By making a service or product fit into the lives of users, and doing so in an engaging manner, gamification vows to create unique, competition-beating experiences that deliver immense value. Hence, businesses across the world have embarked on employing gamification as a tool to enhance marketing.

In reality, there is a wide range of creative possibilities involved in marketing gamification. To illustrate this, we will present to you some real-life case examples.

The Nike + Fuelband Example 

This product shows users daily feedback on how close they are to their daily goals. Also, whenever they hit a goal or have a streak, an animated cartoon character jumps out and starts to celebrate in a hyper manner, enabling the users to feel accomplished and willing to carry on. Additionally, immediate feedback meets their need to feel empowered

Participants have the opportunity to challenge friends, which brings in the aspect of Social Influence & Relatedness, which is inherent for effective gamification

The smart game designers of this product also incorporated a social dimension to this game, which has undoubtedly helped to expand awareness and demand for the Nikes Fuelband.

Participants have the opportunity to challenge friends, which brings in the aspect of Social Influence & Relatedness, which is inherent for effective gamification.  And this provides a great incentive to use this application. In turn, it perpetuates a greater level of momentum in user engagement. Hence, this is a very clever way to forge an association between a fit, slender body to Nike’s brand. This gamification technique got them about 6 million more players within two years.

My Starbucks Reward Example

The brand used gamification tactics to enhance the Starbuck’s experience and to boost sales as well. Players sign up for the ‘My Reward’ system through an app. And whenever they make a purchase of a Starbucks product, they gain stars (which actually look like cups that are graphically filled in).

Moreover,  there are three “levels” depending on the extent of user loyalty. More frequent visits to a Starbucks store is awarded through an upgraded level. Examples of benefits include:  a birthday gift, an extra cup of coffee, or even offers designed especially for the customer. These features motivate their core drives, along with the element of Ownership & Possession (the possibility of receiving virtual goods, which is common to any loyalty program). This approach to marketing, allowed them to gain 4.5 million My Reward users and the cards alone made up for $3 billion in sales annually.

Last but not least, “Spot the Ball” is another example of a gamified marketing campaign that challenges the audience and creates buzz around an event.  It engages fans with multiple images, enabling them to view friend’s guesses and share out their own prediction for a chance to win. The software of this game is designed in a manner that compels users to play it, –motivating users by enabling them to have fun, not tricking them into doing things. Moreover, its features have been carefully foreseen to ensure that they don’t defeat the purpose of incentivizing users to complete real-world tasks. This skilled game is one of its kind, providing players with autonomy, relatedness, and competence. Its developers have ensured that a cautious balance exists between the “fun factor” and the tone of the subject matter, whatever it may be.

To sum up, skilled game developers try to cover both aspects—namely, to increase engagement through pleasurable activity and satisfy the bigger picture, the original purpose for the design, so that their projects turn out to be successful. One can tell from their work that gamification is an experience you should “weave” carefully into an existing system, not a feature you insert.

If you need help developing a competition site for your company, the experienced team at Tentacle Solutions is happy to assist. Based in Glasgow, Scotland, we deal with all facets of skilled games, including predictive analytics, testing, creative UI/UX services and more. Contact us today to learn how we can help you create a one-of-a-kind app to suit your unique needs.