Social Gaming

Priyanka Mehrotra

Why do people spend time in social gaming?

Socia

l Interac

tion

Fun &

Excitement

Relieve

Stress

Competitive Sp

irit0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

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Social Gaming Communities

Sharing Knowledge

Solving Problems

Working as a team

Cooperating

Planning

Developing Trust

Building Relationships

Social Capital• You get the feeling that you are playing,

socializing, interacting etc. With your real friends.

• It gives you a way to express yourself.- It’s like a playground for personality.- Anything that will let you express YOU, your personality

• It gives players the opportunity to invest over time in the sense that they feel like they own something of value (hence social capital)

Economics of Social Gaming

• Social gaming – $1 Billion Industry- Sale of Virtual Goods - $653m- Lead generation offers in exchange for subscriptions, surveys and

sale of real goods and services - $248m- Advertising - $192m’

• ‘Try before you buy’• Episodic Entertainment • Membership clubs & subscription services• Selling player profile information for market research

What are implications for marketers?

Gaming world = virtual laboratories

User Profile Info = Tonnes of data for market research

Cross Promotion Possibilities

Valuable insights of specific communities

• 62% female• 18-34 is 33% of

audience• Total household

income is 60 to 100K

• 50 % female• 18-34 is 28% of

audience• Total household

income is 0 to 30K

Not only for Entertainment Brands

Not just about the money

• Pet adoptions in YoVille raised $90,000 for SF/SPCA in 2009.

• Teddy bear purchases in Mafia Wars raised more than $100,000 for Coalition for the Cure (Huntington’s Disease) in March 2010.

• The Monk pet in World of Warcraft generated $1.1 million in donations for the Make-a-Wish Foundation.

• To date, Zynga players have raised more than $3 million in connection with Zynga.org social partnerships for Haiti.

• Smithsonian Treasure Hunt

Branded Virtual Goods

Key TakeawaysMarketers need to realistically assess whether wikis are

appropriate, and similarly assess SMMVirtual worlds like Second Life are alternative formats for

marketing, quickly gaining volumeMobiles can be used to ‘empower’ your businessIf your consumers are active on foursquare, like any social

media, you should be there and you should be rewarding them for it

Social Media for social changeUnderstanding social communities is key to social gaming

marketing

Questions?