Auto Trader x Spud Bros: Instagram Prize Draw Compliance

The Brief

When Auto Trader partnered with food creators Spud Bros to launch a one-day drive-thru experience at Depot Mayfield in Manchester, they needed more than a creative social media moment. They needed a promotion that was compliant, independently verified, and defensible- end to end.

The activation centred on a striking physical stunt: a Toyota Yaris filled with potatoes, placed in Exchange Square in Manchester city centre. Consumers were invited to guess the number of potatoes for a chance to win tickets to the exclusive Spud Bros Drive-Thru- complete with a free jacket potato and a free car valuation.

Running a skill-based competition of this nature on Instagram, with a real-world countable element at its heart, required careful management. Entries needed to be captured, validated, and judged fairly. The potato count had to be independently witnessed and recorded. Winners needed to be notified, confirmed, and issued tickets within a tight three-day window before the event.

That’s where PromoVeritas came in.

Objectives

Auto Trader and Spud Bros set out to achieve five clear goals with this promotion:

• Drive brand awareness for Auto Trader through a highly visual, shareable stunt in a high-footfall location
• Generate organic social engagement via Instagram comments, broadening reach beyond city-centre footfall
• Create excitement and demand for the ticketed Spud Bros Drive-Thru event on 12 February
• Bridge offline and online participation, allowing both passers-by in Exchange Square and Instagram followers to enter
• Ensure the promotion was run fairly, transparently, and compliantly — with independent oversight throughout

Campaign Overview

The ‘Guess the Potatoes’ competition ran for just under 48 hours- from 10:00 on 5 February 2026 to 23:59 on 6 February 2026. Entry was free, open to UK residents aged 18 and over, with a maximum of one entry per person.

Participation was simple: find the collaborative post pinned to @autotraderuk on Instagram and comment your best guess at the potato count. The stunt in Exchange Square gave passers-by a reason to engage in person, while the Instagram mechanic extended reach to Auto Trader’s wider online audience- a textbook example of blending offline activation with digital participation.

This kind of dual-channel mechanic is increasingly popular for brand activations, but it brings real compliance complexity. The entry mechanism sits on a third-party platform with no built-in validation. The physical stunt requires real-world oversight. And the judging must be documented, transparent, and independently verified. Auto Trader needed confidence that every step of the process was in safe hands.

What PromoVeritas Did

Compliance Guidance and Terms & Conditions

Before the promotion went live, PromoVeritas reviewed the mechanic and provided compliance guidance to ensure it met UK requirements for skill-based competitions. We drafted and hosted a legally compliant set of Terms & Conditions, giving entrants clear information about eligibility, entry mechanics, and winner selection.

Getting the T&Cs right at the outset matters more than most brands appreciate. Poorly drafted rules, or rules that don’t accurately reflect the actual mechanic, can expose a promotion to challenge. With a competition attached to a high-profile event, that’s a risk worth eliminating from the start.

Independent Adjudication of the Physical Stunt

The most distinctive compliance requirement in this campaign was the potato count itself. A PromoVeritas adjudicator attended the Exchange Square activation to independently oversee both the filling and the emptying of the Toyota Yaris, counting and recording the total number of potatoes.

This wasn’t a formality. It’s what made the competition legitimate. Without an independently verified count, the judging basis would have been unverifiable- and the promotion open to challenge. With one, Auto Trader could state with complete confidence that winners were selected against a verified, independently witnessed figure.

Entry Extraction and Winner Selection

PromoVeritas extracted and validated all Instagram comments submitted as entries, filtering out invalid submissions and ensuring the judging pool was accurate. Ten winners were selected based on the closest guesses to the verified potato total.

Where guesses were tied, a secondary prize draw determined ranking. Reserve winners were identified at the same time, ready to step in if primary winners did not respond within the 24-hour claim window. Every step was documented.

Prize Structure and Winner Notification

The competition awarded two tiers of prize:

• 1 Tier 1 winner received a ticket to the Auto Trader x Spud Bros Drive-Thru (valid for one car) plus a Spud Bros Black Card
• 9 Tier 2 winners each received a ticket to the Drive-Thru event

Each drive-thru ticket included a free car valuation and free jacket potatoes for all car occupants. Winners were contacted via Instagram direct message on 9 February 2026- three days before the event- and tickets were issued by email, allowing winners to choose their preferred time slot. Results were delivered within a tight operational window, with documented winner selection and reserve management completed on schedule.

Campaign at a Glance

Why Independent Compliance Matters for Social Media Competitions

Running a competition on Instagram is deceptively easy to get wrong. The platform doesn’t validate entries, enforce eligibility, or verify winners- that responsibility falls entirely on the brand. For a promotion linked to a high-profile experiential event with limited prizes, the stakes are real.

UK promotional law distinguishes between competitions (where the winner is determined by skill or judgement) and prize draws (where the winner is selected at random). The Auto Trader x Spud Bros promotion was structured as a skill-based competition, with T&Cs drafted accordingly to reflect that mechanic. The distinction matters both legally and practically, and the drafting of the Terms & Conditions must accurately reflect the mechanic in use.

Independent adjudication provides something no internal team can: documented, third-party credibility. When the potato count is carried out by someone with no stake in the outcome, and entries are verified and judged independently, the result is defensible. In the event of a challenge-from a disappointed entrant, a regulator, or a press enquiry- the brand has full documentation and independent oversight to point to.

This is what PromoVeritas brings to every campaign. Not just compliance- but the confidence to run bold activations without the legal or reputational risk.

Frequently Asked Questions

• What is a skill-based competition under UK promotional law?

  • A skill-based competition is one where the winner is determined by a level of skill, knowledge, or judgement- rather than random selection. Under the Gambling Act 2005, skill-based competitions can generally be run without a permit in the UK. The key requirement is that the winning mechanic genuinely differentiates between entrants. This is distinct from a prize draw, where winners are selected at random and different rules apply.

• Do I need an independent adjudicator for an Instagram competition?

  • It depends on the mechanic and the scale of the promotion. Where a competition involves a physical or countable element- as this one did independent verification of that element is essential to the integrity of the judging. More broadly, using an independent adjudicator is strongly advisable for any high-visibility promotion where the basis for selecting winners could be questioned.

• Can PromoVeritas manage compliance for social media competitions?

  • Yes. PromoVeritas provides end-to-end support for social media competitions across Instagram, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and beyond. Our services cover Terms & Conditions drafting and hosting, entry extraction and validation, independent adjudication, winner selection, and notification support. We work with brands, agencies, and rights holders of all sizes.

• How quickly can PromoVeritas turn around winner selection?

  • We regularly support promotions with tight operational windows. For the Auto Trader x Spud Bros campaign, winner selection was completed and notifications sent on 9 February, just three days before the live event — with full documentation and reserve winners confirmed in parallel.

Running a Social Media Competition or Brand Activation?

Whether you’re planning an Instagram prize draw, a skill-based competition, or a complex multi-channel promotion, PromoVeritas can ensure it’s compliant, independently verified, and properly documented from day one.

Contact us to discuss your next promotion

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