Marketers are increasingly turning to ‘Gamification’ to increase loyalty and change the way in which people interact with their brand. But what exactly is Gamification and how, if at all, should companies be using it?

Kam Star, CEO of PlayGen, has the answers – and one thing’s for sure: a successful Gamification strategy requires a whole lot more than just points and badges.

(You can read the full version of this interview in the latest edition of GfK TechTalk here.)

Laura: So, tell us, what is Gamification?

Kam: Gamification is the application of gaming mechanisms into a real-world process, with the aim of improving the user experience through the notion of playing.

Laura: How is it currently being used in Marketing?

GfK TechTalk is developing a new series of posts around the work we’re doing to marry information and communication in a story of beauty, creativity and good research sense.  Over the next few months, we’ll be sharing our examples of work we’ve built around infographics, animation and video, all designed to help overcome the challenge of information overload, help businesses see more from research, and capture our audiences’ imaginations when telling stories about technology, ideas, business and society.

The last time you searched for information online, how many returns were there?  And the last time you needed to find some evidence to support an argument or theory, how many books, magazines and publications did you consult?  What about businesses, how many sources of data do you think they track, monitor, and purchase on an average day to understand what their customers think and want, what the market is doing and what their competitor’s next moves may be?  The answer is lots.  Heaps.  Tons.  More than, perhaps, we can imagine.

The recent actions of the world’s biggest social network reveal its beliefs and ideals for digital society; openness and one identity. However, theories suggest that self identity is process of story-telling under constant revision. With our research showing that social networkers are actively sharing different amounts of personal information across different networks, the future of digital society lies in giving users more control over their personal and private identities online.

In April 2010, the actions of the world’s most used social networking site struck several chords of concern in our digital society. In changing default privacy settings for users, Facebook placed privacy as central to the internet paradigm. Discussion, debate and protest from social networkers, internet users, reporters, commentators and the 1,400 people based at the corporation’s HQ in California were focussed on notions of privacy.

Smartphone technology paves the way for the market to adopt greener approaches. Encouraging greater use of mobile services helps to limit the need for multiple devices, extend the product lifecycle and offer consumers more ways of being green.

“Technology companies can never be green”. A casual comment dropped into conversation when discussing the idea of ‘green technology’. Of course, ‘green technology’ already exists in the form of multi-million pound, global scale projects that help reclaim water, produce renewable energy and generally help meet global climate change targets. Green technology, as it stands, does not mean the ‘greening’ of technology.