Upstream Improves Gamification Engine

Mobile marketing firm Upstream has added a raft of new features to the gamification engine that forms an integral part of its Marketing Communications Suite (MCS) technology platform. With gamification, Upstream says it can dramatically increase levels of response, engagement and enjoyment, transforming the mobile marketing experience, to benefit both the mobile consumer and the marketer.

A new, real-time personalisation features deliver key insights into interactions as they happen, enabling the platform to tailor campaigns so that their frequency, progress and content are driven by highly-targeted mobile consumer segments, making it ultimately more rewarding and enjoyable for them.

“The new capabilities will enable Upstream to customize our gaming engine in very sophisticated ways to help carriers and brands drive the highest possible engagement and value from their mobile campaigns,” says Guy Krief, vice, president, Innovation at Upstream.

Gamification on MCS combines game mechanics – which include points; rules; countdowns; ratio, repeat and interval bonuses; levels; penalties; challenges; viral mechanics; virtual goods; digital and physical prizes, to provide a powerful engine that drives high responsiveness, engagement and enjoyment of the mobile experience.

“Gamification is an essential part of mobile marketing, and we’ve been using game-like techniques in our campaigns for mobile operators and brands long before the creation of the word,” adds Krief. “Every interaction on mobile must reward the consumer or it is likely to be ignored.”

Upstream’s MCS platform has delivered campaigns to more than 500m consumers for top-tier carriers and brands around the world, increasing customer responsiveness by as much as 400 per cent. Game dynamics introduce the concept of rewards that can take many forms, whether it is correctly answering all the questions in a quiz; getting free entertainment content; a status announcement or winning bonuses, points and even large cash prizes.

“Any mobile marketing interaction must provoke engagement and drive emotional value for the mobile consumer,” says Egisto Benelli, consumer market VAS director at Telecom Italia. “Upstream’s sophisticated, personalized gamification delivers just that capability in real-time. With Upstream, we identified new consumer sectors to target and employ the MCS platform, with the best gamification techniques built-in, to engage and incentivize our subscribers, increasing customer satisfaction and brand loyalty.”