The Monster brand campaign in the game Call of Duty./Buff
For some time now, the gaming industry has played a critical role in shaping the way brands approach their audiences.
As one of the strongest industries in the field of content and entertainment, more and more brands are "gamifying" their marketing content, and using tools from the game worlds in order to attract new customers and even appeal to new and young audiences.
As humans, we love games.
From board games, and video games, we are designed to seek challenges and find satisfaction in overcoming them.
It is therefore not surprising that the concept of Gamification has become such a popular trend in recent years.
What is Gamification?
Gamification, in Hebrew Tzacha, is a process in which you take something that is not a game by nature and add game elements to it to make it more attractive and fun.
And as it turned out, it can be a very significant tool in marketing, especially for increasing loyalty among existing and new customers.
I spoke with
Boaz Pasco, VP of Marketing at Bap Technologies
, which established and operates a platform for a loyalty club for gamers since 2018, to understand how this concept can serve brands in the current era and in the coming years.
"Bap started from the insight that if you already play video games and spend many hours in the game, so why shouldn't gamers be rewarded for their performance and playing time?" says Boaz.
"Gamers download the Bap app to their mobile or computer and run it before every game.
The app supports thousands of games, from Fortnite, Valorant, Roblox, League of Legends and more.
During the game, the app monitors the performance and game time in the background and rewards the user with app points.
At the end of the game, the user can see how many points he has accumulated, and eventually convert the points into gaming products from the company's marketplace, including software components (skins, avatars and weapons), hardware (keyboards, mice, etc.) and gift cards.
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And what is your business model, where does the company make money?
"Our business model places gamers and brands at the center. The company generates revenue through personalized monetization, with selected advertisements that appear before and after each game. These are carefully planned so that they do not interfere with the game experience, so that gamers enjoy a smooth and enjoyable flow. Furthermore, our business model incorporates A premium subscription that provides an ad-free experience and offers additional benefits to users," says Boaz.
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So far everything sounds pretty standard, where does the gamification part come in?
Boaz Pasco./Gal Mosenzon
"In addition to the customer club, we collaborate with leading brands, and create unique campaigns for them that combine the brands with popular AAA games," says Boaz.
"For example, we recently launched a campaign with the international consumer company (P&G (Procter and Gamble), an official sponsor of the Olympics that is taking place this year in France. We built them a unique map within Fortnite, a kind of new world, where the gamers have to perform all kinds of tasks related to the brand. This unique map We built in the form of an Olympic track inside a huge ratatouille-like French kitchen, with a challenging task that incorporates the brand values.
We build the game map or the new world in the game as a marketing move that creates real value for the gamers who choose to participate in the activity. In fact, we do not just run a customer club with millions gamers, but also create for them and for brands fascinating gaming content that creates a strong and meaningful connection between consumers and brands."
PR - one time
What is the advantage of this type of marketing?
"The gamer audience is a huge audience with a very large consumer power. They have their own language and not every brand knows how to appeal to them. Young people up to the age of 30, which is the bulk of the gamer population, have no patience for advertisers and "traditional" advertisements. They are on other channels. Bap has Millions of users around the world, which those brands have no ability to reach, so what Baap actually does is make these target audiences accessible to brands in a language they understand - games," says Boaz.
"We work with brands from all fields and create worlds for them within existing games. For example, we did a campaign with the energy drink brand Monster based on the game Call of Duty, and a campaign for the American financial company Fidelity that wanted to reach younger audiences, on top of the game League of Legends. Collaborations These are WIN-WIN for us and for the brands. The brands reach the audience they want and thus gain new customers, and we provide our users with content that interests them along with added value such as prizes and contests."
"On the content level, brands don't always know how to talk to gamers and don't have the tools or technology to do it. Building worlds in Roblox or maps in Fortnite is not such a problem, today developers and even the gamers themselves can build worlds. The problem starts with attracting the audience, because if You built a world that no one participates in or plays in, so it doesn't serve the business goals. We build worlds that we know we can get hundreds of thousands of players into, because the club is big and some of our players are looking for exactly that."
How does gamification help promote the goals of brands?
"Brands are constantly trying to talk to the gamer audience, who are considered to have a strong purchasing power. For example, when Gucci wanted to raise awareness of the brand among gamers, they launched a fashion show on Twitch and created an edition that you can buy in-game and receive a coupon to buy the brand's products. Although only a certain percentage can The clothing had to be bought because it was terribly expensive, but the move did its job in terms of awareness.
A more accessible brand in terms of price, like Nike, could certainly aim to motivate action. The company was one of the first to launch branded skins - outfits within the game's world, which when bought receive a discount code to purchase items in the real world. That's why it catches so many people."
How does this change the marketing game?
"The integration of games in the digital marketing strategy of brands marks a new and exciting trend in the world of marketing. By adopting this approach, brands can reach their target audience in a more efficient and engaging way, while encouraging active and experiential participation. Gamification provides a channel to promote products or services in a way that does not interfere for the user experience, and rewards consumers through completing tasks and interactions in the game," says Boaz.
"Gamification not only increases sales and deepens engagement, but also improves return on investment (ROI), strengthens customer loyalty and, as a result, leads to an increase in customer satisfaction. In the world of gamers, this is a huge potential for brands that know how to take advantage of new platforms and advanced technologies to create content quality and meaningful.
Today there are over 3 billion video gamers in the world, among those who just pass the time to those who spend hours a day. If in the past gamers were young children, 14 years old in a dark room, today the average age of gamers in the world ranges from 18-35, and the way they Consuming their content has changed. They are on platforms like Tiktok, YouTube, Twitch, Reddit, Discord and more. A brand that manages to enter this "closed garden" and speak this language without interfering with the gaming experience and even enhancing it, will benefit."
Where is this all going?
"Looking ahead to the future, the content we'll consume, especially with the recently released Vision Pro, will be largely gamified. Right now it's too expensive but once it's cheaper, it'll be in the public domain and replace regular ads. Brands will want to use gamification that has a drive For action - go to the store and buy. It develops quickly, and what used to take a lot of time - building worlds - today takes much less."
More on the same topic:
Gaming
Gamers
Generation Z
advertising
Marketing
Fortnite