5 Car Brands Using Gamification To Enhance Their Brand

The gamification of marketing is a new and innovative way of getting customers to engage with brands and buy products.

It has been seen as an effective strategy amongst daily transaction businesses within retail and hospitality, but what about industries with big purchase items? Does gamification have a place within these industries?

The automotive industry has been making technological leaps over the past decade. Advancing hybrid technologies, alternative fuels, and more recently completely electric vehicles have become normal to see every day.

But along with these technological advances, the industry is increasingly utilising the principles of Gamification to enrich not only their customer experience and loyalty but to enrich the way in which their cars even behave. 

Here are five car brands using gamification to enhance their brand.

Number Five

Porsche BONEO (Loyalty)

In 2018, Porsche Austria released BONEO. A loyalty programme app for mobile devices, that focuses on connecting customers to the brand with a long-term relationship in mind. The car-connected app gives owners the ability to have their own avatar and receive “Loot Boxes”. These Loot Boxes include owner rewards scaling from a free cup of coffee all the way to having a free Porsche for the weekend. 

The beauty of BONEO’s Loot Box feature is that its rewards are chance-based. This makes receiving and opening a Loot Box way more exciting!

Number Four

Ford - Efficiency Leaves

By using gamification as driver feedback, Ford created an experience called “Efficiency Leaves” in 2013. These leaves, digitally displayed within the car’s cluster, respond to how the owner is driving. Drive more efficiently and the leaves grow and gain more leaves, drive less efficiently and the leaves wither up. 

Efficiency Leaves are still being used today and are a great example of using gamification to encourage particular behaviour.

Number Three

WAZE - Gamified Navigation

WAZE is a great example of using user participation to enrich not only the customer experience but to keep an app updated autonomously through engaged customers. WAZE relies on user feedback when they notice traffic, new speed cameras, accidents, or even better routes. Once a user inputs their findings, the information is available to every other WAZE user. 

Along with route updates, WAZE will reward players with points as they regularly provide information. These user points are attributed to a user’s “Level” within their account, as well as forum badges within the online community, depending on a user’s regular attributions.

Number Two

Hyundai - The Walking Dead ChopShop

Back in 2013, when “The Walking Dead” had a global viewership, Hyundai jumped in on the hype and created their mobile game app “The Walking Dead Chop Shop”. 

The app was a gamification marketing campaign that immersed the user into a world where they could completely configure a Hyundai car with everything they’d need to survive a zombie apocalypse. Armour, weapons, and zombie defence spikes were just a few of the additions users could apply to their vehicle. 

Along with the free app, users could take part in social media activities and answer questions to unlock new features and equipment, ultimately being able to share and compare their virtual zombie defence car with the community and submit their creations to go in the draw to win a trip to the New York Comic-Con that year.

Users then submit their designs and the finalists actually get their cars built in real life with the winner being chosen by none other than The Walking Dead co-creator, Robert Kirkman.

Number One

Tesla Arcade

Number one on our list is Tesla. When it comes to innovation, pushing expectations, and having a bit of fun, there are fewer companies like Tesla. 

Their gigantic in-car touch screen, for example, gives owners unique control over their car’s performance, driver assistance, security, and network connection. 

But more recently, all cars from 2018 onwards have “Tesla Arcade”, which allows passengers to play games like “Beach Buggy Racing 2, CupHead and Stardew Valley”.

And it’s not just video games that have been introduced into the car’s system, there’s also an array of entertainment platforms like YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, and Twitch. Not to mention “Caraoke”, which is exactly what you think it is.

So whilst the entire industry seems to be integrating Gamification in one way or another, Tesla takes the cake for making great cars and having fun with their customers all at the same time.

Summary 

Gamification is a powerful way to engage customers and create loyalty. By using games to enhance their brand, these car companies have shown that they understand what it takes to keep people interested in their products.

If you’re looking for ways to boost your brand, consider how gamification could help. Click here to see more videos like the one above and get inspired!

If you think we missed an example or have a better list, we’d love to see it in the comments! And as always for more info about gamification check out more of our blogs here.