7 Reasons Why Your Company Should Have A Branded Game.
FIRST: IT’S A MARKETING PLATFORM — LIKE NOTHING ELSE.
Casual gaming is mainstream and people spend million of hours playing every day. Young and old, men and women. On the train, in the sofa, during their lunch break, etc. Not only do they spend a lot of time playing (4h+ per game), they are also willing to pay to complete levels, and they give away permissions in order to complete the next goal or to accomplish something within the game. As a brand, it’s definitely possible to use a branded game to your advantage… and take customer-engagement to a whole new level.
Here’s a break-down:
1. Branding.
Set yourself apart from your competitors by introducing your own unique easy-to-play mobile game as part of your marketing strategy. Make it fit your distinct universe through attractive layout, memorable sounds, animations, and characters, as well as adhering to your purpose and tone-of-voice. Expanding your universe with branded games will broaden your customer reach, build bridges to your other marketing channels, and connect you even better to your customers.
2. Engagement.
Building upon your existing universe, a branded game will increase your customer engagement by adding a fun, casual gaming experience — creating a platform for your customers to interact with you in an exciting way. By engaging with your brand while playing, the customer will get to know you and your products even better — giving them yet another opportunity to love your brand over your competitors’. The casual, yet addictive experience of the game gives incentive to play more and even pay for it. And what other channels do you have where your customers spend hours and have fun at the same time?
3. New customers.
Creating a fun game for your customers is a great new marketing option for you. Through a branded casual game you have the opportunity to retain and entertain your existing customers, but most importantly, you will attract new customers, too. A fun gaming experience in your branded universe broadens your potential customer reach, and it could appeal to people your brand wouldn’t normally be exposed to.
4. Target groups.
The most common misconception in gaming is that men play more games than women — but it’s time to bust that myth. The female-to-male ratio in most Western countries is close to 50/50, so gaming is in fact highly relevant for your female target groups. The average age of players varies, but the largest group in casual games is generally in the range of 30–40. Luckily, they are the ones that have the ability (and are willing!) to pay to play.
5. Data & Permissions.
These are valuable assets to all brands. With the help of branded games, your user permissions portfolio could grow to even bigger volumes. Hold on to it dearly, because it will prove highly significant in future promotions, events, and product launches. Your branded game will be designed to easily collect and safely store permissions and data for future use. In exchange, the gamer can be rewarded with something of your choosing. Like free vouchers, discounts, entries to events, a free membership, special offers exclusive for the players, just to name a few of the many possibilities. When you do games, you always have the option to trade with the user, thereby collecting more and better data over time — and still keeping people happy.
6. Return On Investment.
Imagine a piece of marketing content, that will literally pay itself back… Sounds nice, doesn’t it?
With a branded game, it’s possible to reimburse most of the production cost. Having very small or no production costs equals low risk of getting started, and the only thing you need to concern yourself with is how to market the game and acquire downloads/installs through paid, earned and owned media. The expenses of the game will be covered by a percentage of the players — who will buy your in-game elements while being exposed to your brand and your products. Giving the players the option to pay for extra features in the game is a good idea, as long as it’s entertaining, and as long as it’s published under a free-to-play model, where the player is free to choose either. Sponsorships of levels or sections of the game is another option, giving you and your partners a chance to collaborate on something entertaining, yet profitable for all parties.
7. Drive to shop.
With the branded game, you’ll be able to take advantage of your brand being a hugely integrated part of the customer’s gaming experience, and it will give your products a natural place as well. And if you add the ability to reward the players, you might see them in your store, too. Show your customers your appreciation by rewarding them with real-life products/vouchers for time spent playing. Being generous is the key. Give the customers a taste of your product; give them the chance to try your products for free by playing x amount of time with free samples in return, or bring them even closer to you with special voucher discounts for events.
With the seven reasons listed above, your brand will be ahead of the game. What’s more, the synergistic effect of expanding your marketing efforts through a fun game will encourage other fun, new ideas and hopefully broaden the creative mindset of your employees.
TAKEAWAYS:
- Branding with huge engagement.
- ROI — this piece of content will pay itself back through in-app purchases.
- Reach new potential customers.
- Data & Permissions.
- New marketing channel.
- Drive to shop mechanism.
Feel free to contact us if you have comments, ideas or questions :)
Nicolai Elmqvist
Co-Founder and CMO, Innovation Director
ne@pointvoucher.com
http://www.pointvoucher.com