Why play is important in the brand experiences we build: excerpts from Playful 09

Last Friday I went Conway Hall to attend Playful 09, an event that brought together a mix of developers, designers, artists, bloggers and thinkers. With speakers from companies from Channel 4 to interactive agencies, the topic for the day was the role of playfulness in media, be it interactive games or the way we effect social change.

Play, and playfulness doesn’t immediately seem an important topic. As the day progressed two things became apparent, 1. The level investment in ‘playful’ media is significant enough to take notice and 2. We underestimate play as a motivator, this is particularly important for creating valuable social experiences which so many brands are striving for.

So, as with the Seth Godin talk earlier this year, I thought I’d share a few points from the day I found useful. Enjoy.

Fun motivates and changes our behaviour

With more marketing campaigns incorporating a social aspect, a big challenge for this medium is answering the question ‘why should a user or customer get involved’, ‘what is in it for them’?

Fun provides an answer to motivating a user. Some examples from Playful 09 were poignant, some bizarre but some showed real results - my two favourite examples being Volkswagen’s ‘Arcade Bottle Bank’ which showed encouraging adoption and shows you recycle more when it’s fun...

...and the Sidekick Studios Voicebox robot, which aims to catch the attention of MP’s by being placed in the upper waiting gallery of the House of Commons, writing out messages on social issues submitted online

The Voicebot pt II from sidekick studios on Vimeo.

Both these cases show taking a playful slant can change behaviour for important topics, and turn mundane tasks into games.

Interactive devices + augmented reality = new opportunities

Chris o’Shea gave a entertaining talk through some of his projects which focus on interactivity and playfulness. The example below is the well publicised augmented reality piece “A Hand From Above” which was staged in Liverpool recently....

Hand from Above from Chris O'Shea on Vimeo.

... but I was more impressed with the less famous, but more powerful “Beacon” installation. Both examples show what great experiences can be created using interactive technologies which marketers should explore for their brands.

Beacon at Lightwave 2009 from Cinimod Studio & Chris O'Shea on Vimeo.

Making an experience fun AND useable is hard

As the piano stairs example from Volkswagen shows, making something fun AND usable is a challenge – the discussion at Playful highlighted that the usability of the stairs would decrease as novelty decreases (and annoyance increases).

Play is great then. It can be an important asset to an experience. How to integrate it within our projects though?

Prototyping to find the fun

- Playfulness is elusive, so a major lesson from the day was that you find the fun and playfulness through learning from prototypes in a process where you’re not afraid to try alternatives.

Awesomeness is important not innovation

- One speaker referenced Umair Haques greatest recent post on The Awesome Manifesto – Umair reasons that what is important today is how awesome a product, experience, service is (in contrast to how innovative it is). Playfulness and Awesomeness seemed good companions.

The role of a high score

- The day showed that if you’re designing a playful experience consider whether there is a role for scoring – what will motivate users to engage with the experience or game, and how using scoring can change behaviour.

How Mobile Commerce Snuck Up On Us In 2009 (or How I Spent £1000 Via My Phone)

Throughout 2009 Mobile has got ever more exciting. Augmented reality (AR) has captured the imagine of the technology press and while there is no landmark moment for mobile AR yet, it's got true potential beyond the hype. If you're not aware of some of the possibilities for mobile AR, here's a quick video below

This got me thinking about past Mobile trends, particularly Mobile commerce. Mcommerce (the act of purchasing goods and services via a mobile) was a buzz word that seemed to be forever be next years big thing, and last year I contributed a few times to articles on why the channel has taken a long time to grow.

I'd forgotten all the mCommerce hype until realising last week that I'd spent nearly £1000 in 2009 on purchases made via my smartphone, a big share of wallet and a considerable figure given it's not even Autumn. Up from last year of less then £50, my purchases were split between buying flights, books, memory cards, the odd music event and the largest ticket item, a £500 laptop.

So what had changed or become mainstream since 2008?

· Better phones and flate rate data tariffs. 2009's smartphones are making mCommerce a lot simpler. I'd switched my smartphone to Vodafone's Google Android over the summer and found it a very simple browsing experience. Enhancements such as Google Voice make accessing information on products very easy, and mobile shopping becomes a bearable user experience.

· Better dedicated mobile sites. Few retailers have taken mobile seriously, however the best browsing experience I found was still on Amazon's mobile site. Sadly (for the competition) is not a new development but still featured some key elements of a great mobile experience, it was fast, simple and I had little typing to do and within a few clicks items are orders.

· A multitude of applications now available – The ability to quickly and seamlessly access search engines, shopping comparison sites, scan barcodes and peruse Amazons large catalogue whilst shopping is going to hit the high street hard, a few times this year when a products not been available in store I've ordered it there and then via my phone, typically with a rival brand, but mainly with Amazon

There's plenty of advice around how to make your online site more mobile friendly, so I won't repeat the advice but end my post with some developments which I believe will grow the channel

· Simpler and easy payment - Apple, Google and Nokia know the power of a simple payments mechanism through their respective stores, but we'll began to see 'charge to my mobile bill' as a simple and effective payment option. Mobile Network Operators (Vodafone, O2 etc) will provide simple experiences which will save the trouble of entering in credit card details on a mobile phone; with a simple 'add to my monthly bill' option. This move see's the operators take on the credit card companies as payment providers.

· Augmented Reality driving 'there and then' purchases – When AR and contextual technologies converge there will be some great opportunities – particularly 'click camera to search and buy' products you're viewing in the store environment, making mCommerce more simple, relevant and fun.

· The tipping point for adoption – just as with SMS in the 90's and Facebook in the 00's, mobile commerce needs and will benefit from more peoples involvement, as few retailers have made investments in this area citing perceived low user demand.

I'm always interested to know your experience and statistics on mobile commerce take up, so if you've any opinions drop me a line.