Gamified interactions: whether, when, and how games facilitate self–brand connections

Abstract

Firms increasingly use games to interact with their customers. Yet, surprisingly little is known about whether, when, and how such "gamified" interactions engage consumers with a firm's brand, thereby facilitating self-brand connections. Building on flow theory, we show that gamified interactions that are highly interactive and optimally challenging facilitate self-brand connections, because such games lead to emotional and cognitive brand engagement. A field study and three experiments across various product domains and game designs support our theory. We also identify conditions under which consumers do not become engaged with a brand, namely when firms restrict their decisional control either to voluntarily participate in the game (i.e., compulsory play) or to spend as much time as desired playing the game (i.e., time pressure). Our findings advance existing knowledge about the use of games in marketing and provide important implications for how marketers can harness their potential to build selfbrand connections.

CSR and branding in emerging economies: The effect of incomes and education

“…More specifically, self–brand connection reflects consumer attitudes regarding brand favorability, strength, and uniqueness. Favorable/unfavorable consumer perceptions, in turn, drive a sense of oneness/discord with a brand that is positively/negatively linked to building robust consumer–brand relationships (see Berger, Schlager, Sprott, & Herrmann, 2018, for instance).…”

“…The consumer–brand bond indicates consumer acceptance toward a given brand (Eelen, Ozturan, & Verlegh, 2017). This attitude arises after consumers have analyzed the brand profile and the degree to which it adapts to their value structures (Berger et al, 2018; Ming‐Tan et al, 2018). Once that match occurs, it is very likely that consumers will be comfortable building and maintaining an active, loyalty‐based relationship with the brand—and repurchasing products (Uhlig et al, 2020); in other words, repeat purchase behavior together with positive feelings toward the brand (Dick & Basu, 1994) make the brand more accessible in the consumers' minds (Eelen et al, 2017) and make switching costs a factor (Polo & Sese, 2009).…”

The Relationship Between Gamification, Brand Engagement and Brand Equity

“…Given that gamification in marketing is still a new area, only a few studies have empirically investigated the relationship between gamification and aspects of brand management. The literature has thus far focused on the relationship between gamification/game and brand attitude [50,55], brand recall [38], brand engagement [4], brand involvement [41], brand equity [26], service use [16], continued use [18] and purchase intentions [30]. Overall, the current body of literature suggests that gamification may have a positive effect on brand equity.…”

“…However, existing evidence of their relationship is still wanting. For example, based on flow theory, Berger et al [4] showed that gamified interactions, which are highly interactive and optimally challenging, are positively related to emotional and cognitive dimensions of brand engagement. Gatautis et al [15] conducted the empirical study on the impact of gamification on consumer brand engagement in the Lithuanian market.…”

“…Relevant research that has examined the relationship between gamification and brand equity is still at an initial stage, mainly focused on brand attitude [50,55], brand engagement [4,21] and brand involvement [41], lack of in-depth discussion. Brand equity, as one of the important goals of social media marketing, only received limited attention in the gamification-related literature.…”