?Major developers recognize the core value of understanding your customer and driving applications based on user experience,? said Randall Sanborn, technical advisor at Mobiquity, Wellesley, MA. ?In the same way, top game developers have concentrated on developing specific mechanics for their core audience.

 

?What has evolved in the last few years is the ability to better understand one?s customer post launch,? he said. "The life-begins-at-launch philosophy allows mobile development to evolve almost real-time for customers to ensure the highest levels of engagement on an ongoing process.?  

For some time, games were seen as useful only in marketing brands that attracted hard-core game players. The evolution of devices to the point of allowing for console-quality gaming, plus the increasing ease with which extended game players can associate a brand with a game have raised the mobile game?s stature as an important tool in the mobile-marketer?s kit.

?Games are constantly heating up,? said Mr. Sanborn. ?The game industry continues to grow for multiple reasons, a big part of this is because games have become ubiquitous and almost universally accepted. 

?The positive part of mobile has been that the end customer for games is no longer the core market of 15-25 year old boys that it was 10 years ago,? he said. ?Demographics of all ages play games ? more than two thirds of the population are playing games, 40 percent are women, and 25 percent are older than 50. 

?Games are attractive to everyone,? the technical adviser said. ?And, as an added bonus, devices are more powerful and allow for more immersive and extended game play.? 

This summer, sandwich chain Schlotzsky?s boosted customer engagement and brand awareness by introducing two mobile games on a mobile application that had seen 100,000 downloads since its unveiling.

Users of the app could play Scratch, Match & Win for food and drink prizes, including a free sandwich every week for a year, and Stackin? The Original, which challenged players to move up levels as they stacked sandwich ingredients, letting them share results on Facebook. (See story.)

Another case was Coca-Cola?s leveraging a strong mobile relationship with younger consumers built over time to boost an important company initiative around encouraging healthy lifestyles. 

The soft drink giant?s Just Dance Now mobile game was available in European markets through QR codes on 250 ml cans of Coca-Cola, Diet Coke and Coke Zero and tied in with a release of wearable fitness and sleep monitors. (See story.) 

Games provide significant value to marketers through several key engagement characteristics.

First, they introduce the customer to the brand?s offering or application. Consumers who adopt a new game product receive the benefit of enjoyment provided in the form of one?s own brand or messaging.

Games also create an active proponent of the application, product or brand. The ability to boast, compete, cooperate and generally socialize within a game environment is often key to game-play itself, increasing the positive messaging associated with the product or brand.

Another characteristic of games is their ability to get users to adapt their behavior. Games focus users to modify themselves to win or increase their stature in some way.

They also promote extension, meaning understanding specific customers through demographics, analytics, social means and tuning processes to create informed business decisions. 

The best use of games seems to be around behavior change and education.

?There are many uses of games that simply attach brand on top of a popular game,? Mr. Sanborn said. ?It is rare that this leads to high retention or success from a marketing campaign. Overall, games are very hit driven. 

?Still, the only trends tend to be a race to follow the last hit,? he said. ?What can be successful, however, is an orchestrated marketing / mobile campaign that excites the brand?s base.?   

 

From a data-gathering standpoint, mobile games are invaluable. They can provide instant feedback about the end user that other forms of marketing cannot get. 

?Getting information that will help market to that person in the future is often just in exchange for some type of game currency,? Mr. Sanborn said.

 

Mr. Sanborn?s favorite example of an effective brand-marketing game is the Axeman mobile game. Introduced by Unilever?s Ax, the game let users play to their own music while earning points they could redeem for prizes.

Users could compete for Axe points by playing the same song in their libraries. Challenges, tournaments and leaderboards were also controlled from Axe?s then-newly rolled-out Planet Axe, a social gaming hub where fans could connect, compete and collect their rewards.

Another favorite is a Macy?s mobile ad unit that used word association to help build brand awareness, and the ads ran within the Pandora iPhone application. 

The copy for the ad read, ?Play this game while you listen to music.? Below, a banner indicated that the game was sponsored by Macy?s. When consumers clicked on the ad, a landing page brought up a picture of clothes next to the retailer?s logo.

The landing page also featured a box where consumers were required to type in the word associated with the picture in 30 seconds. The correct answer for the word was ?Macy?s.?

The top of the ad promoted a one-day sale from Macy?s that kept the brand top of mind while consumers played the game. After consumers successfully guessed the word, a message popped up congratulating the win. Users could then click-through to visit Macy?s mobile site, where the time-sensitive sale was promoted.

Alternatively, consumers could chose to play the branded game again with the words ?bag? and ?shoes? that showed off some of Macy?s merchandise. (See story.) 

Marketers can thank the explosive growth of mobile apps for the popularity of games.

?Games are the single most popular app category, so based on volume alone, it makes sense that they will be the most popular mechanism for advertising,? said Raul Castanon-Martinez, senior analyst, enterprise mobility infrastructure and services for Boston-based 451 Research.