Press Start: Using Gamification to Power-Up Your Marketing

Shortlisted for the 2020 Business Book Awards Do you know someone obsessed with a mobile game like Candy Crush? Have you ever felt a rush when you completed a task… and perhaps another when you crossed it off your to-do list? Or maybe you have that one running-obsessed friend who has to log everything on their fitness app? The fact is, these obsessions and 'highs' affect all of us, and they can be powerful drivers in terms of how we behave. In an increasingly commoditized world, marketers are always looking for new ways to influence or motivate us to be better engaged with their products, services, and brands. This is marketing gamification: the practice of taking the motivational elements of games (like challenges, achievements and teams) and applying them intelligently in real-life situations to improve engagement and performance. With many success stories from the likes of LinkedIn, Delta Airlines, Starbucks, and Duolingo, marketing gamification is already a well-established practice, but many businesses are wary of jumping in without a guide - especially as there have been so many high-profile failures. Written specifically for marketing professionals, Press Start explores the benefits and uses of gamification, and ties together motivational psychology and case studies with popular game mechanics and design principles. More importantly, the book will provide readers with a step-by-step guide for successfully designing their own marketing gamification solutions.

About the Author :
Daniel Griffin is the head of marketing for Support Revolution (an Oracle/SAP support company). Dan is a professional marketer with over ten years of experience working for international businesses such as Amazon (he was Senior Marketing Manager for the EU), Hult International Business School, and global BPO research firm NelsonHall. Albert van der Meer is a creative consultant based in the Netherlands, with expertise in narrative and visual entertainment, storytelling and teaching, with experience gained as a freelance filmmaker, media producer, and team-building facilitator. He has worked with many international businesses, including Hult International Business School, England & Wales Cricket Board, and UK Sport.

Review :
It's easy to underestimate the power of games. However, challenges and rewards are effective tools for driving consumer loyalty and engagement. Press Start not only provides fascinating insights into this process, it also functions as an accessible and engaging guide to success. Fascinating. A must-read for anyone interested in applying gamification to marketing. I have been waiting for a book like this for a long time, and it's finally here. For serious marketers only! If you are looking to integrate gamification into your marketing strategy, well, you've come to the right place. This is the bible. Finally a truly strategic approach to an often-times misunderstood practice. Press Start provides thoughtful insight into the psychology of customer engagement, with a focus on how lessons from the world of games can generate ongoing customer loyalty. The book is a well-written, entertaining blueprint for marketers who would like to understand the opportunities f gamification, but also need to understand the pitfalls of bad game design. It is of particular relevance for marketers seeking to build on-going, multi-round, long term customer relationships with their customers. Marketing gamification is one of the best-kept business secrets of our time. Press Start is the insight-packed roadmap every marketer needs to unlock commercial rewards from gameplay in solving real-world customer problems. Play has created strong communities since the dawn of mankind. This ground breaking book elegantly builds upon philosopher Huizinga's concept of purposeful play and seamlessly links it to neurobiological research, motivational theory and consumer behaviour. In this thoughtful and well-researched book, the authors have masterfully blended accessible theory with practical advice which will help the reader develop their own, detailed marketing gamification strategy. Whether you are an experienced marketer or just starting out on your career, Press Start provides a useful overview of the fundamental principles of marketing - from Maslow's Hierarchy and the core motivational levers, to the modern complexity of human behaviour and a new tier of human needs. With tried and tested case studies Press Start will set your goals and metrics, build a business case and develop your own marketing gamification strategy. Press Start is a particularly insightful book and easy read for anyone interested in game mechanics. Van der Meer and Griffin turn industry jargon into a practical and useful framework that can be applied to a multitude of business challenges right away. Press Start upends conventional thinking in marketing and goes a step further - hacking directly into aspects of human motivation and psychology to provide a genuinely revolutionary path to customer connection. Gamification is a megatrend that will soon be a determining factor in the success of marketing firms, and this is the ur-text to kick-start your gamification strategy. For anyone wanting to understand, apply and implement gamification when it comes to marketing, read this book. Dan and Albert leave no stone unturned, analysing motivation and psychological theories, providing real-life case studies, stories and principles., whilst providing you with a toolkit to design your own gamification solution to allow you to better connect with your clients and potential customers.