Curiosity = Loyalty3

cu·ri·os·i·ty - noun
1. A strong desire to know or learn something.
2. A strange or unusual object or fact
3. An app that has hooked over 500k people

That last point is strongly linked to points 1 & 2 and also provides some interesting lessons for loyalty programme design.

In case you missed it, Curiosity is a new iOS and Android app in which people slowly destroy layers of a huge cube with the mission to reveal what's inside.  It's like a multi-player pass the parcel in which there can only be one winner.


The cube is apparently made up of 64 billion tiny blocks which users have to destroy one block at a time until a single layer is completely removed and then they begin on the next layer.

Thats it - In terms of gameplay, it could be argued that it's a little lacking.

However, if thats all you got from it - a Zen like feeling from destroying blocks and making patterns in them - then I can't imagine it would be anywhere near as popular as it is.  Instead, the game locks onto some powerful gaming mechanics employed by more complex ecosystems like Farmville to provide a rewarding and addictive experience.

These can be summarised as:-

• Social - Everyone taking part - like a shared experience.  Connect it with your Facebook account and you can see how your friends are doing.
• Reward - There is something to aim for even though no one knows what that something is.
• Gamified - There is skill involved and you can "level up" to get a perceived advantage.  Destroying more blocks earns coins and these in turn can be traded for tools to destroy even more blocks.

It's these 3 points combined that make Curiosity both an interesting take of gameplay as well as a great model for Social Loyalty.

People will download and play with the app for different reasons, either because they've heard about it and are curious (social element) or are intrigued by the possibility of the final prize (reward).

Whichever path brings them into the app, both then play a part in retaining them.

The "gamified" element though is also very important in keeping people playing - essentially keeping them loyal.  Users will very quickly tire of simply destroying blocks one at a time.  Instead, by recognising their activity and rewarding this with coins that in turn can be used to purchase tools to increase their activity, Curiosity is looking to maintain "flow" in the gameplay.  Keeping users somewhere between boredom and anxiety.

This is enhanced further, as these additional tools give users an advantage over others, something expressed within the social element by being able to compare your stats to friends.  Solo gameplay is rarely as rewarding as that played against others.

Just using these 3 simple mechanics, Curiosity shows us in a stripped back, minimalist way how to engage and harness peoples attention.  There's no fields to plough, crops to plant or farms to build - it's as basic as it gets, and yet it still works.

The lesson for us in loyalty is that it's not about how complex your programme is or how many rewards it has - it's all about the design and how this too can engage and harness the customers attention.

Many loyalty programmes today are one dimensional - simply using rewards as the mechanic to drive people forward.  Increasingly though Social Loyalty programmes look to harness the power of social currency as expressed and magnified through a gamified experience to add depth to the programme and turn into into a more rounded, 3-dimensional experience.

It's Loyalty³.

Snow? When all about you is white – where is the purple cow?

For those that don't know, we've had snow in the UK - and not just a dusting, we've had inches of snow – and inevitably it has made the country grind to a halt with schools closing and roads un-passable. Now we're told that local authorities are running out of grit and salt for keeping the roads clear. We're simply not used to having severe weather in Britain – everything is normally middle of the road – not too hot, not too wet, not too cold, not too windy.

Now generally we're quite happy with middle of the road – it's normal, it's unsurprising, it's comfortable. When the weather does change though we get excited about it – we like things that are out of the ordinary. When we get snow, the TV news seems to dedicate 90% of their time to it and if it's hot for just a few days the newspapers are full of headlines like "Britain Sizzles in Heat Wave". However, give it a week and everyone is fed up – the snow becomes an inconvenience and we just want things back to normal. When it's too hot we dream of a little cloud just to cool things down a bit and maybe some rain to save the lawn.

Things that are out of the ordinary catch our attention but can then very quickly become everyday and passé – we become comfortable with them and don't even notice they are there.

Marketing guru and blogger Seth Godin discusses this subject in his new book Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable. He describes a situation where when driving through France they saw field upon field of picturesque cows grazing by the roadside – saying it was like something out of story book. Now ignoring the obvious question this raises about the UK dairy industry and where the heck did all our cows go, he then writes that within 20 minutes this once fascinating scene became common – boring even. You've seen one cow you've seen one hundred – however what would have been interesting he states would have been a Purple Cow.

Now you can almost picture this – driving along seeing field upon field of brown cows and then suddenly a Purple Cow appears – that would capture your attention – it may even make you stop what you're doing. Seth describes this as the new marketing "P". Previously marketers were dealing with Product, Price, Place, Promotion (and a host of other P related words for 5 Ps, 7 Ps, etc.) but he argues that the Purple Cow "P" represents something "Remarkable" – going on to argue that Remarkable Marketing is the art of building things worth noticing into your product or service. He says "Something remarkable is worth talking about. Worth noticing. Exceptional. Interesting. New. It's a Purple Cow. Boring stuff is invisible. It's a brown cow."

In a small way I thought I spotted a Purple Cow today. I received an email from UK clothing brand Next with the title "Snowed In? Shop Men's New Arrivals" and this really peaked my interest – it seemed relevant – it was snowing outside and they knew this and had seemed to have quickly made their communication relevant to me. Unfortunately on opening the email it fell down completely – the content was obviously not themed around the title and I very quickly lost interest. Now I know that typically email campaigns are planned weeks ahead and the content needs to be developed and approved before it can finally arrive in my in-box, however what it showed me was that to really peak someone's interest a communication needs to be relevant and quite often relevance will be time related – what is relevant today (a snow related email) will not be relevant next week when it has all melted (I hope).

Slapping a last minute "Snowed in?" at the front of a standard email isn't relevance – it made me open it I grant you – but it actually disappointed me more as it smacked of "lipstick on a pig" – not that their overall email was that bad, it just wasn't what I was expecting and wasn't relevant.

Standing out from the crowd can be a scary prospect though - it may require risky and new approaches - dare I say... innovation - and in these uncertain times this is something many brands are shying away from. Instead they are going with the tried and tested methods they have used before.

Tom Fishburne picked up on this theme in his blog entry "Blend into the herd" where he said that the first projects to get cut are the speculative ones - the innovative ones - as brands attempt to batten down the hatches. Instead though he points out that forward thinking brands should see this as an opportunity - as all around are trying to blend into the herd the ones which can react the quickest and offer something truly unique have the potential to not only survive but to thrive.

If marketers want to gain attention at a time when people are increasingly overwhelmed with information and are filtering out messages more and more then the message needs to be remarkable – it needs to stand out from the crowd – it needs to make me stop what I'm doing - it needs to be a Purple Cow.

Social Currency Marketing

What do erotic balloon animals and dancing commuters have in common?

They have both been used by brands to provide a social currency which can be exchanged for consumer attention.

As more and more information is created, we struggle to consume it and so give it less and less attention. Simon Herbert first talked of this issue in 1971 when he stated that "a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention". It's ironic though that with all the demands on what is essentially a scarce resource – our attention – we choose to become ever closer and more connected by streaming information on each other through tools like Twitter or Facebook.

But is this really so surprising? As we are increasingly bombarded by external media with its demands on our time and attention aren't we simply forming a virtual "circle of wagons" – huddling together with those we trust (or would like to trust) to present a united front against the wider world.

This does though create a challenging opportunity for information providers - they might have to fight harder for the attention of consumers in the first place, but once they get it from a small number then it can spread like wild fire through the most effective peer-to-peer word of mouth "recommendation" in a matter of minutes. Using this blog as an example, I saw a 700% increase in visits in just one day when one of my articles got linked to someone's status update within twitter - much of that coming within just a couple of hours. And I wasn't even trying.

For a brand that is trying to find ways of breaking into these ever tighter virtual communities a commodity exchange is required that takes them from external threat (or worse still, a nonentity!) to a trusted (or at least accepted) insider. Continuing the analogy of the early pioneers, brands are finding things to trade. And where in the late 1700's it was mirrors, nails and buttons – in the 21st century the shiny objects are access, entertainment and kudos – creating essentially a social currency.

Looking at the recent viral campaign from Durex it's clear to see how this provided a valuable exchange – the video is extremely funny, and for those finding it first and forwarding it on to their friends, there's an element of kudos.

Durex have created an item to trade with potential and existing consumers which gives them access to a viral community and to a share of that most scarce resource – attention. In getting that attention they will have generated unexpected awareness and doubtless approval, as well as reminding people of a brand which of late may have been seen as less relevant than its competitors.

Mobile telco brands have really embraced this. In the UK, T-Mobile recently created an advert set in Liverpool Street railway station, with dancers mixed amongst the commuters who suddenly start dancing. This really captured the imagination of those who were there - sharing the event via their mobile and the video itself being posted to YouTube and receiving over 1.3m hits. With the strap line "Life's for Sharing" its clear they are trying to capture a share of consumers attention with something that can be talked about and traded.

The issue with these types of campaign is that although it breaks into the consumers consciousness, it is very quickly replaced by the next 'cool thing'. By its very nature it's difficult to maintain this kind of awareness through viral activity as the nature of this kind of interaction is that it is always looking for the next new thing, the next cool thing. Repetition is impossible – it's unremarkable – it's 'has-been', or worse still 'me-too' if you're the competitor brand.

Another way of gaining access to these hard to reach consumers is to not try and break in at all but instead to become part of their everyday life. Looking at another mobile operator O2, they have done this through their £6m per year rebranding of the Millennium Dome in the UK to the O2. This has allowed them to provide "access" for its customers such as priority booking for shows – allowing bookings 48 hours before non O2 customers - as well as bringing exclusive entertainment to their phones. They back this activity up with the ability to gain 4 free SIMS, allowing customers to introduce and share O2 with their friends.

With the Orange Wednesday promotion in the UK which provides 2 for 1 cinema tickets every Wednesday for Orange customers, this mobile telco operator has found an innovative way to really become part of their customer's everyday life whilst ensuring that their friends are introduced to the brand as well – providing a social currency through free films. This connection between their customer and their social network really does tie into everything they do, from the inclusion of free Facebook within their Dolphin package to the recent rebranding of Orange around the "I am" theme which focuses on how peoples social connections make up all that they are.

It's clear that brands are increasingly understanding that in the fight for a consumers attention they need to think not just about the consumer themselves, but all of the people they interact with and need to provide some form of social currency which can be traded in exchange for attention – whether this is erotic balloon animals, dancing commuters or free films.

As the recent Orange campaign says "I am who I am because of everyone".