blog

An Introduction to Gamification

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:43:05 +1300

For centuries games have been used to entertain, compete, reward and educate. Throughout history games have proven to bare many positive effects on individuals including; rational problem solving, spatial skills, creativity, co-operations, memory, maths and ethics. Unlike movies or books, games not only have content, they also have rules which through reward have the ability to teach values. Only now are we beginning to understand that games are not just for play and entertainment, they are in fact vehicles for change.

Gamification is the application of game dynamics and game thinking to non-game initiatives. To make it clear, gamification is not creating virtual worlds and games – that’s gaming. Gamification is about taking the engagement tactics found in games to make real world activity more rewarding. These tactics have been used to help kids learn, make loyalty programmes more engaging and are now being applied to business to improve productivity and job satisfaction.

The main goal of gamification is to motivate people to participate in a certain activity. Participation can be increased by providing people with something deeply engaging that satisfies their basic desires. These desires include things such as: reward, recognition, status and achievement and can be fulfilled through game mechanics such as point systems, bonuses and levels. By satisfying these desires, the behaviour of people can be influenced in a positive way. These people could be customers, fans, employees, students or anyone else you want to engage.

In the case of customers, participation could include:

- Visiting sites

- Watching videos

- Posting comments

- Posting in online communities

- Interacting through social media

- Downloading files

- Sharing information

These are just some examples of participation and obviously a lot more can be achieved depending on what your goals are. By increasing participation among customers, you increase the chances of them telling others and becoming advocates for your brand leading to greater brand awareness and loyalty.

Over the next couple of months we plan on expanding on this post with a series of posts that go into more detail about gamification and the ideas behind it. Stay tuned for more and in the meantime make sure you download the One Fat Sheep white paper at the bottom of the page.

Thinking Beyond Social Media

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 18:57:18 +1300

The advent of social media opened up a myriad of new possibilities for marketers to communicate with and engage customers in a way that wasn't possible only a few years ago. In recent times, we have seen plenty of creative campaigns that have made use of facebook, twitter, youtube and other platforms with great success. But relying on Social Media alone to communicate with our audience isn't always enough. When combined with other media channels, social media can become a much more powerful tool.

Transmedia is the technique of communicating a single narrative or theme across multiple channels with each channel contributing something unique to tell a story that is engaging and creates collective action rather than passive consumption. Today's consumers like getting involved and simply broadcasting information to them is no longer an option. A much better option is to create something engaging that consumers seek out and want to be involved in. And if it involves multiple channels, it's even better.

Take a look at the Old Spice campaign from 2010 which started as a series of hilarious TV commercials featuring Isaiah Mustafa as an irresistible hunk. The campaign was later enhanced when Mustafa's character entered the online world. Over the course of three days, the character interacted with fans by responding to questions they had posted on facebook with personalised (and usually humourous) videos. Within a week, these videos had been viewed more than 40 million times.

By adding another element to their campaign that encouraged consumers to get involved, Old Spice created something much more powerful and engaging. An important thing to note though, is that without the original TV campaign, the facebook campaign could never have happened. Each channel contributed to create something that was greater than the sum of its parts. And this is precisely what transmedia is about.

The days of broadcasting to consumers are over and finding new ways to engage and entertain consumers is becoming increasingly important. Tweeting and wall posts are a great way to inform people about sales, promotions or new product releases but if we want to create intense customer loyalty, we need to provide them with a rich and deeply engaging experience. And to do this, we need to be innovative and think of ways to communicate with customers across multiple platforms.

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The Internet of Things

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 13:29:07 +1300

It wasn't that long ago that being connected to the internet meant sitting at a desk with a cable connecting your computer to a phone line. Now when we think about being connected to the internet, we think about not only computers but phones and tablets. So where to next in this ever increasingly wireless world?

The next era is being referred to as The Internet of Things and it's already well underway. In 2008 the number of things connected to the internet exceeded the number of people on the planet. And we're not just talking about computers and mobile devices but things in general, even cows. That's right, cows! Dutch company Sparked has developed a sensor that can be implanted in the ears of cows to measure their vital signs. This information is then transmitted wirelessly to a server where a farmer can use the data to determine the health of individual cows as well as the herd and respond accordingly if they are sick. The cow's eating habits, movements and response to various environmental factors can also be monitored.

This may sound like something out of a science fiction novel but this is where the internet is heading and cyber cows are just the beginning. Imagine a scenario where your train is running 15 minutes late so it sends a signal to your alarm clock which allows you to sleep longer and also signals your kettle to turn on later as well. Imagine being able to turn on your tumble dryer from your car after it sent you a message letting you know that your clothes were still damp. These are just a couple of scenarios that could be made possible by machine to machine communication and the Internet of Things.

It's not only our day-to-day lives that could be improved either. Local governments could use this new technology to improve traffic, energy consumption, water systems and waste management. The possibilities are endless and new ideas are emerging every day. Watch the video below to learn more about this exciting future.

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Game Dynamics and Behavioural Change

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 14:06:57 +1300

Let's forget about the problem for one minute!

When it comes to changing behaviour in people, the predictable route doesn't often succeed. Most initiatives for change focus on squarely on the problem, challenging people to understand the problem often through tactics such as fear, education or bribery.

As most creatives and innovators would know the path to solving complex problems is not often linear, and answers seldom present themselves during the hours of nine to five. Inspriation usually comes from something you would never expect, usually an external source or connection that switches the light on. Changing behaviour works in a very similar way.

An example of this is a campaign to encouraging more recycling in the city of Hollywood, Florida. It is difficult to encourage mass participation in environmental based initiatives, for one simple reason, physical detachment. Once our garbage has been collected from our house, it's no longer our problem. At an intrinsic level we may feel concern or guilt about the growing pollution problem, but these emotions aren't enough to change our behaviour.

Using www.recyclebank.com the city of Hollywood challenged people to recycle using game dynamics. Participants earned points for every kilogram of recycling they produced. They challenge their friends to do the same adding a level of friendly competition. The points could then be traded for goods and discounts supplied by local retailers. The initiative was no longer about recycling, it was about reward and recognition. And the results were staggering.

Recycling Results : Hollywood, Florida

Two-thirds city residents participated each month
Saved $500,000 in disposal fees
Generated $250,000+ in recycling revenue
Increased recycling tonnages by 130%

Other statistics from Recyclebank surveys are also proving that participant were, lo and behold, learning something along the way:

"More than 60% of those surveyed indicated
“moderate” to “considerable” increases in eco-knowledge."

Volkwagen has also exercised this approach with their website 'The Fun Theory'. The site is dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better. Again, by not focusing on the problem, and by encouraging participation in new and creative ways, The Fun Theory generated some amazing results.

Speed Camera Lottery put a new spin on speeding fines by offering the fine proceeds to those that actually obeyed the speed limit by way of a lottery. Before the installation of the Speed Camera Lottery the average speed was 32 kilometers an hour. That figure dropped to 25 kilometers an hour during a three-day test – a speed decrease of 20%.

It's pretty clear that the dynamics of fun, reward and recognition found in games have the ability to change behaviour. Isn't it time that we started taking fun more seriously?