Hardly anyone likes advertisements, but for businesses seeking a profit (and that’s all of them), it’s a fact of life. Now, there’s a new trend in marketing that aims to make advertising fun for the potential consumer.
Gamification goes beyond watching video, listening to radio ads, or reading a content marketing piece on the web. Gamification in marketing gets users engaged and plays into their desire to win and to receive rewards.
For example, music streaming service Pandora often asks users to watch an ad now in order to receive the reward of uninterrupted streaming for an hour. Hulu does the same thing, offering users the option of answering questions in a light-hearted TV or film-related quiz in order to unlock an ad-free viewing experience.
Marketers are getting into gamification because it keeps users engaged with their content for longer periods of time, raising their awareness of the brand, and, according to Peter Daisyme writing in Forbes, it “goes a long way toward influencing their purchase decisions in the near future.”
By gamifying ads, users are more likely to remember the experience, and if they win or get some kind of reward, they will be likely to share the experience on social media.
Companies seeking to get into gamification should be ready to learn about their target audience and the type of experience that would appeal to them. They will have to research, segment, and test different ways of incorporating product (or service) placement with gamification. They will also have to decide what incentives they would like to offer to participants.
Daniel White for TechFunnel.com
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