What the best brand interactions have in common

The best brand interactions do not need to be the most expensive. They do not need big production budgets, celebrity faces, or months of campaign preparation. What they do need is design that fits how people behave, what they feel, and what they remember.

At Livewall, we design and build interactions for brands like HEMA, Decathlon, Rituals, and Heineken. Across hundreds of projects, from loyalty programs to gamified onboarding, we keep seeing the same patterns appear in the work that genuinely lands. Patterns that have nothing to do with scale, and everything to do with structure.

These are the shared qualities.

They ask something, rather than just showing something

Passive content lets people watch. The best interactions let people do something. It does not need to be complex. Making a choice, giving an answer, turning a card. That small moment of action fundamentally changes the relationship between brand and user.

With HEMA Stapelgek, the mechanics were simple. Customers collected blocks through app purchases and stacked them in a game. The action itself was straightforward, but engagement was high because people were doing something rather than watching something.

This is one of the behavioral design principles we see confirmed again and again: action creates engagement, engagement creates affinity.

They are built around a user goal, not a brand goal

This is the difference between a campaign that feels like advertising and one that feels like a service. When someone opens an app, they want something: to save, to win, to learn, to feel connected. The best brand interactions align with that goal and put the brand objective in service of the user objective.

Decathlon lets members earn points for movement, not just purchases. The program aligns with something customers already want to do: be active. The brand rides that motivation rather than working against it.

The same logic runs through Proximus+ World: a digital brand environment that invites customers to explore rather than just consume. The interaction feels worthwhile because it connects to curiosity.

When the user goal and the brand goal are the same thing, an interaction stops feeling like marketing.

They are designed for repetition

A good interaction has a reason to return. That might be a daily reward, a progress indicator, a seasonal element, or a social mechanic that keeps changing.

This is not about addictive patterns. It is about designing an experience that holds its value on the second and third visit as well as the first. Or gets better.

The Rituals Advent Diorama is a strong example. A new discovery every day, a new surprise behind each window. The advent calendar structure is centuries old, but the digital execution gave people a concrete reason to return daily. The same logic holds for People's Postcode Lottery: web games built around daily return as the structural core of the loyalty experience.

When we design gamified loyalty, we always start from one question: what is the reason to come back tomorrow?

They feel personal, even at scale

Personalisation does not mean building thousands of variants. It means the experience feels like it was made for you.

That can come from a name in the interface, a recognised choice made earlier, a result that is specific to your behavior. Small signals that say: we know who you are.

For Martin Garrix Dream Team, we built a campaign around personalised Spotify data. Users saw their own music profile reflected back in the experience. That made something generic feel personal, and something personal is worth sharing.

This is exactly why interactive campaigns generate more reach than passive content: people share what resonates, and what resonates is what recognises them.

They are clear about what they ask and what you get back

Vague promises do not work. People decide in seconds whether an interaction is worth their time. The barrier to start must be low, and the value must be immediately visible.

This is one of the most underestimated behavioral design principles: designing the first ten seconds. What does someone see? What do they need to do? What do they get back?

With Mitsuba Spice Rush, the mechanic was instantly clear: play the game, discover the flavours, win prizes. No complicated explanation needed. The experience spoke for itself.

The same principle holds in employee experience. The pre-boarding tools we build for brands like Trekpleister and Kruidvat are built around clear steps: this is who we are, this is what you will do, this is when we expect you. No noise, no confusion, just a sense of being welcomed.

They are coherent with the brand

This sounds obvious, but it still goes wrong regularly. A gamified activation that does not fit the brand feels cheap. A loyalty mechanic that runs against the brand's values undermines trust.

The best interactions reinforce what the brand already is. They make the brand promise felt rather than heard.

Doritos Step into the Netherlands is a clear example: a Minecraft world that matched perfectly with Doritos' young, playful audience. The interaction felt like a natural extension of the brand, not a marketing trick.

KLM Airmail embodied the brand's values: connection, warmth, precision. A Valentine's campaign that felt like a service, not an advertisement.

At Livewall, we call this brand coherence in behavior. It is why we always start with brand strategy before we get to mechanics.