Gamification and marketing: How game design can be used to engage consumers

The purpose of this paper is to identify how gamification can be used by marketing departments to engage their consumers. Gamification is a relatively new idea that has allowed the business world to take some of the lessons learnt from the gaming industry and implement them in the real world. Gamification has allowed organisations to motivate their workforce and engage their consumers. It has also allowed individuals to become healthier and to achieve things they never thought they would. Engagement has also recently become an important topic in marketing, with loyalty and value co-creation being outcomes of engagement. This exploratory study looks at how organisations can use gamification to engage their consumers. Following interviews with gamification experts and content analysis of gamification blogs, this paper suggests the GAMER3 framework for marketing departments to consult when using gamification to engage their consumers. This framework was generated from the key themes found in the qualitative research: gamification as a strategy, finite vs infinite, ethics in gamification, extrinsic and intrinsic rewards, understanding the users, creating dynamics from mechanics, and reviewing and revising the gamified application. The main commandment for organisations wanting to use gamification is: know thy user. Don\u92t build a platform that no one wants to engage with; your aim is to co-create value with your consumers.