Marketers are increasingly turning to ‘Gamification’ to increase loyalty and change the way in which people interact with their brand. But what exactly is Gamification and how, if at all, should companies be using it?

Kam Star, CEO of PlayGen, has the answers – and one thing’s for sure: a successful Gamification strategy requires a whole lot more than just points and badges.

(You can read the full version of this interview in the latest edition of GfK TechTalk here.)

Laura: So, tell us, what is Gamification?

Kam: Gamification is the application of gaming mechanisms into a real-world process, with the aim of improving the user experience through the notion of playing.

Laura: How is it currently being used in Marketing?

Kam: Gamification marketing is being used in a number of ways, but its natural home is online – with prizes and rewards given to people when they post on blogs, share or comment. Really, it’s a way of sharing an individual’s engagement with a particular proposition. What we see a lot of is, if you ‘Like’ content, post about it, or do something about it, you are then eligible for points or scores that are redeemable – ideally for something meaningful that the individual wants. It’s a kind of incentive.

Laura: How, if at all, is it changing or shaping Marketing?

Kam: To put it simply, it can change the conversation. When social media came along, many decided they needed a Facebook page or a Twitter account but without really understanding what this meant or how it would change the conversation between the brand and the consumer. The same can now be seen with Gamification. Many don’t realise that it can change how consumers perceive the brand and its values. It is right for some and not right for others.

Laura: Can you tell us a little more about what you mean by ‘changing the conversation’. That is quite an interesting way of putting it. What does that mean exactly?

Kam: Everything that a brand does affects its identity, its persona. If, by using Gamification, a brand says “well, now I’m going to be playful”, its marketers must understand that this has implications for brand engagement. Those implications will depend on who you are, how you do it and how you frame it. I think that’s the thing that will essentially change the nature of marketing in some ways.

Sometimes when people talk about Gamification, they are actually talking about loyalty programmes. There is nothing wrong with loyalty programmes – we love loyalty programmes – but, again, if you bring in a loyalty programme you have to understand that you are changing the nature of the conversation. You are saying something new about where your brand is and how it should be perceived. And you have to be pretty careful that it’s something that can be sustained; if you whisk it away as quickly as you brought it in, you could end up doing lasting damage to your brand. In essence, it’s very important to take a long, hard look at what you are doing and what it means – for you, for people talking about you and for others hearing it. There is no hard and fast answer. It takes a lot of focus and a real understanding of the bigger picture and what it is that you are trying to achieve.

Laura: On that note, do you think a brand in any industry or any category can use Gamification?

Kam: The principle of engagement, particularly through playful means, can be applied to a very, very broad set of tasks. However, I do think that brands seeking to engage with gaming need to know what systems work and what their exit plan is. Right now, it seems that everyone is talking about how to get into Gamification, but without considering how to get out of it – i.e. how to avoid the psychological downside of giving people incentives and then taking them away again. I haven’t seen any strategy that says ‘this is how we will wind it down’ and I’m a bit concerned about that. In my experience, you need to think about what happens afterwards, specifically: how will we manage it? How will we grow it? How will we keep it fresh?

……Full version featured in the latest edition of GfK TechTalk here.

 

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