Customer loyalty is a highly valuable asset. To gain loyalty of current customers and create attachments, the growing ranks of entrepreneurs decide on implementation of loyalty programs. This article aims at providing a theoretical outlook on various approaches on loyalty programs derived from literature review and identifing the factors which lead to success of a company. The literature review offers some directives for managers which are useful in the preparation of rewarding programs and are also a source of valuable customer information that helps in building future marketing strategies. We concluded that loyalty programs impact customers using financial and psychological factors to maintain long-term loyalty. Furthermore, loyalty programs should include financial as well as affective components as only financial incentives don't guarantee a long-term relationship. JEL Classification Number: M31, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12955/cbup.v4.762

A spiking interest in customer’s value co-creation may be observed lately, especially in the gaming industry. The general purpose of this study is to identify the customers’ inclination to perform game modding as a manner of value co-creation which benefits both companies and other game users. The current knowledge regarding the factors determining this behaviour is, relatively speaking, weak. The authors conducted qualitative research in the forms of in-depth interviews and focus groups with Polish game players (including mod users and mod creators). This study provides evidence for the peculiar motives of the customers performing different levels of engagement: mod users are driven by game enjoyment, focusing on the motives and social affiliation of multiplayer groups, while mod creators are mainly motivated by the enjoyment of creation, pride, creativity, and epistemic curiosity; engagement and social affiliation are received by mod creators with unique talents. The paper provides tentative evidence for specific customers’ motivations to co-create, which benefits both companies (game developers) and other game users. The players are perceived as an inseparable part of the gaming industry, who deliver extra value to the market through game modding activities. The paper provides useful, executable guidance on how to encourage and support players to engage in value co-creation in virtual words. The study may enrich our understanding of customers’ inclinations on both theoretical and empirical levels, showing some of the motivations both to use and create mods. In comparison to previous research, mod creators and mod users were researched separately in this study, and thus a distinction of their different sets of motives was enabled. Both practitioners and researchers may find what is uncovered in the paper engrossing.

Purpose: The article sought to answer research questions regarding investigated branded content generated by players in simulation video games. How does the process work in video games? What are the characteristics of branded user-generated content in video games? To what extent players are willing to participate in branded content creation? Methodology: I conducted 20 in-depth interviews among Polish players, with the application of snowball sampling. The study participants were adult users of chosen simulation video games: The Sims, Second Life, and Euro Truck Simulator 2. Findings: We can distinguish content based on game mechanism, official add-ons, or game modding. Players frequently check some brands from a set offered by game developers and create content (e.g. in The Sims users can design house interiors with IKEA furniture). Some players are not satisfied by what a game offers and generate content based on modding (e.g. DHL trucks or McDonald’s restaurants inside the Euro Truck Simulator 2). In this respect, the article refers to Smith’s, Fischer’s, and Yongjian’s content dimensions. Branded game modifications described by respondents are characterized by a high level of similarity towards real brands and positive brand sentiment (valence). I noted no statement about player and marketer (brand) communication in gathered material. The biggest challenge for practitioners in the field of UGC in video games is how to manage brand messages. Practical Implications: Brand-related user-generated content is an important phenomenon in terms of the brand-building process and its impact on brand reception, which all require marketers’ attention. For game developers, such a content is a source of information about customer expectations. Players show their personal expectations by game modding. Originality/Value: Brand-related content generated by users is frequently associated with social media. The scholarship shows a lack of knowledge of branded user-generated content in video games.

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Nowadays, storytelling is a well-known tool used in process of building a brand. Despite of popularity of corporates’ stories, the elements a good brand story and condition under which story creates a value of a brand remains unclear. The present article is aimed to give an outlook on the role of storytelling in building a brand and how to design a good brand story. This paper is based on literature review. The analysis of polish and foreign surveys reveal that brand story rises positive emotions, unique association and better assessment to a brand. Researchers listed various elements that comprised a good brand story, e.g. authenticity, benefits, first-person narrator, sense of humor. Storytelling gives opportunity