How to use video games to drive customer engagement

To play is human. It’s how toddlers experience and learn about the world they just entered. It’s also how we as adults rewire our brains and learn new things most effectively. In a world in which consumers are flooded with choices, companies are fighting ferociously to capture and maintain the consumers’ attention. The business leaders who are successfully steering their organizations in this digital-first world are using a secret weapon that taps into our most human desire to play: video games.

Eighty four percent of all internet users regularly play video games. That comes out to 3.4 billion people globally that play video games almost daily—a number that is projected to reach 3.8 billion by 2027. Contrary to the still far too common stereotype around what constitutes a “gamer,” gaming is the only medium that actually reaches all demographic cohorts. Yes, GenZ and Gen Alpha spend more time in games like Fortnite, Minecraft, and Roblox than on all social media channels combined. But according to a report from the Entertainment Software Association, over 35 million Americans over the age of 50 play video games for at least an hour a day. Video games are a multigenerational force.

Companies are starting to wake up to this reality and leverage video games as a touch point in their strategies to engage consumers more effectively. Here are four  strategies of how companies from any industry can leverage video games for their own business.

Integrate with existing video games

Identify an existing video game that offers your brand access to an already established audience you’d like to reach and integrate with that game. Without a doubt this is the easiest jumping-off point to get into gaming and the best place to start for companies who want to dip their toes into the gaming waters to learn. In 2021, in search of ways to engage with a younger audience, casual dining company Chipotle integrated a Halloween-themed gaming experience into Roblox, a multiplayer online game that features a vast library of user-generated games spanning everything from racing to role-playing games. 

The collaboration allowed players to dress up their avatars in Chipotle-inspired costumes like Burrito ­Mummy or Guacenstein, visit the company’s first virtual restaurant, and navigate the Chipotle Boorito Maze. The first 30,000 Roblox players to visit during the four days leading up to Halloween received a code they could redeem online, on the Chipotle app, or in a restaurant for a ­free entrée.

In total, Chipotle gave away $1 million in burritos—an investment that resulted in 5.2 million gameplays and over two million unique visitors, but also went beyond generating brand exposure. The collaboration delivered a top 10 enrollment day of all time for Chipotle’s rewards program.

Create new video games

This is a harder, costlier, and riskier approach that offers greater upside. This is a great fit for companies who are committed to making video games an integral part of their customer engagement strategy instead of using them for isolated marketing campaigns. Creating a new game from scratch means you get to shape the entire gaming experience so that it aligns perfectly with your company’s brand and goals. This also opens up a path towards creating and learning from highly valuable first-party data you own about your customers. 

The New York Times Games offering is a perfect example. A key part of the NYT’s digital subscription offering, Games, now includes nine different word and puzzle games that have been the primary driver of the company’s digital subscription growth to over 11 million subscribers since the NYT decided to double down on video gaming in 2014. Subscribers that engage with both news and games in a given week exhibit the strongest long-term retention metrics among its customer segments. The Atlantic is now pursuing this strategy. 

Leverage Web3 games

This strategy includes the previous two approaches, but offers distinct opportunities for marketing and monetization due to the underlying blockchain technology. For example, luxury fashion house Burberry partnered with game developer Mythical Games to launch its latest fashion line in their Web3 game called Blankos. Blankos is a multiplayer game that lets players play a variety of mini games with friends as well build their own levels. Burberry created limited-edition in-game characters for Blankos alongside digital clothing items from its newest collection. In just 22 seconds, the entire virtual collection sold out, generating $225,000 in revenue while giving Burberry direct engagement with a different audience.

Make the video game the product

This is the most advanced strategy where the video game itself becomes the product. Companies embarking on this path ideally have staff with game design experience. For example, fitness company Peloton created a video game called Lanebreak that riders of the Peloton bike can engage in as their workout content. Rather than following instructions from a trainer, the video game simulates a workout in the form of an immersive bike race. The results have been astonishing: 50% of all workouts done on Peloton bikes are now completed in the video game, and those riders tend to complete more and longer workouts in a given week.

Video games provide business leaders with the unique opportunity to let their brand come to life in ways that are much harder to achieve in other channels such as social media.

Business leaders who want to ensure that their organization is equipped to meet consumers where they are and drive engagement should consider gaming as a strategy. Games are fun, authentic, and most importantly highly effective at driving engagement.