How gamification can help brands keep audiences coming back for more
At this week’s Community Uninterrupted session, Casey Campbell, Managing Director of Gameloft, North America presented an engaged audience with the power of gamification and the use of gaming elements to help brands build meaningful connections with audiences.
The term “gamification” was coined in 2002 by game designer and programmer Nick Pelling as “the use of gaming elements and mechanics in non-game context for user engagement and problem solving.”
Campbell discussed the psychology of gaming, and how elements of reward, curiosity, socialization, and competition keep people playing games. These same elements can help brands in their goals of attention and awareness, trust and loyalty, acquisition, engagement, and retention.
Brands can cut through the noise of the ever-increasing amount of content online. With over 5 billion pieces of content on Facebook and over 500 hours of content uploaded to YouTube every minute, and 2 million mobile apps available, gamification offers an alternative way to engage with content in a meaningful and rewarding way. When brands give audiences content that they connect with, it helps to establish a relationship which can lead to higher levels of loyalty, retention, and repeat purchases.
Gamification is no longer considered an “out there” approach:
In a Demand Gen report, marketers report:
- 93% love gamification.
- 81% believe interactive content is more attention-grabbing vs static counterpart.
- 88% plan to add interaction to 10-30% of B2B content.
- 70% believe interactive content is successful at converting visitors.
Findings shared in a Gameloft whitepaper on experiences for engagement looking at the way gamification powers up brands revealed impressive brand metrics:
- 75% of media agencies agree that branded mini game ad brings the brand closer to its audience.
- 90% of respondents remembered the brand advertised in the mini games they were exposed to.
Campbell concluded the presentation with a variety of case studies from food and beverage, toys, personal care, market surveys, and beauty categories using gamification across mobile, DOOH, web, and AR on social.
A key takeaway from this presentation is that if a brand is thinking about trying gamification in their advertising, now is the time. Virtually every demographic in every market is open and ready to engage. In fact, gamification has become somewhat of a standard through its popularity and the amazing technology that is available today.