Why Is Gamification the Future of Digital Brand Activations?

Although the digital world has definitely became a huge part of our world some time ago, a lot of corporate advertising in this sphere is yet to overcome basic hurdles in making their digital campaigns successful. How many times have we seen standard corporate publications where product has to be seen in a central position of a not very interesting banner or FB post? This is, simply, not the way to do it!

Why? Well, first of all, the user gets nothing out of it. Have in mind that people who use Internet regularly are always expecting to have something out of it all, no matter whether if it is information, knowledge or fun. In a world in which, for instance, 50% of FB users are over 35, brands are becoming aware that transferring a magazine add into an Internet post will never do the job entirely.

THE ROLE OF GAMIFICATION

That is where gamification comes into the game, stronger than ever. A concept that is not new to us is becoming more and more important with the expansion of computers, mobile phones and technology in general. The main reason is simple – the user is brought into a relaxed mood in which you can easily make him do whatever you want him to do. If you do things right and deliver the content that will catch the attention of your target group, nobody will have a problem to leave their information for your database. On the contrary, the will want to do it!

KEY INGREDIENTS OF A GOOD DIGITAL ACTIVATION

But, be careful, it is not enough to turn your campaign into a fun online game and wait for miracles to happen. Each digital campaign has to consist of three main ingredients. First of all, you need to create a solvable problem for your target group. That means that, if you are targeting older people, a simple game of object or shape recognition might do the trick. On the other hand, that will not be enough for teenagers who will ask for a competitive challenge to try. Second, you need to think of a perfect level of competitiveness through complexity. The task can’t be too hard, but mustn’t be too easy either. You need to make your users visit your app over and over again, by setting limitations in numbers of trials a day, difficulty levels and number of actions they need to perform to complete the task in the best possible way. In the end, you need to offer them a reward for the effort and time that they put in playing by your rules.

THE 3Rs RULE

From the users’ point of view, a successful digital activation needs to meet the golden 3Rs rule – Recognition, Reward, Recreation. The user needs to be recognized as successful in his community for completing the task that you put before him, whether we are talking about the best score in an arcade game, number of likes in a gallery, or knowledge demonstrated in a quiz. The reward that you offer needs to be perfectly relevant for the user. You are never going to offer Champions League tickets as a reward for a promotion of a new line of fashion underwear for women, neither kids bicycles as a prize for promoting a new shaving cream. Last but not the least, you need to make the activation fun for your users and make your campaign into something in which they really enjoy.

If you carefully design each step of your gamification process and think through all of its elements, you might end with results that are better even than your most optimistic forecasts!