Level Up Your Advertising With Gamification
An Intro To Gamified Ads

By: Jacob Weaver, Account Executive

As we all do nowadays, I listen to a lot of podcasts. A new podcast ad by Visit Britain has been grabbing my attention with each encounter. The advertisement demonstrates a variety of different regional accents within the country, then invites listeners to visit their website and participate in their “Fake Brit Till You Make It” challenge. The challenge is available on mobile and once a visitor arrives to the site, they are prompted to select one of the regions of Great Britain: Liverpool, Essex, Newcastle, Scotland, or Wales. Once a region has been selected, a brief video plays highlighting the region, then the site visitor is challenged to fake the regional accent to the best of their ability using a phrase provided. The player attempts to fake it, is given a score based on how well (or poorly) the accent was faked and is then invited to share the video recording to their social channels. After the game portion is completed, a potential vacationer is guided to a page that highlights the things to do, places to stay, and more that the particular region has to offer. Once the guest has read about one region they can return to the virtual map and “fake” their way through another.

Visit Britain has captured the essence of gamification, a strategy that allows marketers to utilize the aspects of gaming that appeal to the players. Individuals who interact with a gamified advertisement are rewarded instantaneously with a score, rating, or prize. When an individual achieves a goal or accomplishes a task, dopamine is released in the brain. This neurotransmitter allows an individual to feel a sense of happiness due to their accomplishment. This is also why games are so rewarding to players: when you earn points or receive a prize, the dopamine is activated and motivates the player to continue playing to achieve the next goal. By incorporating this type of instant gratification into an advertisement, not only are you inviting guests to engage and interact with your product in a new way, but your brand is providing them with a sense of accomplishment. From my experience, rewards programs operate similarly. I love going to a restaurant, seeing my rewards balance increase and getting closer to the next free item or discount, which encourages me to visit the restaurant more frequently to achieve my goals.

At &Barr we have used gamified ad units for many of our clients, including our New York Life Investments client when promoting their Dual Impact ESG ETF products. The gamified unit invited guests to play a match game and served them information about the different ESG offerings as they played. Once complete, players were guided to a website to learn more about investing. The unit was very successful at engaging potential customers in a unique and interesting way, with 86% of users who played the game clicking the “Invest Now” button.

If you’re looking to entertain and engage potential consumers while providing information about your product or service, gamification is a great way to do it.