June 17, 2026
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Steve Bocska

Steve is CEO of Pug Pharm Productions, an award-winning company that uses gameplay principles and technologies to solve challenging business problems. Founded in 2008, Pug Pharm offers a complete, end-to-end approach to get communities active and engaged -- creating a fun, playful places that foster and measure community identity, reputation, and status. Steve has 10+ years of direct experience in the video game industry, having designed and produced several AAA games for Disney Interactive, Electronic Arts , Sega, and Ubisoft that have generated sales in excess of $650 million. In 2006, he became the founding President and CEO of Hothead Games.

Gamification Review Part III: Why Kotex’s Mis Momentos Campaign Succeeded

Steve Bocska03 mins

Part 1 and Part 2 of this gamification review series.

Mis Momentos is an exceptional case-study in the power of cutting-edge community engagement, choice-based campaign design, cumulative participation, and empowerment of individual voices – all towards driving stronger brand positioning & increased sales.

To design world-class community engagement & customer loyalty campaigns, you need to deliver compelling interactive activities, games, contests, and programs that not only establish a rich user experience but also inspire exploration, discovery, and meaningful choices.

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Gamification Review Part II: Why Kotex’s Mis Momentos Campaign Succeeded

Steve Bocska09 mins

Start from Part 1 of this gamification review series.

The second time around, we went back to the drawing board with a fresh redesign to create a more fast-paced, 5-week campaign loaded with improvements, updates, and refinements. Although it seems like a very similar campaign at first glance, the changes touched virtually every part of the campaign with an eye towards creating deeper engagement, more balanced gameplay rules, better risk/reward elements, and greater flexibility.

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Gamification Review Part I: Why Kotex’s Mis Momentos Campaign Succeeded And Yours Probably Won’t

Steve Bocska06 mins

Poorly-conceived customer engagement campaigns have flushed many well-intentioned marketing dollars down the proverbial toilet. According to research firm Gartner Inc., 80% of customer engagement initiatives fail due to bad design. Some of the biggest failures are epic, costing brands millions of dollars and resulting in horrific ROI metrics. One big online retailer I know recently used an agency that delivered a campaign so disastrous that when they calculated the cost of user acquisition, it worked out to over $9,000 per engaged user.

Ouch.

We recently wrapped a second successful collaboration with Kimberly Clark Mexico for their flagship Kotex product line – a customer loyalty activity called “Mis Momentos”. The campaign results were notable, with over 20,000 Kotex customers participating, high repeat play (63%), and strong ROI (8%+ reach conversion). The brand’s investment has now resulted in an extremely versatile and cost-effective asset for supporting a strong base of participating community members across an unlimited number of campaigns throughout its entire brand portfolio. But it wasn’t necessarily an easy path to get there…

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Gamification Pitfalls: Badge Fatigue and Loyalty Backlash

Steve Bocska81 mins

The following is an Op-Ed by Steve Bocska, CEO of Pug Pharm Productions Steve Bocska is the President and CEO of Vancouver-based Pug Pharm Productions, a technology leader in customer gamification, retention, and activation. Steve has an extensive background as a gameplay designer, designing highly successful video games for companies including Disney Interactive, Electronic Arts,…

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