When I first heard the term gamification, I thought it was some sort of a catchy way to describe the dull practice of adding a game on your website or facebook fan page to increase engagement. I guess I was not alone on that thinking as I have indeed see many brands trying to add some sort of engaging and entertaining features on their digital assets by simply putting a game on it.

On its very best form this was a game that (at least) was quite relevant to the brand, so for example if you were a restaurant you may had a restaurant simulation game there. Sometimes it was an irrelevant one, however still fun and engaging. The worst case scenario was when brands were trying to be abnoxiously creative coming up with ideals like; a Battle Star Gallactica game where the fighting spaceship were throwing that brand’s soups to each other (!)

I have before written about the fun theory and how being fun even in business can be really impactful, however I feel really lucky I was recently immersed properly on this concept of gamification by one of its best  thought-leaders, Gabe Zichermann. Gabe talked about how games and game mechanics can help changing people’s behaviour in an engaging and entertaining way, making clear that gamification is not about gamifying  an activity or process for the shake of it but using some game thinking in order to educate the user to change a bevaviour towards an intended vision.

Ironically enough one of the great examples the Gabe used to bring this concept to life was indeed one of the fun theory competition nominees; the Speed Camera Lottery. Watch this video and you will immediately understand yourself what gamification is all about; the right way!

BONUS: Take a look on the PhygitAlien for another awesome phygital gamification initative from Contrex

Then you get phygital! Phygital is a new concept in technology, very much used in marketing initiatives, where physical elements mix with digital to provide unigue interactive experiences for the user.

In one of my previous posts I had mentioned Sixth Sense, which is one of the technologies that have concluded to come up with this new concept. Some more like QR codes, Augmented Reality, 3D projections etc. that now have become more mainstream are some other typical ways to develop phygital marketing projects. My personal passion about this new concept has made me to start a 2nd blog which I ask you to visit today, hoping that you will really enjoy: Go to the ‘PhygitAlien‘

Here is a taste of what you can expect from that blog – one of the most exciting phygital initiatives in eCommerce:

If you are interested to stay on top of the latest phygital marketing trends, don’t hesitate to subscribe to the RSS feeds. A new initiative will be showcased every week!

According to them it is just about being different in a crazy capacity! Apple has proved to be one of the most genuinely different companies of the last 2 decades, managing to achieve tremendous growth in the last few years. It makes me think that if Apple was a human being that would be (who else?) Steve Jobs. What a coincidence, don’t you think?

It is indeed very true that differentiation is one way to succeed in a market.  The level one can differentiate itself from another is undefinite. However, there are only few that choose to leave no chances for the rest to even be comparable to them. We call those the “crazy ones” because they cross the lines of the game. They brake the rules and decide not only to be different but to be antithetic.

Is this so hard to do? Can everyone be so ” crazy smart” as Einstein, so “crazy influential” as Martin or so ” crazy innovative” as Steve? You may think this is not possible, simply because those people were born to be what they have been. Partially I would agree as a big believer of traits. However we cannot ignore the common theme that persists here which is so easy for all of us to immitate as it is to try become more organized or improve our time management skills.

Just try to be genuinely different. Next time you do something try to do it different. Try to think a crazy way of doing it that most people would think is crazy. You see, we are all so taught to think in the same way, to obey similar rules and to respect similar instituions, that it almost makes it the easiest thing in the world to think differently from most of the other people.

Some people see this and reaact. They think and act differently because they can see this the easiest (not painless though) way to achieve their maximum potential.

Have you ever wondered how special effects commercials are being shoot. You may think that nowadays is all about the computer editing. Everything goes though a professional editing program and turns artificial scenes into reality. How would you think this commercial was shoot?

Well, there have been many things said about this amazingly successful campaign, however the way this commercial was shoot is amazing itself. You may have thought that this is really high tech computer engineering, combined with some standard special effects. It seems that is actually basic engineering with a lot, a lot of human creativity!

Enjoy: