In Part 1 of this column, we discussed the bankable power of Marketing Games (also called AdverGames, or Brand Games), and why we’re seeing more of them. We also discussed the eight benefits of Marketing Games. To recap, they:
- Engage users
- Promote products/services/people/brands
- Inform users – sharing information about products/services/people/brands
- Collect consumer information – based on what players do in a game
- Increase sales for a brand – or donations, or awareness
- Grow your brand – Use data collected in the game to support future business decisions
- Content breeds content; well-designed games have a way of growing exponentially
- Create Brand Experiences– games are experiential in their nature, so can easily provide brand experiences
Now we know about the 8 benefits of Advergames in theory, let’s look at them in action:
1. Dumb Ways to Die
Created by: McCann Melbourne, 2012
Medium: App
Client: Metro Trains Melbourne
Purpose: Promote safety on trains
In Dumb Ways to Die players avoid getting killed in a range of far-fetched events; from exploding in space to being eaten by piranhas. Doesn’t seem overly related to trains, but by engaging people in the game, 80+ million people took the in-game pledge to be safer around trains. According to the client, ‘near-miss’ accidents were reduced by 30% during the campaign.
There’s even more wins; Dumb Ways to Die is the most awarded campaign in the history of Cannes, and at it’s peak was a number 1 game in 22 countries. Its success has bred several related apps, expansion to other train operators, and collaboration with schools. You only need Google the game name to see how it’s sparked thousands of blog posts, articles and videos (the same is true for the other two games on this list).
2. Catch a Choo
Created by: FreshNetworks, 2010
Medium: Mixed media; face-to-face with online/social media.
Client: Jimmy Choo
Purpose: Create awareness and buzz around the launch of Jimmy Choo trainers
This example, now almost a decade old, was highly innovative at the time. Jimmy Choo and FreshNetworks transformed London into a game-board, creating a branded treasure hunt. A pair of trainers had been hidden in the city, and consumers had to read the relevant blog posts and follow the Jimmy Choo social media accounts to get clues to find them. Upon finding the trainers, you’d win a pair. During the campaign, trainer sales in-store went up by 33% daily and online positive sentiment about the new range increased by 40%.
3. Covet Fashion
Created by: Glu Mobile (same developer of Kim Kardashian Hollywood), 2013
Medium: App
Client: Multiple brands
Purpose: Promote fashion brands and their products, and collect data on player choices
Covet Fashion is styled as a fashion game, but is very much a data-collection tool.
Players dress their avatar in real fashion products. To a project brief (dress your avatar for the Oscars! Dress for date night!) players choose from a range of branded goods, and get their ‘look’ rated by a global community of players. Covet Fashion partners with 150+ brands, including Calvin Klein, United Nude, and French Connection. In 2018, French Connection were quoted on the Covet Fashion website saying:
“We’ve been blown away with the exposure our collections have received, resulting in significant mobile traffic and conversions.It (the game) is now one of our top sources of all e-commerce sales.”
Minimum player engagement can be anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour daily. This length of engagement is unprecedented compared to traditional advertising; consider how people skip 30 second YouTube ads, and turn channels to avoid TV ads.
These examples are mostly digital. However, gamification is also often used offline to engage people in brand experience and satisfy consumer needs. Iain Swan, founder of brand strategy agency, Bright, says:
“Consumers are now hungry for not just things to have, but things to do”.
Resultantly, we’re likely to see more games, gamification and playful experiences in face-to-face settings to revive ‘tired’ experiences, and in my view this could play a role in helping save the high street. For example:
Secret Cinema have evolved movie-watching into full-blown playful, gamified, participatory experience. They craft each venue meticulously to recreate the film worlds. Their Blade Runner experience was complete with neon lights and indoor rain on a dance floor. Their Back to the Future experience saw people slurping milkshakes in a 50’s diner, overlooking the Hill Valley clock. The lengths their customers will go to show intense commitment; tickets can be 10+ times the price of regular cinema tickets, and there’s more labour involved in dressing up as your given ‘character’, buying costumes, and fulfilling obscure quests. But, it’s worked. Secret Cinema is growing in Australia, China and the US, and has hosts almost 1000 movie-goers a night.
Outside cinema, high streets are filled with coffee shops. But with so many, how can any one stand out?
The EL&N café creates playful experiences by introducing carousel horses, and ‘sets’ for photo-shoots in which customers can climb, pose and play. Even Museums are embracing games and play with fun sleepovers, and progressively game-like exhibitions to help stay relevant in a digital age.
This shift towards the game-like and playful has bubbled-up a new terminology; ‘sensory experiences’. More brands are providing them, and more agencies are creating them. The Instagram account @SensationalBrands documents such face-to-face experiential marketing, posting how brands like Google, General Mills, and others create sensory spaces devoted to taste, sight, texture, and even smells.
Brand Associations With Play, Joy and Data
The marketing movement towards games makes sense; positive emotional connections are powerful for brands. We feel joy when we play games, and if we can associate feelings of joy with particular brands, that can be powerful, and lucrative.
And, if AdverGames, gamified marketing campaigns, and playful promotional experiences can collect consumer information as consumers play – then that adds yet another layer of value for brands. And that’s why Market Researchers need to pay attention to the rise of AdverGames.
In Part 3 of this column, we’ll navigate the waters of data privacy and ethics when it comes to data-collecting AdverGames, and what Market Researchers can do to compete and stay relevant.
Cover photo by Jude Beck/ source: Unsplash.com
