Game-driven marketing - 5 ways to bring 10x more value than traditional ads (with examples)

79% of the world's online population engages in one way or another with gaming - according to a Newzoo study. Needless to say, gaming will continue to thrive. Game-driven marketing strategies are not new. Their potential as a form of ads remains largely unexplored. As a marketer or business owner, you should understand how you can use games to your advantage. Let me share 5 strategies to run a highly effective gamified marketing campaign. 1. Rewards for playing Consider including some rewards. It can be discounts, coupons, or high-end rewards like Chipotle included a Tesla Model 3 during their Race to Rewards campaign. The campaign got 71k registered users within 2 days. 2. Social sharing to go viral KFC Shrimp attack encouraged social sharing. It got 800,000 players within a short time and KFC had to stop the campaign halfway through. 3. A Zombie Survival Machine? Hyundai in collaboration with The Walking Dead series launched a game Hyundai Chop Shop. The purpose was to let fans modify Hyundai cars to survive a Zombie apocalypse. The game received over a million downloads. 4. Make it competitive SAP Road Warrior is a simulation advergame to keep their sales team on track. The game is highly competitive in nature with built-in features to challenge other coworkers. The results are then recorded on a ranking list. 5. Keep it simple Unilever promoted their Magnum ice-cream products with an advergame series Magnum Pleasure Hunt. The games were easy to play with simple and fun storylines. 23 million players played Pleasure Hunt. Game-driven marketing strategies are powerful when executed properly. Poorly designed advergames or lack of proper planning will not be able to drive desired results. That being said, consider gamified marketing only when you are ready for high growth or planning to build a brand that your audience love.