Tuesday, August 5, 2014

3 Concepts FLAPPY BIRD Can Teach You about Perseverance for Your Brand

Flappy Bird is the latest brand to break through the clutter and become a full-fledged trend. Many brands try to achieve this sort of success, but few actually do. Flappy Bird is everywhere. No matter which social media network or website someone visits, they are sure to hear about this game that has taken the public's imagination. How did an independent mobile game from a single developer in Vietnam become a global sensation? There are many lessons that can be learned from the success of Flappy Birds. The most important lesson it teaches is one of brand perseverance.

Keep Things Simple

Any brand that wants to persevere in today's crowded market needs to keep things simple. Flappy Bird is the height of simplicity. The bird gains speed going downward and can flap up to the same height. The horizontal speed of the bird stays at a constant rate. The bird must fly through pipes that are different heights. They have constant horizontal distance and vertical clearance. These simple game mechanics were earring the developer Mr. Nguyen a cool $50,000 per day before he pulled the game off of the Apple and Google mobile app stores because it was too addictive.
Detail and complexity can bog down a brand. People want brands with clear messages. After they have seen the brand a few times, it gets stuck in their heads and becomes a part of their lives. Every brand that wants to persevere in today's competitive and over-saturated market must keep their brands simple and bold like Flappy Birds.

Hit A Nerve

Flappy Bird didn't just become a global sensation by accident. This game was able to hit a nerve with people that got them excited. Flappy Bird hit this nerve by being incredibly difficult to play. It would routinely take people several minutes of play just to get through the first pipe. A game like this inspires hatred in frustrated players. Hate is good because it inspires people to post comments on the Internet. Brands that get more comments get more attention. People who are unfamiliar with Flappy Bird think that there must be something to this game if so many people are posting about it across the Internet. However, the difficult of play had the added benefit of driving players to continue trying until they can get those birds through the pipes and make it to the next level. Once they beat a level,
players get a huge rush. Companies that can translate these principles to their own brands and hit a nerve with consumers are sure to enjoy great brand perseverance.

Engender Compulsion

Flappy Birds compelled people to play. People were completely unable to put down the game. They kept thinking that maybe they would be able to get through that pipe if they just play one more game. This continued over and over. This compulsion is what inspired its creator to pull his game off of the app store. The game was totally addictive. Brands that offer compelling reasons for customers to keep coming back again and again will enjoy brand perseverance for a long time to come. Some good ways to inspire brand compulsion are by using promotional discounts, drip email campaigns, limited time offers and pre-orders.

Flappy Bird may be a very simple video game designed to waste time on mobile phones, but it can teach companies so much when it comes to brand perseverance. This game kept things simple and hit a nerve with its target demographic in order to create compulsion. Companies need to learn from Flappy Bird's example to gain brand perseverance.

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