How we turned a coupon mom stampede into a fair and successful campaign for the United States Postal Service
What started as a simple magazine promotion quickly turned into a digital battlefield
USPS wanted to give away 5,000 promotional swag bags through a magazine partnership. Print a URL, people sign up, bags run out, show "sorry" page. Should have been straightforward.
During final QA, we discovered the database was already full with 7,600+ entries before the magazine even hit shelves. Someone had leaked the URL early.
Deal-hunting communities had discovered the URL, shared it across message boards, and deployed auto-refresh browser plugins to claim bags as fast as possible.
Our server architecture was designed for steady traffic over days, not thousands of users hammering the system every second with automated refresh tools.
Real-time pivots to level the playing field and ensure fairness
We built a trustworthy, mobile-first landing page that felt legitimate and converted visitors effectively. Clean layout, quick form, and messaging that reassured users this was a real USPS promotion, not a phishing attempt.
Optimized for smartphone users who discovered the link through social sharing
Clear USPS branding and messaging to prevent confusion with scam sites
Lightweight design to handle high traffic volumes without slowdowns
When coupon mom refresh plugins started pounding our servers, we had to rapidly adapt our infrastructure to withstand the unexpected flood of automated traffic while maintaining system stability.
Distributed traffic across multiple servers to prevent crashes
Reduced database load by serving cached content where possible
This is where we fought back. We completely rewrote the validation logic to make the system fair and slow down automated attempts just enough to give real humans a fighting chance.
Bags only reserved on actual form submission, not page load
Flagged suspicious entries like multiple "Jane Smiths" from the same zip code
One swag bag per household to prevent gaming the system
Deliberately slowed database writes to frustrate automated tools
Mission accomplished: Fair distribution in record time
Once our validation rules went live, all 5,000 bags were claimed fairly in just 9 minutes
Real users finally had a fighting chance against automated refresh tools
Despite the unexpected traffic surge, we maintained 100% uptime throughout
"We knew people loved free swag, but we didn't expect an online riot. Thanks to Inevitable Media, the whole thing ended up being fair, fast, and—most importantly—successful."
Inevitable Media builds websites and backend systems that stay standing—even when the internet loses its mind. From simple landing pages to complex giveaway platforms, we've got you covered.
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