How Downtown Tempe’s Digital Rewards Pass Recorded 3,447 Business Check-Ins
August 24, 2026
Summer Heat, Fewer Students, and Road Construction
Summer 2026 brought several challenges for downtown Tempe’s shops and restaurants. High temperatures kept many residents indoors during peak shopping hours. Arizona State University was out for the summer, reducing student traffic across the district. Road construction and detours also made some businesses harder to reach on foot.
Downtown Tempe needed to give residents a clear reason to visit the district and support local businesses during a slower season.
Discover Downtown: Sidewalk Summer
Downtown Tempe launched Discover Downtown: Sidewalk Summer, a nine-week digital rewards program that ran from June 1 through August 2, 2026.
Participants used an interactive web pass to find participating businesses, check in during their visits, and collect points. Those points could be redeemed for summer merchandise or entries into weekly gift card drawings. Merchant coupons gave participants another incentive to shop and dine during the campaign.
The program encouraged residents to return throughout the summer, collect more points, and explore businesses across the district.
Summer Heat, Fewer Students, and Road Construction
Summer 2026 brought several challenges for downtown Tempe’s shops and restaurants. High temperatures kept many residents indoors during peak shopping hours. Arizona State University was out for the summer, reducing student traffic across the district. Road construction and detours also made some businesses harder to reach on foot.
Downtown Tempe needed to give residents a clear reason to visit the district and support local businesses during a slower season.
Discover Downtown: Sidewalk Summer
Downtown Tempe launched Discover Downtown: Sidewalk Summer, a nine-week digital rewards program that ran from June 1 through August 2, 2026.
Participants used an interactive web pass to find participating businesses, check in during their visits, and collect points. Those points could be redeemed for summer merchandise or entries into weekly gift card drawings. Merchant coupons gave participants another incentive to shop and dine during the campaign.
The program encouraged residents to return throughout the summer, collect more points, and explore businesses across the district.
A Location-Verified Digital Pass for 51 Businesses
Driftscape provided the interactive map, check-in system, points, rewards, merchant coupons, and campaign reporting in one mobile-friendly web experience.
Participants earned 10 points when they checked in at one of 51 participating businesses. Driftscape’s location-gating technology verified that each check-in took place on-site before awarding the points.
The pass also gave participants several ways to use what they earned. They could redeem points for keychains, stickers, sunglasses, and exclusive T-shirts, or exchange them for entries into weekly prize drawings. Merchant offers were available through the same experience, giving residents immediate savings during their downtown visits.
Downtown Tempe could track check-ins, points, reward activity, and coupon redemptions through the Driftscape platform.
3,447 Verified Check-Ins During a 51-Business Campaign
During the 63-day campaign, participants completed 3,447 location-verified check-ins at participating downtown businesses. These visits generated 34,470 points.
Participants redeemed 31,620 points, representing 91.7% of all points earned during the campaign. This activity resulted in 1,007 weekly prize-drawing entries and 63 physical reward redemptions. The physical rewards included 18 keychains, 16 exclusive T-shirts, 15 stickers, and 14 pairs of sunglasses.
An Accessible Reward System Encouraged Repeat Visits
Sidewalk Summer gave participants a reward after as little as one verified business visit.
Stickers and keychains required 10 points, sunglasses required 20, weekly drawing entries required 30, and exclusive T-shirts required 50.
This range allowed people to choose between an immediate reward and saving their points for something larger. Nine weeks of prize drawings created recurring opportunities to participate, with eight winners selected each week and 72 winners across the summer.
The interactive map helped residents decide where to go next, while location-gated check-ins connected each point awarded to a physical visit. Merchant coupons added savings that participants could use while shopping or dining downtown.
The campaign ran from June 1 through August 2, 2026. Check-ins, points, reward redemptions, and coupon redemptions were recorded through the Driftscape platform.
Check-ins were location-gated to confirm that participants were physically present at a participating business.
“I wanted to send over a BIG thank you for all of your assistance in making the Driftscape launch in Downtown Tempe a success through our Sidewalk Summer event.
We’re selecting our grand prize winners this week, and it's been so rewarding (reference intended) to see the platform in action and see all the rewards and points collected throughout the summer. We're already looking ahead to our next event, to build on what we've started by incorporating more tours and exploring even more ways to use Driftscape to engage visitors and support our downtown businesses.
Thank you again for all of your support, especially with troubleshooting along the way. Your responsiveness and expertise made a huge difference in getting everything up and running smoothly, and we at DTA really appreciate your partnership throughout.”
-Allyson Dykstra, business liaison for Downtown Tempe Authority
Digital Rewards Can Support Business Districts During Slow Seasons
The Sidewalk Summer results show how a digital rewards pass can give residents a timely reason to visit local businesses during a challenging season.
A clear points system, attainable rewards, weekly prizes, merchant offers, and location-verified check-ins helped Downtown Tempe encourage repeat participation. Real-time reporting also gave the organization measurable results it could share with participating businesses, partners, and board members.
For BIDs, BIAs, downtown associations, and destination organizations, this approach can support shop-local campaigns while providing clearer participation data than paper passports or untracked promotions.
Build a Measurable Shop-Local Campaign
Driftscape’s digital passports, location-verified check-ins, points, rewards, and merchant coupons can help your organization encourage local visits and measure participation.
Book a demo to explore a digital rewards campaign for your district.