Giving away cold, hard cash is certainly one way a brand can win over consumers—and that is what T-Mobile is doing starting Dec. 16. 

On that date, anyone who visits the T-Mobile ATM in Minneapolis’ Mall of America—as well as T-Mobile “signature stores” in Chicago, Santa Monica, California and Times Square in New York City—could walk away with $22.50, $225, or $2,250 (while supplies last). 

Those twos and fives aren’t random numbers pulled out of a hat. The campaign is meant to highlight how T-Mobile Magenta Max customers that have two or more lines receive $225 in benefits every month.

“People don’t think about their wireless provider very often. Campaigns like this help us elevate the category and get people to think about whether what they’ve got is right for them,” said Clint Patterson, T-Mobile's senior VP of PR and employee communications. The brand worked with the Sparks agency on the experience and tapped Porter Novelli for PR. 

For those who don’t live in the cities listed above, T-Mobile set up a website with opportunities to win cash through Dec. 18. The selected locations for the in-person giveaways were chosen based on anticipated high holiday season foot traffic, Patterson said.

T-Mobile will measure success based on a multitude of factors, Patterson said, including how many people participate in the activation (both in real life and digitally), the effort’s impact on how consumers perceive the brand, as well as breadth and depth of any resulting user-generated content.

T-Mobile promoted the giveaway through its owned social media channels, as well as paid social media efforts, although Patterson declined to disclose the exact campaign spend. T-Mobile targeted “Verizon, AT&T, Comcast and Charter customers to let them know life can be better” through that paid social strategy, Patterson said.