All the worlds a stage, and all of us merely players

Clive Longbottom, Service Director

Quocirca Comment
When he penned the line in As you like it, Shakespeare could have been predicting the evolution of corporate marketing, as the internet enables even the smallest organisation to have a global presence, and the battle for customer eyeballs drives the need for innovative and interesting approaches to customer acquisition and lifetime value. One aspect that many organisations are now looking at is gamification the use of game constructs in areas not generally considered to be a game such as to capture a customer and keep them interested. Examples are generally around providing rewards to people for engaging with a brand such as an airline reward programme, or something like the CokeZone, where users get points for typing in codes from bottles that can be exchanged for goods. However, there is no reason why gamification should stop at just using game mechanics within relatively standard systems. Although rewards can create a level of loyalty, this can rapidly leak away if the experience is unimpressive. The growth of location specific services, such as Quova and FourSquare, and the latters relationship with GroupOn, could lead to interesting developments. GroupOns offers can now be highly targeted as the user moves, using FourSquares location awareness. Offers could be combined and extra discount or premium offers made to those who oust another as Mayor of , or can battle for the mayoral distinction through playing games that are highly targeted at the offerings made by the controlling organisation. When combined with augmented reality (AR), the experience could be played out in real time overlaid directly at the point of use and vendors could use product placement within such systems. The growing acceptance of cloud computing adds new possibilities. In the same way that DoubleClick (a digital advertising broker) enabled adverts to be placed on sites from a database of possible content; games can be written that can pull in different components, depending on location, type of game and the player concerned. Imagine organisations teaming up with the likes of Rovio (the developers of Angry Birds) or ZeptoLab (the developers of Cut the Rope). Vendors could become the targets of the game, adding further interest to people playing the game where they may have to play levels again and again to get all the pieces needed to qualify for a specific offer. A teenager may get offers around downloading music files, while in the same game, a mid-20s person would get offers for going to a music festival, a mid30s offers for dining-out all based on a more complete knowledge of the person and where they are, while also building levels of loyalty based on the playing a game that they may well have decided to play anyway. The use of gamification is only at an early stage as yet those vendors who can think inventively and sign up with the right partners could end up

All the worlds a stage, and all of us merely players

http://www.quocirca.com

2011 Quocirca Ltd

dominating the stage, leaving others wanting to play.

This article first appeared on Business Computing World http://www.businesscomputingworld.co.uk

All the worlds a stage, and all of us merely players

http://www.quocirca.com

2011 Quocirca Ltd

About Quocirca
Quocirca is a primary research and analysis company specialising in the business impact of information technology and communications (ITC). With world-wide, native language reach, Quocirca provides in-depth insights into the views of buyers and influencers in large, mid-sized and small organisations. Its analyst team is made up of realworld practitioners with first-hand experience of ITC delivery who continuously research and track the industry and its real usage in the markets. Through researching perceptions, Quocirca uncovers the real hurdles to technology adoption the personal and political aspects of an organisations environment and the pressures of the need for demonstrable business value in any implementation. This capability to uncover and report back on the end-user perceptions in the market enables Quocirca to advise on the realities of technology adoption, not the promises. Quocirca research is always pragmatic, business orientated and conducted in the context of the bigger picture. ITC has the ability to transform businesses and the processes that drive them, but often fails to do so. Quocircas mission is to help organisations improve their success rate in process enablement through better levels of understanding and the adoption of the correct technologies at the correct time. Quocirca has a pro-active primary research programme, regularly surveying users, purchasers and resellers of ITC products and services on emerging, evolving and maturing technologies. Over time, Quocirca has built a picture of long term investment trends, providing invaluable information for the whole of the ITC community. Quocirca works with global and local providers of ITC products and services to help them deliver on the promise that ITC holds for business. Quocircas clients include Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, O2, T-Mobile, HP, Xerox, EMC, Symantec and Cisco, along with other large and medium sized vendors, service providers and more specialist firms.

Full access to all of Quocircas public output (reports, articles, presentations, blogs and videos) can be made at http://www.quocirca.com

All the worlds a stage, and all of us merely players

http://www.quocirca.com

2011 Quocirca Ltd