Gamification – Marketing’s New Buzzword, Or.... The Next “Thing”?

Gamification – Marketing’s New Buzzword, Or.... The Next “Thing”?

 

 

 

I came upon this TED talk by Seth Priebatsch (TEDxBoston): “The game layer on top of the world”

 

“By now, we're used to letting Facebook and Twitter capture our social lives on the web building a "social layer" on top of the real world; the next layer in progress: the "game layer," a pervasive net of behavior-steering game dynamics that will reshape education and commerce. “Game dynamics are too powerful to leave bottled up in games.”

 

“It is no longer enough to satisfy customers. You must delight them.”(Kotler)

 

Could “gamification” be the next big thing in marketing? We have a new generation of consumers (Gene Y) who enjoy gaming.  Will something capable of grabbing their attention and get them to part with their cash, or raise their brand-awareness, work? Will gamification of the digital world and of mobile marketing be the next move?

 

“The frontier between customer and collaborator diminishes and the services cannot be separated from their providers anymore” (Kotler); “The internet will create new winners and bury the laggards” (Kotler).

 

Some two years ago, crowdsourcing was the buzzword every marketer was spouting; now it seems gamification is the next trend. There are books written about” Design and Gamification”; there are others arguing gamification is   exploiting human nature using psychological tricks and manipulation “à la Pavlov.” Yet! .. Think about the amount of time the digitally connected adult spends playing games on his phone, online (Farmville); how many companies use mobile check-in loyalty programs, (easy to keep track of visits); and how true it is that  everybody has mobile games  - There is audience!

 

Foursquare, Zynga, Nike+, and Groupon and many other brands use gamification to deliver engaging and sticky experiences to their customers.

 

Sweden - McDonald's used a large interactive billboard for the Pick n’ Play campaign; people played a 30-second” Pong” with their smartphones (the game is web-based) and the billboard  to win digital coupons for discounts in the nearest McDonald’s stores.

 

What do I know about marketing? Not much really, but a while ago, someone asked me “what was the next in marketing.” I stumbled upon gamification, and, surprisingly, that marketer had never heard about it!

 

Just as when I asked about crowdsourcing and, apparently, people had never heard of, Jeff Howe coined it despite it, in 2006.