April 27, 2026
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amstel

Amstel Wants to Reward You with Beer for Ignoring Your Phone

Ivan Kuo44 mins

My very first post at Gamification Co involved a DIY-gamification project to retain etiquette at the dinner table. The premise was simple: everyone gathers their smartphone in the middle of the table at the start of a meal. If anyone checks their phone in that time, they’re forced to pay for everyone’s meal. I’m amazed that nobody else has taken this concept of cellphone abstination and turned it into an app (that I know of) until Amstel released their new iOS app to actually reward users for doing this.

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andrew grauer course hero

Course Hero’s Knowledge Marketplaces and the Gamification of Education

Ivan Kuo12 mins

We’re reading more and more about online education portals incorporating sophisticated game mechanics into its applications. There’s no doubt that education is a space ripe for gamification and in classrooms—both virtual and walled—educators are shifting their approach to offer a more personalized, yet interactive and adaptive curriculum. Course Hero, an online education start-up, has been engaging college students in its online learning community by using game mechanics from Bunchball for more than a year to great success. Harnessing the motivational power of games and applying it to real-world problems, Course Hero’s gamification elements motivate students to learn in a more interactive manner and urge them to care more about what they’re learning.

In this GSummit SF 2013 talk, Course Hero CEO Andrew Grauer will share details on how participation on the site has increased by 25% since implementing gamified elements, as well as how the site has seen a 51% growth in badges awarded since February 2012. Watch the full video below.

Also, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get the latest videos from GSummit SF 2013 as they’re released. You can also download a copy of this presentation by downloading it here.

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performance with goals

Use Gamification to Effectively Convey Company Goals and Motivate Employees

Gal Rimon06 mins

In today’s business environment, managers are constantly pressed to produce results, usually through industry-specified KPIs – setting challenging targets to be achieved on a day-to-day basis. Methodologies, such as MBO (management by objectives) and CPM (corporate performance management) aim to align the managers with their business’s goals. Targets are set and feedback is collected through scorecards and dashboards.

Stemming from the line of thought that “you can only manage what you measure” and “what gets measured gets done”, managers are put in the position of not only constantly evaluating their employees, but also being appraised themselves.

There is a strong correlation between a successful company and an effective goal setting process.

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How Nissan Used Gran Turismo to Recruit Pro Drivers for GT Academy

Ivan Kuo22 mins

The Gamification Revolution is the only live gamification webcast featuring Gabe Zichermann and fellow gamification experts every week. Be sure to catch our next episode on Thursday, October 24 at 1PM ET/1800 GMT, where we will feature GSummit Global speaker, Ryan Mizusaki, GM of Reservations Learning at Delta.

Remember you can participate in the show if you sign-in and RSVP! Signing in will allow you to receive show reminders, ask questions, and even join Gabe and our guest for a live question.

In this episode, Karl Dunn, the Creative Director for Nissan at TBWA/Chiat/Day came on the show to discuss the story of GT Academy. I had the honor of talking to the man to learn about the origins of the concept, what the show produced for Nissan, and other general questions about his view about gamification from an advertising agency’s perspective. Watch the full episode below:



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If you liked Karl’s story and want to learn more about it, check out GSummit Global to gain access to his full story about Nissan’s GT Academy.

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jive bunchball gamification platform

Case Study: Jive Gamification Module Boosts T-Mobile Community Engagement by 1000%

Andres Solis56 mins

It’s a matter of time before more and more companies from all other industries look at, consider, and eventually embrace such an innovative concept likegamification into their business. This is the story of mobile service carrier T-Mobile and their next generation customer experience.

In order to keep up with the renewing advances in mobile technology, companies within the industry must be a step ahead of their competition when it comes to customer satisfaction and loyalty. Its ever-challenging environment is dictated by the constant evolution of mobile devices and represents an ongoing source of issues, ignited by customer queries on functions and capabilities of a mobile device. With this in mind and upon J.D. Power’s advice, T-Mobile created T-Community, a social business Jive platform built with the purpose of logging all known technical and general customer issues and sharing them across the company.

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charles coonradt

6 Principles for Making Work More Enjoyable From the Grandfather of Gamification

Ivan Kuo41 mins

Whether you think gamification was coined in 2011, 2007, or even in 2002, there has been one man by the name of Charles “Chuck” Coonradt who has been talking about making work more enjoyable with play since the writing of the his book, The Game of Work, in 1984. Chuck has since applied his findings into making work more gamified for organizations ever since .

This past GSummit, Chuck was able to make it to our main stage to discuss some of the principles he learned  that can be adapted for making work more enjoyable.Check out his full talk in the video below.

Also, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get the latest videos from GSummit SF 2013 as they’re released. You can also download a copy of this presentation by downloading it here.

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angry birds yay

Is Angry Birds the Gateway to Gamification in the Classroom?

Margo Kleman45 mins

Many would argue that there is a clear distinction between videogames and the art of gamification since the latter specifically applies game mechanics to non-game contexts. However, with a generation brought up on videogames and the need to engage these children in the classroom, the lines are becoming ever more blurred.

Traditionally, one may think of gamification in the classroom as an instance where a game was specifically designed and implemented in order to achieve learning through the application of game mechanics. This embodies the stereotypical edu-tech games like Mavis Beacon where students are taught how to type more effectively through a series of challenges. Games like Mavis Beacon apply gamification through the use of game mechanics like rewards to incentivize completion (whether by points, badges or leveling up), leaderboards to instill competition amongst other participants, and analytics to track the progress of the player as well as overall implementation success.

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gsx global sales event cisco

Innovative Disruption at Cisco’s Global Sales Experience (GSX)

Ivan Kuo12 mins

How can a huge company Cisco manage to engage with all their employees around the world?

GSX is Cisco’s annual sales conference, a globally distributed hybrid event experience that has been lauded for turning traditional event models on their head and pioneering new audience engagement formats. Learn how Cisco adapted social television engagement models to drive the most employee aware event in history from their GSummit SF 2013 talk

You can expect to learn:

  • Insight into the wildly successful GSX achievement program, over 200K awarded during GSX FY13.
  • Overview on the audience listening model applied during GSX FY13, including real time Trending Topics and audience sentiment broadcast injections.
  • Understanding of the transmedia tactics leveraged during GSX FY13, resulting in tens of thousands of supplementary video and downloadable content views.

Also, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get the latest videos from GSummit SF 2013 as they’re released. You can also download a copy of this presentation by downloading it here.

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kenya

Global Challenge: RFP on Using Gamification to Counter Violent Extremism in Kenya

Ivan Kuo13 mins

We recently received an interesting email that requested our helping in finding possible gamification applications for countering violent extremism (CVE) under the Kenya Transition Initiative, a program dedicated to stabilizing Kenya’s political unrest and violence.

The RFP comes directly from the US Agency for International Development and seeks to empower youths before they are pulled into a culture of extremism.

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Newsgames: Changing the Face of Investigative Journalism in Brazil

Heong Weng Mak37 mins

“Print is out, digital is in.” These few words encapsulates the great shift occurring within the realm of mass media. With the explosive growth of digital content available on the internet, printed media is slowly falling into disfavor by reading audience. In turn, it is forcing mainstream news outlets into rethinking their modus operandi for story telling. One possible solution that has been steadily gaining credibility is the the application of newsgames, video games designed to adhere to journalistic standards.

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bigdoor gavin hewitt

Why Real Rewards Matter: BigDoor’s Approach to Loyalty

Ivan Kuo12 mins

Despite the overwhelming focus on badges in the gamification community, badge-only solutions have minimal impact on long term customerengagement. Big brands have discovered that the secret to driving customer loyalty is allowing customers to redeem points for tangible and intangible rewards.  Discover both why redeemable rewards work to build loyalty and engagement, as well as how to successfully integrate a rewards system into a gamified loyalty program. Using examples from the NFL, Yamaha Corporation and Adobe, find out what customers are looking for, and how rewards fit into the gamification puzzle in this talk by BigDoor’s VP of Sales, Gavin Hewitt.

Expect to learn:

  • Why are rewards important in a consumer facing gamified loyalty solution?
  • How are big brands embracing rewards and sweepstakes in their own loyalty programs?
  • What are some best practices for implementing a rewards program for your brand?`

Also, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get the latest videos from GSummit SF 2013 as they’re released. You can also download a copy of this presentation by downloading it here.

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Genentech is Saving San Francisco Through Maximum Parsimony

Margo Kleman110 mins

One wet and rainy day on the streets of San Francisco, a local cheese manufacturer was en route to making one of its many routine deliveries when a series of misfortunate events transpired. In the midst of the downpour, the delivery truck hit a slick spot in which the driver failed to maintain control and crashed into a light pole. Luckily, nobody was harmed and the truck only suffered minor damage but when the driver went to check on his load, he noticed that all of the cheese had disappeared! Lo and behold, the accident jarred the back doors open and released the cheese into the San Francisco city’s sewer system.

Although it was a shame to lose such quality product, the driver thought it was a minor price to pay for what could have led to even more detrimental consequences. However, the driver assumed wrong because as the muenster cheese entered into the sewer system, it mutated and began spreading rapidly. The local cheese manufacturer knew it had a potential disaster on hand and the only way to avert a citywide take over by this mutant cheese is to enlist the help of its citizens to track its origin and defeat it through a Genentech antidote — one that can only be created by playing Genentech’s special iPad game to save the city.

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yu-kai chou gamification revolution

Yu-Kai Chou on Octalysis and Gamification Design Principles

Ivan Kuo11 mins

The Gamification Revolution is the only live gamification webcast featuring Gabe Zichermann and fellow gamification experts every week. Be sure to catch our next episode on Thursday, October 17 at 1PM ET/1800 GMT, where we will feature GSummit Global speaker and Nissan’s Creative Director of GT Academy, Karl Dunn

Remember you can participate in the show if you sign-in and RSVP! Signing in will allow you to receive show reminders, ask questions, and even join Gabe and our guest for a live question.

In last week’s show we had prominent gamification community figure, Yu-Kai Chou to join us on our show. They spoke about Yu-Kai’s Octalysis gamification framework, long-term effects of motivation with white hat vs black hat gamification, and a discussion into why “serious games suck”.

Watch the full interview below:



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Time to Overhaul Your Loyalty Program? 7 Steps to Long-Term Success

Sallie Burnett18 mins

It might be. A loyalty program is not something that you do once, flip a switch and set it on autopilot. If you’re not regularly reviewing and refining your customer loyalty program then you may be long overdue for a loyalty program audit.

A loyalty audit is a non-biased look at your company’s loyalty program to ensure that the program is working. Saks Fifth Avenue Refreshes SaksFirst, Overstock.com, Marriott Rewards and others have updated their loyalty programs in 2013.

Here are seven factors you can evaluate to ensure that your program continues to grow and be successful over the long-term.

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half the sky

Half the Sky: Lessons from Games for Change on Social Good Games

Ivan Kuo02 mins

How much impact can a social good game possibly have? According to Games for Change president, Asi Burak, the results may surprise you.

Half the Sky is a movement based on the award winning and bestselling book that is poised to take the world of social movements by storm. Working with the authors and international celebrities, the Games for Change organization, led by Asi Burak and Michelle Byrd, has built a coalition aimed at using gamification to empower women and girls. From his years of experience in the field, Asi will share how to build broad support for large-scale gamified projects, and what every organization needs to know as it embarks on this transformative path.

Watch Asi’s full GSummit SF 2013 talk below and learn what it takes to make a game with social impact.

Also, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get the latest videos from GSummit SF 2013 as they’re released. You can also download a copy of this presentation by downloading it here.

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