Games are going to become a huge part of the way we market products going forward. OK, let me back up a minute. “Game” is too narrow a term for what I’m talking about. Instead, let’s call them interactive experiences, where the idea is that instead of strictly pushing a message to your consumer, some part of your marketing mix will include opportunities for your consumer to discover your product through some peripheral interaction.

Whether that interaction is an iPhone app, an ARG or something like the Sony Open Planet Ideas project these experiences will not necessarily be tied to the brand but will instead surround the brand idea and allow people to become more tied into a culture.

People love discovery (a lot more than they love 30-second spots) and game-like interactions provide that for them. Once we get past the increasingly boring idea of points and badges and start looking at what makes games really tick (goal oriented competition and problem solving) we are going to see a host of new and innovative new ways to market. The real challenge will be to balance the idea of making the game fun and challenging enough to retain users yet simple and clear enough to drive a sales message at scale.

As someone who straddles the marketing world and the gaming world I’ve been struck by the convergence of goals between the industries and I think that marketers are likely to move boldly into creating games as a growing part of their mix. There has been experimentation with platforms like Foursquare and more recently with Facebook places and deals, but in my mind these are not tools built for marketers and don’t offer much in the way of depth of content or more importantly game design.

Read Where Games and Marketing Collide (Via Future Lab) (Images)

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