Games have the potential to boost marketing power in an era when consumer trust is at an all-time low.
That is the view of Cari Kirby, marketing manager of Sheffield-based ‘digital amusements agency’ Team Cooper, which makes HTML5 games for brands.
Kirby will be speaking at BusinessCloud’s ‘The $1m-a-day game: Succeeding in the UK games industry’ event in Manchester on July 27.
“The main benefits are engagement, engagement and engagement,” she told BusinessCloud.
“In an era when consumer trust is at an all-time low, it’s important for brands to engage with their audience in a positive way.
“Marketing is a competition for attention so if you can compete in a way that is genuinely fun, you can start building on those positive connections.”
The rise of mobile devices has turned everyone into a potential gamer, something which offers potential to businesses.
“Games used to be the privilege of teenagers and those who bought expensive consoles,” she continued.
“The market and the audience for games has grown since the rise of the smartphone, and with it the opportunities for quick and casual app-based and browser-based games which are available at our fingertips.”
Kirby has over 10 years’ experience shaping and delivering marketing strategies across a wide range of industries and markets.
She also sees great benefits for using games in education.
“We all learn through play. Games have a broad appeal and using them to engage children in curriculum based activities is incredibly important,” she said.
“The children in our schools are ‘digital natives’ and we need engage them in a way that they are used to. Game play can support cognitive skills and problem-solving and if the content engages children and supports classroom learning, it’s a win-win.
“I have a six-year-old boy in year one who, by his own admission, ‘hates’ maths – but when playing with the OSMO games at home he’ll happily add and subtract and work out the maths problem to pop the balloons and release the jewels!”
BusinessCloud’s breakfast event will hear about the UK’s video games industry, where it is headed next and how games fit into a wider business and marketing context.
At the event, sponsored by Playdemic and supported by Gameopolis and The Foundry film studios, Playdemic CEO Paul Gouge will discuss the story behind several leading titles including Golf Clash, which recently generated more than $1m in sales in just one day.
Paul Rustchynsky, game director for a new racing IP at legendary studio Codemasters, will also speak.
Other confirmed speakers so far are Si Donbavand, development director at Fabrik Games; Clayton Carpenter, programming supervisor, PlaygroundSquad; Annie O’Toole, head of operations, SwapBots; Simon Smith, development director at Desk Dragons Interactive; and Greg Robinson, advisor at Boomdash Digital.
Gain a flavour of our events from the video below: