Gamification Saves Newspaper!

Image: wordle by Rose PhotoAmateur – (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Today I watched a video where Gamification was used to save a local U.S. newspaper and I sat stunned for a minute. I am currently studying a gamification subject at university yet for some reason this story gave me chills, I can’t for a second fathom how the young reporter/newspaper owner must have been feeling during this process and I am yet again amazed at the power of gamification. You can watch the you-tube video here: Full Frontal with Samantha Bee

“1 out of 3 journalists have lost their jobs at local newspapers” – Alan Mutter says in the video yet Samantha Bee and her colleague Gabe Zickerman (an expert in gamification) managed to use gamification to increase subscriptions of the paper 400%.

How did they do it? They used lottery tickets with a chance to win with every yearly subscription.

Is that all it took? Well it likely took a healthy marketing strategy and as Samantha says in her vlog a healthy dose of hedonism and I wonder what she meant but didn’t’ go in to more detail, still, it’s clear that gamification was a big part of that. Everyone wants pleasure and a chance to win!

Is gamification the golden ticket for all business? Are too many businesses using gamification now for it to be effective? Is there a right or wrong way to implement gamification? How can you use gamification in your business? Let me know your thoughts below or hit me up on Twitter!

References: “Gamify the News | Full Frontal with Samantha Bee” (2017), You-tube video, added by Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQ3bRiuV3bw [ Accessed 18/04/2019 ]

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