imc 619 using gamification as a marketing tool

Marchant, StephanieIMC 619 Week 5

Interest is growing in gamification, the use of game techniques and mechanics to engage and motivate. Future predictions suggest that this interest will continue to grow especially in the use of games to change individual behavior. The challenge lies in creating a campaign that is engaging and personally relevant so audiences will voluntarily spend time with it.

Humans have been playing games in various forms since the days of the caveman, and competition is deeply ingrained in the human psyche. Fast forward to the modern era with the significant free time that people have today, and gaming has become a hugely popular and tremendously profitable industry. With this wide acceptance of gaming and the emergence of the technology available through the internet, smart phones, and tablets people have become more open to game mechanics in other parts of their lives. Frequent flyer programs, Starbucks, and Nike+ iPod are just some examples of how people around the world are accruing points, leveling up, and earning rewards. As a result, gamification is becoming a powerful tool through which organizations teach, persuade, and motivate people. (Camaret, 2013)

Looking past the hype, what gamification does is appeal to people’s natural desires for autonomy, self-expression, achievement, status, social connections and even altruism.

The starting point for gamifying a campaign, service or product is consumer insight. What emotional needs are the customers getting out of it? Are they socializing with the product, feeling secure about their future, using it to achieve a personal goal? Present an activity or challenge that expresses that, give great feedback and encouragement, make it easy for customers to share their progress, and make it progress gradually so it doesn’t get boring. (Clicklabs, 2013)

Gamification doesn’t mean creating a video game or requiring a new budget; instead, its principles can amplify what is already being done. Because it amplifies what is already valued, the result is an increase in conversion and retention rates. And, sometimes, gamification can be used to prepare for the inevitable.

Swarms of zombies are reported to have entered a Kiwi home, leaving a trail of dangerous hazards for humans in their wake!

The Zombie Apocalypse has come to your neighborhood! Defend your home and keep your family safe using home-made defenses and traps. Improvise ways to take down zombies using household hazards and keep your family out of danger. Solve puzzles to create traps and find the cure for the zombie plague. (InGame, 2013)

Thankfully these zombies aren’t real – they’re characters in ‘Safe House’, a free video game, developed by InGame and supported by New Zealand’s government-owned Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC). (Accident Compensation Corporation, 2013) Safe House is a twist on zombie survival games, but players don’t have any guns or traditional weapons, so they must figure out how to use everyday household objects against the invading zombies. The game is also full of little surprises for experienced game players to discover.


Features include: Five houses to defend from simple home to mansion Use household items as traps Craft special weapons and traps to evict zombies Play as either Mother, Father, Son or Daughter Complete bonus quests for cash

The project was launched as a public service announcement of sorts. The game’s ultimate purpose is behavior change and injury prevention. Safe House is a ‘serious game’ that shows people of all ages the consequences of hazards and falls around the home in an engaging way. It’s both a fun game and educational.

Safe House was one of the winning ideas proposed during ACC’s 2012 Idea Nation competition to find innovative ways to reduce falls around the home. Every year over 10,000 New Zealanders have a week or more off work because of a fall around the house, and falls cost the economy over $1.8 billion dollars a year. Safe House is available for iPhones, iPads, Android phones, Android tablets, and on the website: http://www.safehouse.co.nz/about/. (InGame Limited, 2013)

The Safe House game was an attempt to explore innovative ways to encourage people to take more care. Research shows that games don’t just communicate messages, they make people experience those messages. This is a key difference that sets them apart from other types of communication. The growing popularity of video games means they provide ACC with a potentially powerful medium for communicating injury prevention messages.

With Safe House, ACC and InGame are targeting people in the 20-40 year-old age bracket, because contrary to popular belief, it’s not just older people and the very

Figure 1 Screenshot from Safe House


young who get injured at home. Research shows the average age of New Zealand game players is 33 years old. Of course, Safe House is first and foremost a game, and InGame Director Stephen Knightly says it’s been designed to be both exciting and challenging to play. (Accident Compensation Corporation, 2013)

Safe House is an example of gamification done well, with a high level of entertainment value, from which a positive association with the message is delivered. This medium can be a powerful venue if game play is intertwined deeply with the message, in this case, preventing home injuries under the guise of a zombie apocalypse. Rather than license a run-of-the-mill game, customized advergames that integrate features, functions or competitive advantages of a service into the game are more engaging. (inGame, 2013)

The best marketing methods are those that directly involve the audience. And the involvement should be enjoyable – not a forced annoyance like clicking incessantly to get rid of pop-ups. Through gamification, organizations can engage users, encourage them to join a community, drive active participation, share with friends outside the community, and even recruit friends to join the community. Gamification enables an organization to turn participants into fans, and fans into evangelists.


ReferencesAccident Compensation Corporation. (2013, November 23). Accident Compensation

Corporation. Retrieved from Accident Compensation Corporation: http://www.acc.co.nz/

Accident Compensation Corporation. (2013, November 4). Zombies trash Kiwi home... clean-up now underway. Retrieved from Accident Compensation Corporation: http://www.acc.co.nz/news/WPC119664

Camaret, V. (2013, September 4). Advergaming: The New Advertisers Toy? Retrieved from Digi-Vibes: http://digi-vibes.com/advergaming-new-advertisers-toy/

Chang, R. (2008, October 16). 'Advergames' a Smart Move, If Done well. Retrieved from AdAge: http://adage.com/article/madisonvine-case-study/advergames-a-smart-move-blockdot/131786/

Clicklabs. (2013, November 23). Branded Games. Retrieved from Clicklabs: http://click-labs.com/mobile-gaming/branded-games/

InGame. (2013, November 23). Safe House. Retrieved from iTunes Preview: https://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/safe-house/id670822307

inGame. (2013, February 27). Want Engagement? Try some Gamification. Retrieved from inGame: http://www.ingame.co.nz/2013/want-engagement-try-some-gamification/

InGame Limited. (2013, November 23). About Safehouse. Retrieved from Safehouse: http://www.safehouse.co.nz/about/

imc 619 using gamification as a marketing tool

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