Game Access

As we saw in our Pottermore.com blog post, Gamification can be used to give brand longevity and increase consumer engagement. It can also be used as another avenue for marketing and promotion. There are many Apps existing today which marry gaming with marketing without really trying to disguise self-promotion. These half-game/gamification, half-promotion apps are very noticeable. Let’s call them ‘Gamotion’ apps for now.

There are three ‘Gamotion’ apps I’d like to introduce you to. Please feel free to download them; you don’t have to pay for these.

Please search for ‘Anuvahood’, ‘The Nightjar’ and ‘Virgin Atlantic’. Downloaded these? Ok, now let’s explore…

Anuvahood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anuvahood) is a great movie made by a British director and with British actors. The movie had a trailer, movie posters and everything else you’d expect from box-office film. However, in keeping with the humor of the film, the Anuvahood marketing guys came up with this app which allows fans to measure ‘How Gangsta R U?’. The game jokingly asks various questions to verify your ‘street cred’ and gives you a score upon completion. It fits well with the subject of the film and adds as another route for engagement. The app also acts as a vehicle to let fans know more about the movie via a trailer and twitter feeds. I think more films will do a similar thing in the near future.

The Nightjar (http://www.the5experience.co.uk/projects) is an App based game created by the Wrigley’s 5 Gum brand. The brands slogan is: “Stimulate your Senses” and therefore the game itself plays with the game sounds to do exactly that. In the game you are asked to ‘see with your ears’ while the noises in the left and right sides of your headphones serve to help and confuse you in the game.

Virgin Atlantic (http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/) This app is part promotional to Virgin Atlantic where you can check flights and do an online check-in but there are also two games. One game asks you ‘Where’s Richard?’ where you follow an icon of his famous face around an interactive globe to track him down at the airports where Virgin operates. The other game serves to promote their Hot Air balloon business where the player can make the wind move to get the balloon to the nearest airfield and Richard back on land.

Many Apps exist like this now, but the rate of ‘gamotion’ apps has increased exponentially. It seems the more they exist, the more other companies start developing some themselves. The famous American show ‘Glee’ also has a gamotion app called ‘Tap Tap Glee’ where you can listen to their songs while playing the game.

Many movies like Harry Potter, Star Wars and Goldeneye have been made into video games. This isn’t uncommon. But the apps we’re seeing here strike a very obvious and healthy balance between game (engagement) and marketing (promotion) where the above three do not. They were purely made as games and made for gaming on typical gaming devices.

For example, I don’t suspect people would go and purchase Disney’s Cars2 ‘gamotion’ app for use on a console. It’s perfect for smart and android phones because it’s shorter than a typical console game, it’s less complex than typical console games and has other options which are clearly for promotion in that you can watch film trailers, read interviews with the movie stars, or in the sense of edible products, learn about the ingredients and packaging.

Mattel has also produced a ‘gamotion’ app with ‘Barbie Fairy Secret’ which serves to promote their movie on DVD by the same title. Although it is ‘just an app for girls’ it seems the gamotion apps are becoming increasingly intelligent, utilizing the other functions of the phone itself to add another dynamic to the game. In ‘Barbie Fairy Secret’ the mobile’s camera is instantly opened and the aim is to get the Barbie fairy home by collecting glittery rings which are located…well, what do you know?! They’re located IN your room through the camera! The environment of the player has become part of the game.

Of course, not all companies find it necessary to churn out a gamotion app for every product they produce however, it just goes to show the importance and influence of Gamification when top companies like Wrigley’s and Disney are ‘jumping on the bandwagon’.