns on Twitter and Snapchat, establishing frameworks for measuring ROI across new channels, and laying the groundwork for referral and affiliate programmes. We also worked to establish a consistent brand voice across all touchpoints — from social media to email to physical advertising — creating the cohesive community feel the business needed to stand out in an increasingly competitive prize draw market.

The Results

The combination of a full-funnel ad restructure and targeted retention campaigns delivered measurable results across both acquisition and retention:

• 20% decrease in customer acquisition cost (CAC): By restructuring ad campaigns to target TOF, MOF, and BOF separately, we were able to serve the right message at the right stage of the customer journey — dramatically improving conversion efficiency and reducing the cost to acquire each new customer.

• 25% increase in repeat purchases: Running specific campaigns targeted at high-converting existing customers drove a significant uplift in repeat ticket purchases — improving lifetime value and reducing the business's reliance on constantly acquiring new customers.

• Full-funnel marketing infrastructure established: From a single-channel, flat-campaign setup, Tommy French Competitions now operates a structured multi-channel marketing strategy with clear measurement frameworks across paid, organic, email, and emerging channels.

Key Takeaways

1. A full-funnel ad strategy beats a flat approach every time. Tommy French Competitions' existing Meta campaigns were performing adequately, but by segmenting campaigns into TOF, MOF, and BOF stages, the same budget worked significantly harder — delivering a 20% reduction in CAC. Most businesses underestimate how much efficiency they leave on the table with undifferentiated campaign structures.

2. Retention is the hidden growth lever. For competition platforms where repeat engagement is the business model, targeting high-converting existing customers with tailored campaigns is one of the highest-ROI activities available. The 25% increase in repeat purchases came not from spending more, but from spending smarter on audiences already proven to convert.

3. Fast-growing businesses need strategic oversight, not just more agencies. Tommy French Competitions had capable agencies executing paid media and email, but no one providing the strategic layer to coordinate efforts, measure cross-channel impact, and prioritise where to invest next. A growth marketing consultant fills that gap without the overhead of a full-time C-suite hire.

About GrowthSpin

GrowthSpin is a London-based growth marketing studio led by Neha Divanji. We work as outsourced in-house growth marketers for funded startups and scale-ups, offering fractional growth leadership, performance marketing (Google Ads, Meta, LinkedIn, TikTok), and product strategy with UI/UX design.

Looking for a growth marketing consultant to scale your business? Book a call at growthspin.co.uk/calendar