One Engine,
Four Brands.
Niche Competitions is a UK prize competition business we started ourselves in 2026. We designed the brands, built the platform and wrote the marketing system. Four storefronts, each aimed at a different audience, all run from one shared engine.
- WHO — Niche Competitions Ltd, a Northern venture based at the North East BIC in Sunderland
- WHAT — Brand Design, Web Platform, Draw System, Compliance Pages, Marketing Automation, Hosting
- WHEN — 2026
- WHERE — UK-wide, online
- HOW — Build the engine once, then launch a new brand as settings and a skin, not a new website
Small Tribes,
One Platform.
UK prize competition sites tend to be one big shop selling everything to everyone. We wanted to try the opposite: several small brands, each speaking to one audience with its own prizes and look. That only works if a new brand is cheap to launch. So in June 2026 we started with the engine, then designed and built the storefronts on top of it.
- One catalogue, one set of accounts, one admin
- Each brand on its own domain with its own skin
- New brands added as settings, with no new code
- Planned, designed and built in-house
Same Engine,
Different Voices.
Nerd Comps is for gamers, collectors and PC builders: dark, neon and loud. UK Comps Club is the broad brand for cash, cars and tech, dressed in navy, red and Union Jack. Baby Comps is soft and warm, for new parents. Niche Competitions sits above them as the home of every competition. We created each identity: name, wordmark, palette, type, hero image and tone of voice.
- Nerd Comps: gaming and tech prizes
- UK Comps Club: cash, cars and gadgets
- Baby Comps: everything for the nursery
- Niche Competitions: every competition in one place
A Mark
That Takes Aim.
The parent brand needed to sit quietly behind the others. We drew an N monogram on a violet badge, with the diagonal in cyan to suggest aim and focus, and a faint target ring behind it. It works as an app icon, a favicon and a social avatar. Anton for headings and Inter for body text keep it in step with the sister brands.
- N monogram with a cyan “aim” stroke
- Violet and indigo palette on a near-black ground
- Anton headings, Inter body text
- Built as SVG, sharp at any size
Everything Clear
Before You Enter.
Each competition page shows the prize, the cash alternative, the ticket price and the maximum odds up front. Badges confirm the free postal route and that the prize is guaranteed. Entrants answer a question, pick how many tickets they want and pay through a basket and checkout. Accounts work with email, Google or Facebook sign-in.
- Prize or cash alternative, side by side
- Ticket price and maximum odds always shown
- Entry question on every competition
- Instant-win competitions as well as timed draws
Don’t Trust Us.
Check It.
Every draw uses a commit-reveal method. Before a ticket is sold, the system creates a secret random seed and publishes its SHA-256 fingerprint on the competition page. After the draw, it reveals the seed. Each winner has a public proof page with a widget that redoes the maths in your own browser and confirms the winning ticket. Entries are shown as salted tokens, so no names or emails appear.
- Draw seed locked in public before entries open
- Winner worked out from the seed and the entry list
- Proof page recomputes the result on your device
- Paid and postal entries in the same draw
Rules First,
Then Design.
Prize competitions in the UK must not count as a lottery. That shaped the build from day one. Every competition has an entry question and a free postal route with the same chance to win. The sites check that entrants are 18 or over and live in the UK. A responsible play page sets out spend limits, cool-off and self-exclusion, and the full set of terms, privacy, cookie and complaints pages sits in every footer.
- Free postal entry with an equal chance
- 18+ and UK-only checks
- Spend limits, cool-off and self-exclusion
- Cookie banner with a real “Reject all”
New Prize,
Ads Drafted.
We built an automated creative system alongside the shop. When a new competition is set up, it cuts out the real prize photo, paints a background scene in the brand’s style and lays out ad images and short videos in every size the social platforms need. AI writes the captions, and a rules check removes anything that breaks advertising codes and adds the 18+ and free entry wording. Nothing posts until a person approves it.
- Real prize photos, never AI-made products
- Brand-locked templates for each storefront
- Images and video in every placement size
- Copy checked against UK advertising rules
Off the Cloud,
Onto Our Own.
The platform started on hosted cloud services. In October 2026 we moved it onto our own server. We rewrote the parts that depended on the old services, copied the data across, checked the counts matched and switched all five domains over to HTTPS in a single afternoon. Sign-in, scheduled jobs and nightly backups all run on the new server, and we tested a full restore from backup before calling it done.
- Five domains moved in one planned switch
- Data checked and matched after the move
- Nightly backups, with a tested restore
- Hosting we run and control ourselves
Niche Competitions
Four brands on one platform, built and run in-house.
Want to launch more than one brand without building more than one site?
Screenshots
& Photography
Niche Competitions is a Northern venture. Brands, websites, platform and marketing system shown were designed and built by Northern Digital. Screenshots are taken from the live sites. Prize competitions are for UK residents aged 18 and over, with a free postal entry route. Presented to demonstrate capability.
More from the Northern portfolio.
What clients say about our work
Real reviews from real businesses.
Had a website made from scratch was done within 4 days and turn around was great.
Great service overall. It's been a real pleasure working with Dave and his team. They've helped strengthen our business presence and brand identity through our website and are always on hand to offer support and go the extra mile. We're looking forward to continuing to work with Dave and the Northern Digital team on future projects as our business grows.
Very good experience, very knowledgable and trustworthy. Highly recommend.
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