Gamification [MUSIC] GABE ZICHERMANN: Our brains are wired in a very specific way, which is called intrinsic reinforcement. And how it works is any time you challenge yourself to something and then you achieve that thing, your brain secrets a little bit of this magic neurotransmitter called "dopamine." And dopamine is sort of like -- it's a little bit of a high, but it also makes you want to do that thing again. So, challenge, achievement, dopamine. INTERVIEWER: And experts like Gabe Zichermann began to proselytize about how marketers can take the best ideas from games and apply them to shopping. GABE ZICHERMANN: In a game setting, that challenge-achievement loop is done hundreds of times per hour. In contrast, in the real world and most of the things that people do, whether that's work or buying stuff, there's very little of that. We've actually taken all the challenge out of most things, so we're not getting that dopamine rush. INTERVIEWER: Marketers realize that if they could inject the same excitement and compulsion into their products, they could dramatically increase sales. So they began to look at ways of using gaming techniques such as rewards, levels, and achievements to sell us everything from running shoes to groceries. This cereal, Krave, has its own gaming app. Pirates of the Caribbean comes with its own rewards scheme. And these sausages have their own Facebook page. This technique became known as "gamification." Manufacturers use it to create stickiness with the product and the brand. MAN 1 VOICE OVER: We got six chances, so here we go. INTERVIEWER: McDonald's Monopoly is one example. It looks like a simple tear and win game, but to make it more compulsive, players needed to collect all the properties on the Monopoly board to win the jackpot. McDonald's had turned a visit to their restaurant into a game. GABE ZICHERMANN: In the United States, that game which is played for 1 month a year every year for the last 10 years is responsible singlehandedly for an increase of about 3% in same store sales in the United States alone. So this game alone is worth nearly three quarters of a billion dollars in revenue to McDonald's. MAN 1 VOICE OVER: Guess what? I am a winner today. That's right. I just won a medium order of French Fries. GABE ZICHERMANN: Every other company on Earth is trying to get you to spend money and they're putting all their effort into getting you to spend your money on stuff all the time and gamification is one of the tools that companies might use to accomplish their goals. Just like they incorporated television advertising 50 years ago, gamification is the new tool set. INTERVIEWER: So fun isn't this frivolous thing at all, it's actually a hard-nosed currency for selling now. GABE ZICHERMANN: Make no mistake, the house always wins and that's a key thing for consumers to understand. This thing that's fun and engaging and useful, they're paying for that one way or the other, whether that's in cash or time. INTERVIEWER: Business had learned from selling to children how the adult market could be turned into a game. But there was another childish trait which business needed to tease out of adults. BENJAMIN BARBER: The trouble with adult consumers is they think too much. They walk down there and they say, "I don't think I really need that. I think I'll put off that shoe purchase until next week." That's the last thing that those who sell to consumers want, that kind of reflective, deliberative approach. They'd much rather have adults go in and say, "Oh look at that! I want it, I want it now," like a child.