What is Gamification Marketing?

Gamification Marketing refers to the application of game psychology and other skill-based formats in a promotion or marketing campaign. Gamification marketing leverages the addictive and satisfying nature of games. Players are incentivised by the game and complete different actions to increase their standing. Many brands have utilised the power of gamification to encourage player participation, engagement, and retention over time. At Return2Sender we help brands utilise this science to create promotions that are fun, engaging, and connect with consumers.

Why is Gamification Marketing So Effective?

Playing games naturally releases dopamine in our brain as we feel a sense of satifscation and achievment. This dopamine is what makes games so addictive. Gamification Marketing utilises this addictive nature and applies it to campaigns in order to hold attention and motivate engagement. It is also great for brand loyalty as players can earn rewards through gamified loyalty programs. Gamification campaigns provide fun and satisfaction to the user and add value for the consumer.

Examples of Successful Gamification Marketing

There are many types of Gamification Marketing including collector/loyalty mechanics, quizzes, leaderboards, points, badges, level-ups, treasure hunts, mini-games, match prediction games, bracket games, voting mechanics, spin the wheel and scratch cards.

Players can access these via packaging, links or QR codes.

Here are some ways that brands have utilised gamification.

Mcdonald’s Monopoly – This is one of the most well-known examples as every year McDonalds offers customers the chance to win big in a worldwide version of the classic board game Monopoly. They first employed this tactic in the 1980s and it is one of the most well-known examples of gamification marketing. The added competitive element and the instant-win boosts increase sales and keep customers coming back.

Guinness Pint Predictor – Guinness offered armchair experts the chance to win a pint by correctly predicting the outcomes of rugby matches. Rewarding expertise is a great gamification marketing technique as people become competitive and want to prove their expertise. This also increased the ties between Guinness and rugby.

KFC The Great Bucket Hunt – KFC hosted a PokemonGo-like hunt encouraging users to hunt for augmented reality KFC buckets. This cleverly mimics the success of Pokemon Go but directs this attention toward KFC. Everyone who took part won a prize and the promotion proved a huge success.

Ladbrokes Spin the Wheel– Ladbrokes’ Wheel showed that even simple gamification tactics are highly effective. They created an instant-win wheel and offered a daily spin. This meant users returned to the site daily to see what they could win.

What are the benefits of Gamification Marketing?

Here are some of the main benefits of Gamification in promotions:

-Consumers are actively involved in or (in the case of augmented reality) immersed in the promotion or experience.

-These promotions are more memorable subsequently aiding: brand recall, opt-in rates, intent to buy and word of mouth.

-It is habit-forming. Gamified promotional mechanics, like apps, tend to be habit-forming and retain players over time with clever nudges like badges and level-ups. The more you play the better it gets and the greater your chance to win. Gamified promotions leverage neuroscience and behavioural economics to encourage repeat entries.

-Consumers value the experience more. If they have to work for it, they feel they have a greater chance to win by using their judgement or skill. For example, in a  ‘win every hour ‘ promotion a shopper might decide to enter the promotion in the middle of the night to better their chances of winning.

-The rewards are intangible ( e.g. you earned a level-up or free badge). If the rewards are intangible the costs associated with the promotion are lower ( although let’s be honest it’s hard to beat a good prize fund!).

-Brand can collect first-party data for future promotional comms. This data is invaluable as the internet moves away from cookies.

What are the elements that I need to include in my Gamification Marketing

Campaign or Promotion?

As with anything we do, everything starts with the brief and a proper set of objectives to ensure that the promotional mechanic answers the brief.

Here are some considerations specific to Gamified Promotions:

-What type of experience can we create to match the brand’s personality? If the brand is premium, then a scratch card mechanic might not be a great fit. We want to create a promotion that fits the brand’s reputation and aims.

-How can we retain players? We often employ mechanics such as leaderboards to keep players playing. Retention rates are a great benefit of gamification when managed correctly.

-What email alerts or level-ups are required to keep players returning? How can we respond to real events to amplify the promotion? Including world events in gamified promotions can encourage player activity.

-What is the budget? Gamification promotions require more budget than traditional campaigns. However, the output is worth the additional costs.

-What can we learn from Neuroscience to stimulate engagement?  Theories such as the RAMP model (Relatedness, Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose) can help us understand the elements needed to encourage engagement with gamified promotions.

-Legal requirements. There are certain legal restrictions we must abide by.

What we offer: 

Return2Sender has created numerous web, app and augmented reality promotions and experiences that leverage gamification including:

AVIVA HealthMate – We created a game for Aviva that allowed users to track their steps to win prizes. This app utilised gamification to encourage brand aims and motivate people to participate.

Bank Of Ireland – This gamified promotion included a quiz allowing players to win prizes and earn badges.

Jameson Destination Dublin – We created a promotion for Jameson within which players visited four pubs. At each pub they earned badges and if they completed the tour they won a free drink! This was a fun activation employing gamification techniques and increasing brand awareness.

Guinness – Consumers scanned an on-pack promotion to play an Augmented Reality rugby game and win instant prizes. This encourages engagement

Just Eat Leaderboard – In this case, employees visited and signed up restaurants to Just Eat to win points on the leaderboard. This was a gamified app that improved employee incentives.

Gordon’s Spin For Gin – We created Gordon’s Gin Spin a retail promotion that created virtual 3D wheels to allow consumers to win Gordon’s Summer Essentials

Guinness Match Predictor – We created an app that rewarded Rugby fans for their expertise as they predicted rugby match outcomes.

Schweppes – We created a fun Ginspiration logo quiz.

Smirnoff Make & Shake- Simply scanning the QR code unlocked the ability to create a virtual cocktail and win instantly.

Carlsberg – We have hosted Quizzes for Carslberg to ramp up competition and sales.

We can help you decide on the best gamification technique for your promotions and execute this idea to a very high standard.

Contact Us if you would like us to come up with some Gamification ideas for your next promotion.