If anyone has implemented a DAM solution, they know first hand how difficult it may be to get end users to buy-in, contribute and utilize the fancy new solution. Sure they may know that is it good for them, but there is just no incentive for them personally. DAM isn’t traditionally thought of as a “fun” experience but if there is a way to make it more entertaining by adding a gaming context I think end users would embrace the buy-in much quicker and be excited about utilizing their DAM.

So, with all the hype around gamification and how it is evolving for brands, I wanted to take a look at some top brands that are using gamification to engage users and of course market their products to a good effect. I think it would be interesting to apply some of these mechanics to a DAM implementation. Just think… integrating game elements or gamification into a DAM strategy could help boost engagement levels! Let’s take a look at some big brands to see what they are doing and apply them to your DAM system.

Gamification in the marketing world means creating experiences for consumers (or end users in our case) around actions – like checking in, working out, buying coffee. In a DAM system it could be checking in, adding metadata, utilizing specific tools in the DAM or even downloading assets.

The first example that comes to mind is Foursquare, which is gamification at its core. Getting consumers to check in and share their location in exchange for rewards and discounts is an example of how marketers can make something that isn’t really that exciting – checking in – a fun thing to do.

Starbucks has a mobile app that rewards users with stars and status levels. It gives users incentives to keep playing. Every time customers walk into a Starbucks and use the app to pay for their coffee, they earn a star. Once they get a certain number of stars, they move on to different levels. The green level, for example, entitles users to free refills on brewed coffee or tea. The app has progress bars and incentives throughout to motivate users. Additionally, users can sync their app to their Facebook account, turning this into a social loyalty play, since users can now share their progress with friends.

Nike Plus, which lets consumer’s track activities such as running. Nike Plus lets users set goals and helps push them to achieve their goals. By saving users’ runs, Nike Plus shows users trends, suggests insights and helps them improve. A social component lets runners challenge their friends to virtual games and competitions. Nike Plus rewards users’ success via NikeFuel and lets them share their achievements with friends. So far there have been 50,000 daily goals hit, 80,000 achievements earned and 56 million miles run using Nike Plus. NikeFuel measures the activities, and Nike Plus devices track the moves and turn them into NikeFuel.

Now apply this to your DAM system. The end user could get stars and move to higher levels the more they utilize the system! This may sound silly, but the key is to make it worthwhile for the end users to engage. It is could be a great way to take a once static, boring system and make it a challenge for your end users. The reason gamification is effective because it gives consumers something to look forward to, a goal to accomplish. It is also a metric for success for end users. They get to earn something for their actions! This type of incentive both encourages utilization and boosts engagement levels with your system. In today’s technology cacophony, it is so important to do things with the end user in mind. Gamification is one of the ways that brands are differentiating themselves, so why not apply it to your DAM?

If your DAM solution has gamification integrated in it somehow I would love to hear about it and I am positive our readers would too!

mary(at)createasphere.com