1) Successful marketing campaigns use play to build relationships between brands and consumers by providing playful experiences. This aims to convert players into buyers by positioning the brand. 2) Engagement is increased when consumers participate in something they identify with, like Adidas' campaign for the 2012 Olympics encouraging people in the UK to showcase their talents. 3) Creating communities around a shared interest, like CrossFit partnering with Reebok to establish fitness boxes, facilitates social interaction between players and brands they have in common.

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A lot of successful and popular marketing campaigns use play as a key
element. Playing is an inherent human behaviour that builds relationships
while encouraging exploration, participation and challenge. Creating a playful
experience for marketing purposes has the same aim: to build a relationship
between the players and the brand and convert them from players into
consumers. Before creating a game for a target audience marketers need to
know which type of playful experience they can choose to achieve their goal.
Creating a brand image The goal through play is to position the product,
showcase its characteristics, the context, the environment, and the
associations with which the brand can identify itself.
Engagement Play is an active quality that requires participation, interaction,
and exploration. By giving the player a playful experience to be engaged by,
it is more likely that the player becomes a consumer.
Social interaction Sometimes playing with others creates a great
experience. This is especially true in contests or competitions. Players can
compete against each other while enjoying the same experience together.
Sharing Sharing a victory, participating in a game and being fascinated
about it with others can be as important as the playful experience itself. For
the brand it also generates word-of-mouth.
Learning The more people know something about what they enjoy, the
more they like and want it. By providing information about the product while
playing increases the chance for turning players into consumers.
Playful Brand
Experiences
Playfulness as a part of offering new
experiences can be used very effectively by
brands. Its significance is that it can influence
buying, include a product’s purpose, and reflect
its value proposition.
by Eva Laura Gal
Photo Credit: MSNBC

2. Kuliza Social Technology Quarterly Issue 07
1Creating a Brand Image: Heineken
Heineken’s ads have featured legendary
people in extraordinary situations in recent
years. Its heroes are masculine and
attractive men who always solve a situation
regardless of how tricky, dangerous or
impossible it seems to be. In the ‘Open Your
World’ campaign they sponsored the latest
bond movie Skyfall to use James Bond to
enhance this image.
The ‘Crack the Case’ campaign offered
consumers a personalized and interactive
experience through an online game. After
accessing the game, the player finds himself/
herself on the same train in the mountains
where their advertisements were shot. One
can be Heineken’s ‘man of the world’ while
hunting the case which used to belong to
Bond. The mission is to find the case on
the train and open it with a combination of
numbers while Skyfall’s Bond girl, Severine,
helps the player complete the mission.
Heineken put its ‘man of the world’ into a
situation where he has to act like a double-0
spy. Players perceive this while playing the
game. They feel just as masculine, brave,
and extraordinary as Heineken’s ‘man of
the world’. The campaign brings the male
consumer and the brand closer to each
other by providing players the experience of
being a special agent.
Photo Credits: felixtriller

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The success of a campaign depends on
how much it can increase consumers’
level of engagement. One way to enhance
engagement is to involve the consumers in
something important for them; something
they can identify themselves with. As
the official sponsor of the 2012 Olympic
Games, Adidas did this with the aim of
showcasing British talents and encouraging
2Engagement: Adidas
UK consumers to ’Take the Stage’ in 2012.
The whole campaign was based on the
concept of talent – professional athletes
promote the newest collection of Adidas and
brand ambassadors offer exclusive prizes
for winners of a competition. Competitors
upload demonstrations of their talent on
Adidas’ website, ask their friends to vote for
it, and whoever gets the highest number of
votes is the winner.
The playful and competitive experience
increased the level of consumer
engagement because it excited people to
participate and ’take the stage’.

4. Kuliza Social Technology Quarterly Issue 07
Sport brands often support particular sports
and events as sponsors with the aim of
reaching a wider audience. Some brands
go even further by also organizing these
events. The aim is to create a community
and give its members the feeling of being in
the same club by adding a new layer to the
sport - the layer of social interaction. Nike
and running are very obvious examples but
brands can take up less popular sports and
attract more players by supporting events.
CrossFit has been around for years but
when it partnered with Reebok last year,
3
Social Interaction: CrossFit
the popularity of CrossFit increased. In the
brand’s latest ad, helicopters carry huge
containers to different cities around the
world. By opening the containers people
enter the world of CrossFit. CrossFit and
Reebok established ’CrossFit boxes’ in
cities around the world. CrossFit trainers
provide exercise classes and coaching
to people and organise competitions that
involve thousands of players. By licensing
its name to CrossFit, Reebok identifies itself
with the community of CrossFit players who
share the same values and work for the
same goal: a healthy and fit life. Reebok
facilitated the creation of a community
that provides players the opportunity to
exercise, compete with others, and socialise
with people who they have something in
common with.

5. Nike has always been very effective at
energizing individuals and communities.
With its latest ‘Game On, World’ campaign
the brand is trying to reach more people
than ever.
The campaign launched with two films that
turn the world into a virtual playground with
athletes running and jumping amongst
obstacles just like Super Mario. The brand
calls everybody for a world-wide competition
where performance is measured by
NikeFuel, a universal currency. Players
have missions where they compete against
other players and professional athletes. The
most active player is the winner.
Nike added a social element to the
competition. It encouraged athletes to
share their performances with friends and
the rest of the Nike+ community on Twitter,
Facebook and YouTube. The intention was
to inspire and motivate players, ensure a
growing number of users, and generate
greater word-of-mouth. 4
Sharing: Nike

6. Kuliza Social Technology Quarterly Issue 07
a dog squeezing between family members’
legs. The first-person perspective makes
one feel as if one is a part of that particular
scene. IKEA’s marketing specialists created
a fun environment to educate players
about their products. They created a
playful experience to turn the players into
consumers by offering them the possibility
to ’try’ and imagine using the product in a
home-like environment and learn about it at
the same time.
The more you know something, the more
you like it. A successful marketing strategy
can be based on this universally accepted
truth. IKEA successfully applied this
strategy in its ‘Kitchen View’ campaign:
It gave consumers as much information
as possible while providing them with a
playful experience.
Viewers can explore IKEA kitchens and
learn about the products from the view of
different family members: a grandmother’s
birthday , a young couple dancing, or even
5Learning: IKEA
Photo Credit: Powi
References
“There is no other true test of fitness.” Crossfit
Games.
Gordon,Kyana.“Nike turns theWorld into a Real Life
Version of Super Mario Bros..”pfsk.com,02 Jul 2012.
“Heineken Launches TV and Digital Campaign for
Skyfall.” comingsoon.net,21 Sep 2012.
Fera, Rae Ann. “James Bond and Heineken want
you to ‘Crack the Case’”.” fastcocreate.com, 21
Sept 2012.
Follett, Jonathan. “Engaging User Creativity: The
Playful Experience.” Uxmatters,17 Dec 2007.