Singaporean startup out to change advertising in Asia with in-store games

Every year, corporations spend billions of dollars on ads. We see them everywhere – on billboards, on our TV and mobile screens, and on the buses and trains we take when we travel. Yet how many of those actually stick or translate into sales?

A startup from Singapore wants to reinvent advertising in Asia in a way that will most certainly keep consumers engaged with brands: through gaming kiosks.

Ksubaka, formerly playTMN, built touchscreen kiosks called “PlaySpots” that are strategically located in supermarkets, hypermarkets, and other stores – right where consumers are making purchasing decisions.

‘Moments of joy’

Currently rolled out in Singapore and Beijing, the PlaySpots run mini-games where brand messages are embedded.

Every game played is counted as a “moment of joy,” Ksubaka’s own term that means consumer engagement in advertising lingo.

Many of the games offer rewards and carry an offline-to-online component (O2O), meaning that once you’ve successfully completed a game, you may connect your phone to the PlaySpot (through a WeChat QR code or your mobile number) and extend the experience to mobile. On your phone, you can collect a reward or a coupon, or link to brands’ social networks.

“We started Ksubaka with the idea that advertising did not need to be interruptive and a nuisance. By using known play patterns, there is a form of content people actually enjoy and is effective,” says founder Julian Corbett.

If you still can’t picture it, let’s look at a campaign Ksubaka designed for Nescafe. In the game, you’re asked to prepare cups of coffee for you and your friend. There are three Nescafe cups shuffling. A teaspoon pours the Nescafe in one cup, they shuffle, and you’re asked to guess which cup has the coffee in it. The kettle pours the water and the camera swings up to reveal (if you guessed correctly) a perfect cup of coffee. You then prepare one for your friend where the cups shuffle faster.

After playing, you’re brought to the reward page that shows Nescafe’s TV campaign and you get to enter your number to join in a lucky draw.

Sometimes, a survey about the campaign or brand pops up. Because consumers are already engaged in the kiosk, up to 50 percent of those presented with the survey fill it out, notes Julian.

Rich data

The data from the survey and other campaign metrics generated through Ksubaka are what makes it most attractive to advertisers. No wonder the company has landed deals with big brands such as Coca-Cola, Clear, Colgate, Dove, Head & Shoulders, Heineken, Kellogg’s, Oreo, Sunsilk, and Wall’s Ice Cream – apart from Nescafe.

Because you cannot fake play and it generates rich data, it delivers unparalleled results for brands in-store, the location where US$24 trillion is spent annually.

Fun pushes sales higher

Conquering Asia