When you hear the term gamification you probably think of Xbox or Angry Birds or Grand Theft Auto. I think of "addiction" - or the impulse to keep doing something because you subconsciously like it. Research has shown that we are all born with a desire to play games. It’s wired into us. Brands can take advantage of that desire, not by creating games, but by using “game mechanics” to drive certain desired behaviors.
Gamification makes that happen by tapping into human psychological motivators that are practically irresistible. Apply addictive qualities to marketing and you've got an incredibly powerful way to connect with prospects and customers. Here’s how we did it for SAP:
Created by White Rhino to increase demo downloads of an SAP product called “visual intelligence”, this concept was based on insights gained from audience research. It showed that Data Analysts – the target of this program – think of themselves less like the numbers nerds the rest of the world sees them as but more like hero-detectives, uncovering the mysteries hidden in data that only they can see. So they crave challenges - and in fact, can’t resist them.
So we invented a totally fictitious, yet irresistible mystery to solve. “Players” were introduced to the “Mordata Casino” – where profits were way down, a fortune of poker chips was missing, and the only thing to go on was data. So we made up data: table data, dealer data, RFID chip data and casino comparison data.
We teased our audience to solve the caper and sprinkled clues in social channels and a series of emails.
The audience was engaged in record numbers. But here’s the best part: to play users had to download an actual demo version of the software. With over 5 Million social impressions made, the results were 680% more free trial downloads than any other comparable program.
In this case gamification was the key to helping SAP to achieve their business goals. But ultimately, it did what marketing is supposed to do: make a powerful, B2Me emotional connection with the audience.
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Gamification in B2B Marketing is about Additiction, NOT Games
