Gamification: Top Marketing Projects

Gamification is one of the latest trends in entertainment—but it’s not just about having a good time.

The term gamification describes an activity that uses tenets of gaming to enrich the experience for users. The most popular forms of gamification revolve around business, education, and marketing.

In the realm of education, gamification can enliven a topic and make it more memorable for learners.

In the realm of business, gamification can help onboard employees. Just like academic learners, employees tend to learn faster and with greater meaning when they learn about their new position or role with a few games.When we’re having fun, it seems we’re paying closer attention.

Though gamification is incredibly popular within education and business, it’s truly amazing how many companies have been able to leverage gaming mechanisms to enhance their reach.

Keep reading for a few top examples of marketing projects involving gamification—plus one example in education.

Jurassic Park Gold Slot

Slots are the world’s most popular casino game. Whether diving in via an online platform for added convenience or heading to a local brick-and-mortar establishment, casino gamers enjoy slots for their graphics, action, and potential payouts.

Unsurprisingly, the short-form games pair well with mega hits from Hollywood and TV shows.

The Jurassic Park Gold Slot is a great example of gamification in action. The primary goal of gamification is to increase customer interaction.

Slots players who play Jurassic Park Gold are able to explore and dive into the rebooted series.

Even if they’ve never seen it before, their playing experience might be memorable enough that they check out the film later on.

Duolingo

Duolingo takes a more direct approach to gamification. The app is the world’s most-used language-learning tool.

It currently supports over 40 languages, which means that users worldwide can use it for a variety of purposes, whether brushing up before a trip or preparing for a language exam. 

Developers relied on games to help educate users—similar to how a teacher might use different activities to get students practicing.

These games are even more important in Duolingo since learners aren’t in a group setting. Gamification in education has been shown to improve response times and memory recall.

M&M’s Adventure

Let’s move into the realm of gaming apps that were created by companies specifically with interaction in mind.

M&M’s Adventure is a mobile app created by the Mar’s giant. It’s a free-to-use game that lets players solve challenging puzzles with the hopes of making it onto a regional leaderboard.

Along the way, they can rack up points, discover new types of M&M products they might not have heard of before, and even access exclusive offers and events.

Viewed in this way, gamification can also be part of a loyalty or rewards program.

KFC’s ‘The Great Bucket Hunt’

The title of this program is pretty straightforward. Rather than create a separate gaming app, KFC used its KFC Mobile app (which lets users order food remotely) to launch a special gaming challenge.

Back in 2021, it created an augmented reality game that would let users search for hidden virtual buckets of chicken across the US. 

Sounds familiar? The game closely mirrored the success of Pokémon GO, in which gamers would search for Pokémon to capture in unlikely places.

After finding a bucket, players could then spin them, turning the game into a type of ‘Wheel of Fortune’ prize dispenser. Winners could access things like food, experiences, cash, and even sports equipment.

Louis: The Game

By far one of the most successful forays into gamification comes from Louis Vuitton.

The atelier decided to celebrate its centennial by launching an NFT-based app, bridging gamification, marketing, and crypto.

In the game, players navigate a dreamy world as a teddy bear named Vivienne, where they must solve puzzles to collect an important manuscript and a series of candles.

But as they advance through the game, those NFTs provide them with access to unique experiences and prizes.

The NFTs can be used as profile pictures and a personal avatars, and can be transferred to other apps and social media platforms.

So far, the game has been downloaded over two million times. But the game itself is satisfying enough to play that it’s been dubbed better than Fortnite by publications like Highsnobiety. 

Balenciaga’s Fortnite Partnership

Let’s stick with high fashion for a moment—and Fortnite. While Louis Vuitton opted to launch an NFT-based app to bridge gaming and fashion, some houses like Balenciaga have taken this a step further.

Previously, Louis Vuitton had also partnered with eSports giant League of Legends to create a virtual collection that could be worn in the game.

But Balenciaga took this a step further with their recent collaboration with Epic Games.

Epic Games owns Fortnite, one of the world’s most popular video games that has around 272,000 average monthly users.

Rather than create a gaming-centric app, Balenciaga opted to create a tailored gaming experience similar to the Jurassic Park Slot.

In the game itself, players can purchase Balenciaga skins and other customized pieces.

And, in real life, they can also purchase Balenciaga-Fortnite retail, including slouchy and oversized hoodies—a hit for both gamers and streetwear fans.

BBVA Game

There are fewer topics as dry as banking. And given the emphasis on security, gamification within the financial technology space has been slow to develop.

But Spain-based bank BBVA has changed that. Using a simple browser game, the bank has managed to encourage users to perform different tasks that help them earn points and prizes.

Here, gamification is pretty straightforward. BBVA wants to know more about its clients and their financial preferences and outlook.

Specifically, it wants to encourage users to bank digitally to free up more of its physical locations.

Rather than provide boring intros to digital banking, the company created a more engaging way to teach users—and to thank them by offering different prizes.

So far, it’s proved a huge hit. BBVA reports that around 100,000 users have opted to play to learn more and earn points.

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