Business Strategy: How to Use Interactive Games in Brand Marketing
Business Strategy: How to Use Interactive Games in Brand Marketing
Using event games in branding has become a common trend in business today. Keep on reading for effective strategies for using games in brand marketing.
Keyword(s): brand marketing
In today's fast-paced digital world, it's harder than ever for marketers to keep the attention of consumers. In fact, online users ignore 80% of digital ads.
That is a staggering statistic, considering most companies spend up to 12.5% of their marketing budget on static digital advertising.
But times are changing. More marketers are turning to interactive brand marketing to engage consumers beyond that first click.
Keep reading to find out how to incorporate interactive game marketing into your next big brand activation campaign.
What Is Interactive Marketing?
Interactive marketing is the use of content that requires engagement from the user beyond simply reading or watching an ad.
Interactive content uses two-way communication to allow customers and companies to communicate. This also enables customers to more easily immerse themselves in a brand's message.
Some effective types of interactive content are games, quizzes, calculators, live demos and virtual reality experiences.
Most immersive content uses a strategy called Holistic Consumer Experience Management (HCEM). HCEM works by creating a unique experience that customers will remember.
This is done by developing an experiential platform that invites customers to involve themselves with the brand message in a dynamic way. While innovating and improving the customer's overall experience of the brand.
Interactive marketing games are seen as a win/win situation for both the marketer and the user. The user has an enjoyable, memorable experience. And the marketer gathers valuable data about their target market.
Examples of Brand Marketing Games
Some industries lend themselves to gamification more than others. But there is no limitation on what types of companies can reap the benefits of interactive content.
Films, TV shows sports and video game campaigns are easy to gamify since there have already been plots and characters established.
Jack Reacher, John Wick, the Jacksonville Jaguars and Game of Thrones are among popular brands to use this form of marketing.
Game of Thrones launched a campaign to promote the latest season by allowing fans to cast votes for the next leader. Over 1.6 million people participated in the voting.
While it might be easier for sports and films to seamlessly integrate games into their campaigns, it is not limited to those industries.
Food and drink brands, restaurants, eyewear, and clothing brands are among the other industries to jump on board with this growing marketing trend.
Applebee's, for example, created a mobile game asking customers to design their own cocktail for a chance to win a voucher to visit their local Applebee's and have the cocktail made for them.
Eyewear brand Warby Parker created a game on their website called Worbs, and it quickly gained a reputation for being addictive and relaxing. A win for the customer, but also a win for the site.
Interactive Event Marketing
The most effective ways to execute interactive content are event marketing, mobile marketing and newsfeed marketing. Interactive event marketing is considered by 67% of marketers to be the most effective way to create brand awareness.
Interactive event marketing incorporates the HCEM strategy, which works wonders for customer engagement. If executed properly, corporate events and trade shows are fantastic opportunities to engage your target market.
The key to a successful event marketing campaign is to make sure the game is relevant to your brand. While you certainly want to keep people engaged in the game as long as possible, you don't want to take attention away from your brand.
This requires strategic planning. Not all games will be relevant to all brands. Effective event marketing games are raffles, prize wheels, hashtag contests and VR/tech demonstrations.
They should be as simple as possible while staying true to the brand's message. You don't want them to take too long to play, either. People have places to go and people to meet. The short, punchy, memorable games will have a better effect.
Mobile and Newsfeed Games
It's common knowledge these days that the millennial demographic is one of the hardest audience segments to reach. And to reach them, you have to go mobile.
Millennials love games. If you can create a well-branded game experience, you're a lot more likely to get higher levels of engagement and create a lasting impact.
The first step towards keeping the attention of an audience is by establishing trust and familiarity. Once a user trusts the brand, they are more likely to share their information and convert into actual customers.
To make the most of mobile games, add rewards and incentives in the form of actions or challenges. Allow users to unlock the next level by viewing online content, liking a Facebook page, sign up for a newsletter, or even purchasing goods.
Over 200 brands around the world use Newsfeed SmartApp games to increase audience engagement on Facebook. And the user doesn't even need to leave their favourite social media site to play.
With 186 million daily users, Snapchat is a massively effective tool for game marketing. Gatorade's Serena Williams' Match Point game was playable on Snapchat and engaged millions of viewers.
It's Not as Expensive as You Think
More old-school marketers are hesitant to get involved in interactive marketing techniques. This is often because they view them as too complex and expensive.
Creating an online quiz is not much different from writing a static blog post. And Buzzfeed has proven that people love quizzes. 96% of people who start a quiz on Buzzfeed finish them.
The more complex a campaign is, the more expensive it will be. But you can achieve customer engagement with interactive content that is easy to execute. Good examples are online mortgage calculators and quizzes.
It doesn't need to max out the budget to be effective. Go to a trade show or conference with a prize wheel and some company swag as prizes and watch how many people will come up to you without provocation. People love prizes!
The Bottom Line: Interactive Brand Marketing Works
Whether it's getting viewers to vote for the next leader in Game of Thrones or lugging a prize wheel to an event, interactive brand marketing campaigns are significantly more effective than static marketing campaigns.
You don't need to take it all on yourself. Hire the pros who know what works and what doesn't. Check out our interactive games for corporate hire to get some ideas on how to spice up your next campaign.
<< Return to news