Posted on September 22, 2012
The University of Pennsylvania is offering a Gamification course through Coursera, and this is the first assigment where I share what I’ve learned so far. Here’s the definition:
You are an employee of Cereals Incorporated, a large manufacturer of breakfast food products. Your supervisor, Madison County, approaches you because she knows you recently took a course on gamification, which she has heard will revolutionize marketing.
She tells you that Cereals Inc. is about to release a new line of ready-to-eat breakfast pastries, and she wants to know whether to use gamification as part of the marketing strategy. The breakfast pastries will be aimed at the 18-35 age bracket. Surveys show members of this demographic often skip breakfast because they don’t want to eat the typical cereals of their youth, and they are too active to cook their own breakfasts. Market research indicates that the pastries are likely to appeal more to women than men by a 65%-35% ratio. Cereals Inc. has a 35% share of the overall breakfast food market, but only a 10% share of the fragmented ready-to-eat segment.
Provide as many reasons as you can why gamification could be a useful technique to apply to the situation your manager has presented to you. Explain why these reasons address the specific scenario provided.
Here is my answer:
Gamification could be a really useful technique to apply to this case in Cereals Inc. if used correctly. The main goal of this company is to sell as many products as they can to the target consumers, so the first reason is the creation of a new habit: make people want to have a ready-to-eat breakfast pastries every day. This will be achieved by including elements from games that will encourage consumers to buy the product, have breakfast and have a chance of gaining awards as they do it. Not only they will be satisfying a physiological need (food), but have the feeling that they earn things by doing it. Gamification is very related to psychology and this helps to understand how people form habits and feel progression when they consume and play.
Another reason to use gamification in this company is driving growth, of course! and keep your consumers happy and engaged. Consumers are looking for new ways to entertain themselves and the techniques in gamification will make them feel part of something bigger, it will turn the boring task of having breakfast into something fun or even social, where they can achieve something more than the mere satisfaccion of their basic needs.