Businesses in Bahrain have been integrating custom-built video games into their marketing campaigns, finding that it improves customer engagement and attracts younger audiences, according to a recent study.
However, the academics who conducted ‘The Impact of Utilising Video Games in Media Plans: Case Study of Private Sector Companies in Bahrain’ survey also recommend that companies invest in immersive long-term gaming environments, as opposed to short-term advertising games, also called ‘advergames’.
“This study examines the effectiveness of utilising advergames as a communication tool within the media strategies of private-sector companies in Bahrain,” researchers wrote, in the abstract for their study.
“It adopts a qualitative case-study approach to gain an in-depth understanding of organisational contexts and professional practices associated with the integration of interactive media into corporate communication by exploring how they conceptualise, design and implement game-based communication initiatives.
“The study population consists of private companies in Bahrain that have utilised video games in their communication campaigns.”
The study was conducted by Bahrain University researchers Hatem Alsridi and Khadija Mohamed, in collaboration with Gulf University academic Mariam Juma.
It has been published in the international peer-reviewed ‘Studies in Media and Communication’ journal.
The study relied on four qualitative case studies of private companies in Bahrain, including a bank, ophthalmology hospital, fast-food restaurant and food delivery application, which integrated ‘advergames’ in their marketing campaigns.
The bank developed a coin collection advergame within its mobile application, where users can win monetary prizes if they achieve the highest score. In the eye clinic’s game, users navigate an eye to avoid crashing into harmful electronics like TVs, mobiles and laptop screens, with the top 20 scorers winning prizes like free surgeries, discounts, free tests and shopping vouchers.
The fast-food restaurant operator developed two augmented reality games – the first, similar to Pac-Man, and the second using an Instagram filter to answer questions by moving their heads towards the correct answer.
For a chance to win prizes like video game consoles and smartwatches, users had to share the video on social media and tag the relevant brands.
The delivery platform developed a novel game to keep users engaged while they waited for their orders, where customers can choose a character and customise it to collect coins while virtually ‘delivering’ an order, avoiding obstacles along the way.
Research participants reported that deploying these games led to an increase in website traffic, application downloads, and social media followers during campaign periods, as well as improving brand familiarity and motivating users to engage with the businesses. This can include tasks like opening a bank account or scheduling a medical appointment.
Businesses reported that incentives were necessary to have users continually engage with the game, with one marketing specialist saying, “Without prizes, we wouldn’t attract players or participants, and the game wouldn’t gain traction.”
Researchers found that youth and teenagers are the most engaged groups, followed by adults, university students, males, and children, who were rated as ‘moderately engaged’.
The study recommended that advergames can be particularly relevant in sectors where services may seem too complex for younger audiences, as the ‘playful, accessible nature of advergames can help simplify and humanise the organisation’s public image’.
While marketers and game developers said that entertainment was an important reason for incorporating advergames, empirical evidence suggests that competitions and prize-based rewards are better at sustaining user engagement.
The study also found that service-based firms like banks and delivery platforms prefer hosting games within their own applications, whereas retail firms prefer social media filters for broader reach.
Budget limitations, unfamiliar technologies, and poor strategic planning were the most significant obstacles in developing these games, and some organisations found them to be risky investments within the local market.
naman@gdnmedia.bh
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