It seems fitting that one of the more lively and candid panelists at Marketing’s Young Influencers Conference on Thursday was a 20-year-old, hot-shot entrepreneur from British Columbia.
Brian Wong is the founder of the mobile advertising platform Kiip that allows brands to reward gamers with real world prizes. He led the way into a lively discussion during a panel called “Play Hard: The Indispensable Place For Gaming In Your Youth Strategy.”
Wong, who recently made Forbes’ “Top 30 Under 30” list in the social/mobile space, offered advice to marketers looking to use gaming to reach young consumers. His first recommendation: don’t use the term “gamification” in marketing meetings. “It’s counterproductive to try and define it as a separate strategy.” Gaming is a natural human behaviour, not a niche market.
Wong identified three different levels of interaction to help marketers make sense of gaming and to avoid using the “g” word. He asked that audience members think of the gaming experience as a pyramid. The bottom level is “action” followed by “achievement” and topped off with “rewards.”
An “action” can be anything from making a purchase online to writing a post. When these actions are acknowledged, they can it be rewarded, he said. This acknowledgement gives a sense of achievement, which is what every game experience has in common.
“It’s that moment you feel you’ve accomplished something,” said Wong, and when dopamine levels increase. It’s when players are happy, when brands have an opportunity to strike, and the defining moment that was the impetus for Kiip.
Wong’s second piece of advice: “Go where the fish are. Are [marketers] game developers? No. So don’t be one.” Find where gamers are spending their time and inject your brand there.
Wong shared the stage with Katherine Dimopoulos, head of marketing and brand experience with Scene, and Simon de Boer, co-founder of sports gaming company InGamer. De Boer agreed with Wong when it comes to getting in front of the right consumer at the right time and with the right ad unit.
“If you’re trying to motivate a small purchase, being on a casual flash [game] site could be perfect,” said de Boer. “On the other hand, if you’re a brand that wants to build up long-time loyalty, it might work more efficiently to buy sign rights on the back of Rock Band where the users are there having a much greater experience.”
Everyone in the 15-25 demographic is a gamer whether they spend 15 minutes on a flash site or invest great amounts of time playing Sims or the like, said de Boer. And those that dedicate ample amounts of time expect a great amount of rewards.
Wong said Kiip, which counts Dr. Pepper, Vitamin Water, Sephora and Carl’s Junior among its clients, will work only with top tier brands because they have the funds to deliver a “consistent experience over and over again.”
Dimopoulos said Scene, Cineplex and Scotiabank’s joint loyalty rewards program, has recently experienced success with gaming. In late November, Scene launched a national member drive and awareness campaign called “Scenetourage” to reach digitally savvy Canadians 18-34.
The campaign communicates the program’s benefits and is based on the consumer insight that no one goes to the movies alone, she said. Through “Scentourage,” existing members can create and compete as a group for status and points against other members.
“The program satisfies both the need for acquiring new members that have a passion for movies as well as the need of our existing members to engage with the program and their passion for movies,” said Dimopoulos.
Scene is pleased with the results so far. The program exceeded its three-month target by 24% in only four weeks and increased acquisition targets by 23%, said Dimopoulos.
Thursday also marked the launch of Scene’s delayed Facebook trivia game that allows members to collect loyalty points and non-members to earn game points.
