Are you a player in the brand engagement game?

Leveraging gamification in brand building strategies

White paper | September 2011

Shikatani Lacroix is a leading branding and design firm located in

Toronto, Canada. The company is commissioned assignments from

all around the world, across CPG, retail and service industries,

helping clients achieve success within their operating markets. It

does this by enabling its clients’ brands to better connect with

consumers through a variety of core services including corporate

identity, naming and communication, brand experience, packaging,

retail, wayfinding and product design.

About the Author

Jean-Pierre Lacroix, R.G.D., President and Founder of

Shikatani Lacroix

Jean-Pierre (JP) Lacroix provides leadership and direction to his

firm, which was founded in 1990. He has spent the last 30 years

helping organizations better connect their brands with consumers

in ways that impact the overall performance of their business. Mr.

Lacroix was the first to coin and trademark the statement “The

Blink Factor” in 1990, which today is a cornerstone principle to how

brands succeed in the marketplace. JP has authored several papers,

has been quoted in numerous branding and design articles and, in

2001, he co-authored the book “The Business of Graphic Design,”

which has sold over 10,000 copies. JP can be reached at

jplacroix@sld.com and you can follow his blog at:

www.belongingexperiences.com and www.sldesignlounge.com.

Other Articles and Books

Belonging Experiences...Designing Engaged Brands

Business of Graphic Design

White paper | September 2011 | Gamification | 1

Increasing your brand engagement through gamification

I recently presented to a group of researchers and marketers on the

shift in research methodologies and approaches due to the rise of

social media. A key factor that I covered in my presentation was how

gamification is playing an important role in ensuring respondents are

truly engaged in sharing their ideas. Today, marketers are challenged

to gain stronger consumer engagement in their marketing programs.

Experienced marketers have realized that to effectively connect with

consumers to build brand affinity, it’s important to leverage their

customers inherent behaviours and rituals. In my book Belonging

Experiences, Designing Engaged Brands, I identified the need for

consumers to connect and form communities as the doorway to self-

actualization. Gamification is a strategy for brands and organizations

to ensure the action of belonging is enjoyable and driven by a need

to contribute and be recognized.

Gamification is an emerging marketing approach that capitalizes on

how today’s generation needs a sense of excitement, control, and,

more importantly, a need for fun to complete their daily chores. It

has evolved from the historical product placement approach found

in video games and movies to a new level that is far more engaging

and provides greater results for marketers. This white paper will

present recent research and insights on this new marketing

approach, namely:

1. Defining the meaning of gamification

2. Trends driving the need for change

3. Examples of applications

4. Guidelines and application approaches for marketers

White paper | September 2011 | Gamification | 2

"By handing

out rewards

like badges,

you are

creating an

environment

filled with

positive

reinforcement"

Gabe Zichermann, co-author of

Game-Based Marketing

What is gamification?

According to Wikipedia, Gamification is defined as the use of game

design techniques and mechanics to solve problems and engage

audiences. Typically, gamification applies to non-game applications

(also known as "funware"), particularly consumer-oriented web and

mobile sites, in order to encourage people to adopt the applications.

It also strives to encourage users to engage in desired behaviours in

connection with the applications.

Gamification works by making technology more engaging, and by

encouraging desired behaviours, thus taking advantage of humans'

psychological predisposition to engage in gaming. The technique

can encourage people to perform chores that they ordinarily

consider boring, such as completing surveys, shopping, or reading

web sites.

Types of gamification approaches?

Early examples of gamification are based on rewarding points to

people who share experiences on location-based platforms such as

Facebook’s "Place" feature, Foursquare (social network), and

Gowalla. However, the approach is evolving with the growing number

of smart phone users, allowing brands such as Nike, Starbucks and

Adidas to create games that build strong engagement within a loyal

branded community. The techniques can be structured in three main

engagement strategies:

1. Recognition: one of the surest ways to build brand loyalty is to

recognize your loyal customers for their contribution to the

growth of your organization’s business. Recognition by the

organization or the players’ peers is an effective tool to stimulate

engagement, and support given marketing initiatives:

• Achievement "badges" or levels

• Leader boards

White paper | September 2011 | Gamification | 3

“Games are

unnecessary

obstacles

we volunteer

to tackle.”

Jane McGonigal, author of

Broken: Why Games Make Us

Better and How They Can

Change the World

1. Belonging: Meeting new people, forming a group of like-minded

people, and contributing to the purpose of this group are

important factors that lead to brand engagement. Marketers are

learning that their “target groups” consistent not only of

demographics and psychographics, but also “communities”

whose common values are not derived from age or gender but

from needs and beliefs. Gamification allows brands to create

deeper relationships within communities by creating a platform

for its members to interact with each other in playful venues.

Examples of such initiatives are:

• Challenges between users

• Ability to create new games that solicit participation by the

community

• Embedding small casual games within other activities.

2. Status: Beyond the need for recognition from an organization is

the need for recognition by our peers based on our

demonstrated gaming abilities or the level of experience we have

gained. Examples of such status-driven initiatives are:

• A progress bar or other visual meter to indicate how close

people are to completing a task a company is trying to

encourage, such as completing a social networking profile or

earning a frequent shopper loyalty award.

• Virtual currency

• Systems for awarding, redeeming, trading, gifting, or

exchanging points

White paper | September 2011 | Gamification | 4

“One way to motivate those workers is by incorporating game mechanics into the workplace, especially when it comes to rewarding worker performance.”

Salesforce.com Chief Scientist JP

Rangaswami

3. Escape: A new dimension of gamification that is emerging in the

Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) sector is the introduction of

virtual gaming platforms that allow easy access to gaming

technology. These new platforms allow consumers to overcome

mundane tasks by converting the actual product into a virtual

gaming platform. Examples of these initiatives are:

• Packaging that converts to a virtual game through the

interaction of a computer

• Packaging becomes the trigger to a virtual game that can be

played on a smart phone

• Proximity-based games that reward players by having them

scavenger hunt for virtual objects

Examples of gamification initiatives

Facebook ups its game

Facebook’s new look is not just a change in social media but more

importantly, a new link to gamification. In addition to Facebook’s

introduction of Timeline and an updated version of Open Graph, the

company has also introduced Facebook subscriptions and an

updated news feed. The upgraded news feed is confirmation that

Facebook sees gamification as a critical evolution of how consumers

use social media. The news feed offers an option to receive game

updates through a ticker, in real time, located in the top right-hand

corner of the screen. Now organizations such as Spotify and Netflix

are allowing their members to watch or join someone’s social game

experience right from the ticker, making it easier for players to

participate in a greater number of popular social games. The new

version of Facebook’s Open Graph has also helped game makers

take advantage of this new platform.

White paper | September 2011 | Gamification | 5

Gartner Group

estimates that by

2015, 70% of the

Forbes Global

2000 will be

using gamified

apps, and M2

Research

forecasts that

U.S. companies

alone will spend

$1.6 billion on

gamification

products and

services by that

same year.

Foursquare rewards Starbucks fans

Location-based services such as Foursquare, Gowalla, and Facebook

Places have redefined game mechanics in non-gaming products.

Foursquare stands out with 10 million users on a platform that was

built around solid game mechanics in addition to web and mobile

applications. The system allows registered users to connect with

friends and update their location. Points are awarded for "checking-

in" at venues and users can choose to have their check-ins posted on

their accounts on Twitter, Facebook, or both. Users can claim

mayorships, unlock badges, receive special offers and rewards, such

as discounts to specific retailers, while tracking against friends via a

leaderboard. Foursquare also provides free tools made specifically

for businesses, such as statistics dashboards that reflect customer

behaviour. Starbucks launched a Foursquare strategy to reward loyal

customers. Users can earn the barista badge after checking in to five

separate locations. They also offer a special for Foursquare mayors.

Mayors got $1 off a Frappuccino beverage.

Salesforce gets its gaming mojo

Salesforce, an enterprise cloud computing company headquartered

in San Francisco that distributes business software on a subscription

basis, has taken gamification to another level. The organization has

created a platform to raise the engagement level of its two-million-

plus subscribers by leveraging the inherent need drivers of sales

people. Salesforce converted users’ activities within the system into

various game mechanics that increase the user’s drive to not only

make better use of their system, but also stimulate greater sales for

the user’s organization. The new gamified system offers direct

competition with other users within the same organization. The new

system leverages the pre-existing competitive behaviours of gaming

participants while linking these to drive engagement and usage of

the CRM platform.

White paper | September 2011 | Gamification | 6

Putting real currency behind relevancy

Hallmark is the leading purveyor of greeting cards and calendar-

driven activities. The organization has leveraged the gamification of

Facebook credits to entice users to interact with specific content

within Hallmark’s Social Calendar.

Taking control of the game

Adidas, the world’s second largest sporting goods manufacturer, has

launched a virtual game where a pair of their sneakers can be used

to control a digital world on customer screens. All participants have

to do is show their shoe to their webcam and the virtual world will

open. Adidas took it one step further and teamed up with Dutch

game developers, Xform, who created no less than three games.

Taking a bite out of gaming

McDonald’s Europe operation has gamified an old medium to make it

more engaging. McDonald’s billboard campaign invited passersby to

play Pong on a large interactive billboard. Not only did the billboard

grab people’s attention, the game provided successful players with

digital coupons that were used in nearby stores. The coupons

significantly increased the likelihood of new business for these

McDonald’s locations, while also ensuring the brand was relevant

with a younger generation of consumers.

White paper | September 2011 | Gamification | 7

Steps to brand gamification

We have identified five stages of planning for the implementation of

an effective gamification program, based on the white paper

“Winning with Gamification, Tips from the Expert’s Playbook,”

published by Bunchball (www.bunchball.com), and a wide range of

related articles:

Step One: Setting your goals

Before you gain any value in launching a gamification initiative, it’s

important that you clearly define your business goals and strategies.

Defining both financial, sales, behaviour and engagement metrics

will allow the organization to determine the level of investment and

desired activities. A key part of the first step is to understand your

users: who they are, what they do, why and how they do it. Since

gamification is linked to leveraging the inherent behaviours of your

customers, it is important to clearly understand what drives their

needs and wants. Clearly defining your user’s need states will help

align the types of incentives or rewards that will have the most

impact on engagement.

Step 2: Identify the action you want the users to do

Gamification is a platform to motivate and stimulate users to

participate in an action that they would not have otherwise

completed. To that end, it’s very important that you clearly define

the action you want your users to accomplish.

It could be to register for an event or service, connect with the

organization, watch a video, share ideas or suggestions, watch a

slideshow on the company or product, complete a profile that would

allow you to segment future messaging, allow them to upload a

video on a brand relevant subject (i.e., cooking steps on how to use

the branded product), or to allow for comments on the organization,

a campaign, or idea.

White paper | September 2011 | Gamification | 8

In essence, gamification should be leveraged to stimulate on-going

dialogue between the organization and consumers, while ensuring

that at each level of engagement, the user-evolving need states are

being met.

Step 3: What is the right incentive?

Building on the insights established by understanding what

motivates your customers, it is important to establish a reward

system that is flexible, and rewards deeper relationships with the

brand, while ensuring the program is cost effective. A great way to

determine the ideal approach is to explore the reward structure of

other brands that may share the same customers. Since consumers

typically compare offerings based on past experiences,

understanding how other organizations establish their reward

systems will minimize the risk that your offering is not relevant.

Another factor to consider when establishing your reward program is

the type of levels you will be offering and the desired outcome you

are wanting to achieve. Ultimately, the goal of any reward system is

to support ongoing relationships that become deeper and more

meaningful. Creating tiers for your reward system will ensure that

your gamification program has legs and can grow as your user base

and level of engagement evolves.

Step 4: Make it visually exciting and easy to use

Web development and social media platforms have demonstrated

that less is more, simple is better, and visually exciting versus word-

centric are the keys to user engagement. The same principles apply

to gamification approaches. In developing your gamification

strategy, it is important that the gaming mechanism, reward

structure and overall user experience are simple yet exciting.

White paper | September 2011 | Gamification | 9

Ideally the visuals and naming convention for both the rewards and

interaction should leverage core equities of the brand while also

ensuring the images are stunning and inviting to view. Since the

reference point for most gamification programs are the best in class

electronic games, it is from this perspective that the visuals and

experiences should be established.

Step 5: Make it a virtual community

Since the fundamental premise of gamification is to build a loyal

community of consumers that are advocates for your brand, it’s

important that the users are allowed to build their online profile and

recognition from peers and friends. A key tenant of gamification

programs is to make users’ accomplishments and achievements

highly visible, fueling a sense of competitiveness and pride.

Allowing users to share success stories, accomplishments, or even

ideas on how to make the overall game better will lead to higher

social awareness and grassroots participation, well beyond the

outbound marketing initiatives of the organization.

White paper | September 2011 | Gamification | 10

Conclusion

Gamification is truly the next wave of brand engagement that

creates a platform that leverages the inherent behaviours of

consumers and encourages them to participate in brand building

initiatives.

As new approaches to gamification emerge through the

commoditization of technology and the accessibility of smart phone

technologies, branding strategies will need to be modified and

enhanced to remain relevant. Although these nuances will be

important, the foundation of the approach – a holistic and integrated

gamification strategy that is focused on engaging consumers and

building brand loyalty communities – will become easier and

hopefully more fun for both organizations and consumers.

It will be interesting to note how the approach will evolve and which

of the leading brands will embrace change.

White paper | September 2011 | Gamification | 11

For more information, contact:

Jean-Pierre Lacroix, President

Shikatani Lacroix

387 Richmond Street East

Toronto, Ontario

M5A 1P6

Telephone: 416-367-1999

Email: jplacroix@sld.com

White paper | September 2011 | Gamification | 12