10: WGE MAG Games W For Brands


Edndaf Kerfoot tells us why ‘gamification’ is soon to be the buzz word for the world’s biggest brands


hy are brands so interested in games? There’s a fantastic book by a British author, Tom Chatfield, which is


essential reading for anyone interested in why it seems games are so high profile right now. What Tom does is place games in a cultural and historical context, right back to the emergence of video games, and explore the rise and rise of gaming as a media phenomenon.


Which is not to say that any of this is simple - far from it. A clunky in-game ad can alienate players, and be completely ineffective. Game creators remain broadly reluctant to reach out to brands and agencies, preferring to stick to their tried- and-tested monetisation channels direct from gamers. It’s clear that a company like Zynga with a large pool of players spending their own money has a more robust monetisation strategy than a company that relies on advertising, but even Zynga is seeing a more compressed cycle of explosive growth in users of new games, followed by steeper drop-offs in player numbers more rapidly. To overcome this, enter stage left advergaming. This is where brands, agencies and content owners commission their own branded, proprietary games. Many companies now offer fantastic games content - and this is an area of particular strength in the UK, where TIGA, representing the UK games industry, has recently created a casual games committee to better serve the interests of studios doing work for hire. Examples include Matmi, 4T2, Kempt, Kerb, TAMBA, Koko Digital and Huzutech.


“One in four gamers are 50 years old or above, and 48% are female”


And what a phenomenon that is. Some figures - 40% of Facebook users play social games - for a total of 300 million users, and growing fast. One in four gamers are 50 years old or above, and 48% are female - thus subverting decades of assumptions that male teens dominate this sector. Last year projections were made that by 2015 the virtual economy in the US alone would be worth $5 billion - figures that are sure to be revised ever higher as the social games and virtual world bonanza shows no sign of abating (http://www. pixelsandpolicy.com/pixels_and_policy/2010/01/virtual- economy-value.html)


So perhaps the initial question needs rephrasing. Perhaps we should instead be asking why it is that brands seem to be so reluctant to dive into the world of games with two feet. There are some well-trodden case studies, most from the US, about big brands that have partnered with Zynga on branded virtual goods inside that company’s games, and the in-game advertising market is estimated to be worth close to $1billion already. However, set against the $30 billion US online advertising market, this is sure to rise rapidly. Why? Because games are increasingly where media consumers (i.e. customers) are choosing to spend an ever-increasing amount of their time, and opportunities to reach customers via games are proliferating as specialised companies emerge to help you spend brands’ digital ad dollars, pounds and euros effectively inside games and virtual worlds.


So, the decision would appear to be between integrating brand messaging into an existing game, and creating a branded game. However, there is another trend which is making waves, and its name is gamification. Many people hate the term, but it would appear to be here to stay. In essence, gamification is the application of game mechanics and principles of game design, harnessing the insight into player psychology garnered from decades of video game research, to marketing. The idea being, if you know how to push certain buttons to obtain certain results, which good game designers do, these learnings are applicable to other domains. Thus a website can incorporate elements like progress bars, status badges, achievement points and leaderboards to make users more engaged with the content on the site.


“The corporate market for gamification is projected to grow from $100m in 2010 to $2.8b by 2016 ”


Businesses with physical locations can turn visiting those businesses into a giant game, perhaps a treasure hunt based on Facebook Places or Foursquare. Loyalty programmes can evolve from rewarding members with free stuff to giving them virtual stuff at lower marginal (or opportunity) cost. People can be ‘nudged’ into doing stuff by tinkering with the presentation of information, offers, price and product information - and the stats speak of a brave new world for gamification: The corporate market for gamification is projected to grow from $100m in 2010 to $2.8b by 2016 By 2014 70% of corporates are expected to have adopted gamification. According to Gartner, 50% of corporate processes are expected to be gamified, with a vibrant market emerging to facilitate this.


Games for Brands are launching conferences of the same name in London and other venues throughout 2011-2012 where creative agencies, brands and content owners will have the opportunity to discover what opportunities await them in the games space.


From in-game advertising and branded virtual


goods, through advergames to gamification, this conference will explore all the avenues that organizations can exploit to enhance customer and audience engagement using games, game mechanics and gamification. The opening keynote will be Tom Chatfield, author of Fun, Inc. who will explore games as a cultural and media phenomenon and explain why it is that games became so massively significant in today’s media landscape.


Other presenters include: Jeremy Waite, Head of Social Media – Phones4U; Joshua Saunders, Head of Technical and Creative - EMI; Ville Heijari, VP Franchise Development – Rovio; Nick Larder, Digital Director - Starcom MediaVest Group; Dr Jo Twist, Commissioning Editor, Education - Channel 4; Rupert Harris, Innovation executive at the Digital Media Initiative – BBC; Mark Sage, Director of Loyalty - Carlson Marketing EMEA; Kam Star, Chief Play Office – PlayGen; Nicholas Lovell, Founder – Gamesbrief; Volker Hirsch, Director Business Development - Research in Motion; Richard Bartle, legend of the games industry.


Registration is now open, and further details can be found at www.gamesforbrands.com


Endaf can be reached at: http://twitter.com/endafk endaf@gamesforbrands.com


WGE MAG: 11


Take some time out!


“DEATH BY XBOX” Or Was It? David Staniforth hopes that the tragic death of his son Chris will help raise awareness of the threat of DVT in gaming.


Being in the gaming industry you are more than likely to have seen the story of 20-year-old Chris Staniforth who died from a Pulmonary Embolism caused by a DVT, this has been linked, by his father, to spending long periods of time immobile playing Online Games (Halo) on his Xbox 360.


FOR A £50 DISCOUNT ON TICKETS USE CODE WGE50 WHEN PURCHASING TICKETS ON THE WEBSITE


Endaf Kerfoot is an event professional with close to a decade of experience across a wide variety of event formats, from premium tech conferences to B2B trade shows to seminars and online exhibitions. His experience covers sales, marketing, production, operations and social media.


Endaf has become a passionate advocate of the idea that brands are waking up to the power of games and game mechanics to engage their customers, and as such has been instrumental in putting together the programme for the inaugural Games for Brands conference in London. http://www.worldgamingexecutives.com/events


CONTACT: http://twitter.com/endafk


http://uk.linkedin.com/in/endafkerfoot endaf@gamesforbrands.com +447899952507


A campaign website www.take-time-out.info has been launched and there has been media attention around the world including Press and TV. The campaign is calling for our industry to take a proactive stance by introducing a ”Robust Advice Video” and “Active Alerts” during gameplay to remind players to take a break and hydrate, Mr Staniforth Snr claims that the advice given out on websites such as UKIE and Play safe do not effectively reach the target audience and are often diluted by marketing messages, He wants the industry to adopt a standard compliance to ensure that all manufacturers and developers carry advice and reminders on the actual game.


“A campaign website www.take-time-out.info has been launched and there has been media attention around the world including Press and TV.”


Take Time Out is also calling for packaging to be marked with “Active Alerts” to give parents a choice in the buying decision.


The campaign also has plans to contact government, Schools, media and other DVT Charities and campaigners to drive awareness.


Airlines have also faced similar issues and have had legal challenges in the European Court and House of Lords from victims of DVT seeking compensation due to negligence on behalf of the airlines for not advising the passengers to take preventative measures in-flight. Although as a result there is now a wide awareness of travellers thrombosis.


UKIE have called a meeting of the Steering Committee and are set to discuss this threat or opportunity to the industry, what would you advise them to consider? What are your thoughts?


Join the forum and we will pass on your ideas... From David Staniforth (Chris’s Father) To view video link click here: http://bit.ly/rd7o2W


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