How Pen Store generated 4500+ UGC posts in 2 months
A conversation with
Challenge
Pen Store needed to run a large-scale creative competition across eight local sites without being overwhelmed by administrative work. They had to collect, manage, and review thousands of submissions while adapting language and copy for each market.
Solution
Cevoid's upload form let participants submit art in one place. Labels made winner selection easy for the jury, and localization allowed Pen Store to adapt copy and language per market. They used Cevoid to build a digital art gallery showcasing all 4500+ submissions.
Results
4500+ art submissions collected in one platform
10,000 competition kits sold out in 3.5 days
900+ creators shared work on Instagram with #PenStoreTalent2023
Digital art gallery showcasing all submissions on penstore.com
Pen Store is a stationery brand founded in Sweden in 2010. They started as an ecommerce store and later opened a brick-and-mortar store in Stockholm, offering a unique mix of pencils and artist materials. Their slogan is "Tools for Creativity"—and in 2023 they put that to the test with a competition that brought in over 4500 pieces of user-generated content.
Engaging a community of creatives with a contest
Pen Store launched Pen Store Talents 2023: participants received a kit of 8 different pens and pencils and had to create an artwork using only those products. When done, they uploaded their art through a Cevoid upload form on Pen Store's website, and a jury assessed the work. The winner received art supplies worth €4500; nine runners-up got €95 to spend at Pen Store. The competition was promoted via digital channels and billboards in the Stockholm subway.
10,000 kits were available—and sold out in a few days. "We had to stop all digital marketing activities after only 3.5 days. We estimated to have them up and running for 30 days, but this was a happy miscalculation," says Madeleine Stern, Head of Marketing at Pen Store. In total, Pen Store received over 4500 art submissions, and their Instagram was flooded with positive feedback. More than 900 creators (some with up to 40K followers) shared their work with #PenStoreTalent2023.
“Having a tool like Cevoid was crucial for making this competition possible! We have eight local sites for our different markets, and we needed to find a way to manage these without being overwhelmed with administrative work.”
Digital art galleries and UGC on product pages
Pen Store showcases all 4500+ contest submissions in a digital art gallery on their website, with auto-loading galleries and the option to see each artist's name and give applause. Beyond the competition, they use Cevoid to collect and showcase customer creations across the site—from galleries to product pages—mixing UGC with in-house product videos for social proof and community feel.
“Cevoid allowed us to smoothly gather all submissions in one place with the possibility to adopt the language and copy for each market.”
The Pen Store Talents campaign showed how giving a community something to create and look forward to can drive engagement at scale. By offering simple kits of 8 art tools, Pen Store generated thousands of UGC pieces they can use as social proof, in marketing, and to keep inspiring their audience.
“We were able to quickly review all submissions during the winner selection process thanks to Cevoid's ability to add labels to posts, which allowed an easy selection process for the committee.”
