Gamification: The new marketing frontier

• March 10, 2011

By Alexandra Reid

I know what you’re thinking because it’s what I was thinking before I went to Social Media Breakfast yesterday: “What the heck does the gaming industry have to do with marketing?” Coming out of the event, I am not only intrigued by the psychology of “gamification,” the tactics of engagement and how it could be incorporated into a marketer’s communications strategy, I am also convinced that it will play an increasingly important role in how businesses attract, cultivate and retain brand enthusiasts over the coming years.

First, what is “gamification?”

According to David Nicholson, former VP of product development at Power Change and host of yesterday morning’s event, “Gamification is all about modifying people’s behaviour.” Incorporating this tactic into a business strategy can increase retention, virility and engagement of a community around a brand.

To clarify, gamification is the use of game-play mechanics for non-game applications, particularly consumer-oriented web and mobile sites, in order to encourage people to adopt applications. Gamification works by making technology more engaging and by encouraging desired behaviours, taking advantage of the psychological predisposition humans have to engage in gaming. The technique can encourage people to perform chores that they would ordinarily consider boring, such as completing surveys, shopping or reading web sites.

The statistics supporting the clout of this tactic are impressive. In 2010, for example, corporations spent $100 million on gamification. This number is expected to rise to $2.8 billion by 2016.

That’s an attention-grabbing figure and with multi-billion dollar corporations like Weight Watchers, Nike Plus and Apple already gamifying their websites, it may be a modest one.

Pause for a moment and think about how games have crept into the facets of your daily life.

You win points for flying, groceries and gas. You are rewarded on TV when you answer trivia questions or find hidden objects strategically placed in cartoons. You are rewarded on the radio for naming the six Led Zeppelin songs that played during the previous night’s 6 o’clock feature. You win prizes for racing your Internet balloon across websites. Even your Ford hybrid car has a digital tree on its dashboard that grows leaves as you save gas.

Jesse Shell, an educator of game design and a former Disney imagineer, says games are the next frontier for marketers and advertisers.

According to Shell, the psychology behind gamification is grounded in the belief that anything you spend time on or invest money in becomes worthwhile and valuable. What makes it addictive is that you are now able to compete in a virtual world with real people. When you play Farmville, you are playing with your real friends. When you play Guitar Hero, you’re playing with a real guitar, and so on.

Our associate, Bob Bailly, believes that the secret to taking advantage of people’s disposition to this sort of behaviour lies in neuromarketing. His contributed posts here will give marketers the keys to unlock the psychological paths of the human brain to convince, communicate and motive people.

Today, the most valuable things to consumers are realism and authenticity, says Shell. The psychological argument is that technology has cut us off from nature and self-sufficiency. In his words, “We live in a bubble of fake bullshit and we have a hunger to get to anything real, even if that is getting a Starbucks Suisse Mocha with real chocolate.”

Gamification feeds this hunger with amusing and addictive substances that provide us with the illusion of reality.

So, why are these games so appealing to us?

In my opinion, the answer could be traced all the way back to Immanuel Kant, who said that man is “unsociably social.” These games reward us for being part of a “real” community but also for competing against our peers.

To appeal to our desire to compete and be acknowledged by others as exceptional, games have advanced beyond the linear model to one that incorporates multiple dimensions. For example, instead of simply earning points for checking in, Foursquare distinguishes you as an “adventurer,” an “explorer,” or even, a “douchebag.”

Nicholson adds that people behave differently in different gaming environments, be they caring, collaborative, cordial, competitive or combative. For instance, in a combative environment, people are encouraged when they receive a name like “dominator,” but in a collaborative environment, people are motivated when they earn the name “educator.”

Another interesting point is that people’s behaviour changes depending on how they are rewarded in games. In a study mentioned by Nicholson (kudos to the person who can provide me with the link), a group of children was paid one dollar for every problem they solved in a game. When they stopped receiving the dollar, they stopped playing the game. However, the control group of children who were not given money for advancing in the game continued to play even after the researchers told them the game was over.

“It turns out that giving away free stuff is not what drives the program to be successful,” said Nicholson. “This may be because the hands of the puppeteer are felt too strongly.”

Research on how marketers can benefit from gamification is still in its early stages. It will be really interesting to see what advancements come in the next few years as budgets are dramatically increased.

What advancements do you predict will soon happen in gamification? What industries do you think will be the early adopters of this technology? Were there any takeaways from SMB Ottawa that I missed? I find this stuff totally fascinating. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Photo from: Blastmedia