Flash Coffee partners with Storms to level up its app’s gamification this Lunar New Year

This post is sponsored by Storms.

The pandemic has accelerated digital adoption at the individual, organisational and industry level – which has naturally led to most marketers focusing on online marketing over the past two years. 

With more people increasingly leaving their homes, marketers have to creatively balance their offline and online strategies. 

For tech-enabled coffee chain Flash Coffee, gamified omni-channel marketing is the way forward to meaningfully address this challenge.

The opportunity to engage diverse users

Gamification has long been a core part of the Flash Coffee mobile app, as all users can earn and accumulate loyalty points, as well as participate in challenges to win exclusive benefits. 

These types of gamification mechanics have enabled Flash Coffee to retain frequent customers, as they involve customers making a few transactions to earn rewards. However, through Flash Coffee’s partnership with Storms, the coffee chain is able to effectively engage new and offline customers.

“We wanted to test the impact of gamifying our app to reward every purchase so all users can engage with us, regardless of where they are in their Flash Coffee customer journey,” said Krshna Prashant (pictured below), head of marketing at Flash Coffee Singapore.

Krshna Prashant, Head of Marketing at Flash Coffee Singapore, talked
about the company’s gamification journey. (Credit: Flash Coffee)

“Flash Coffee has always believed in the merits of gamification, and our partnership with Storms allows us to leverage on its expertise by choosing from various game formats and rewards mechanics that are tried and tested to work.”

Rolling out a gamification strategy regionally

With its eyes set on accelerating its expansion across Asia, Flash Coffee worked with Storms to identify a gaming solution that could be easily adapted by other markets across the region.

The ease of implementation was also key for Flash Coffee, as it had decided this Lunar New Year festive season was the right time for it to spread the joy with more users via the new gamification feature.

Recalling how the journey from ideation to the implementation stage has been, Prashant shared: “Our Lunar New Year campaign was initially meant solely for Singapore, but it was eventually expanded into other markets. Despite the short turnaround time, the Storms team was quick to localise the gamification feature for each market effectively.”

Shn Juay, VP of Product and Marketing at Storms, shared about how Storms works with clients
to scale their growth with gamification. (Credit: Storms)

Besides being localised to the local markets, the gamification feature is also tailored to serve both Flash Coffee’s customers, who have installed its app, and those who have not.

The existing Flash Coffee mobile app users can simply access it within their app. Those who have not had the app on their mobile phone, on the other hand, can ask the baristas at any of Flash Coffee’s physical stores for the QR code to access it after they have made a purchase, earning exciting rewards within seconds, and then redeeming them at their convenience via the Flash Coffee mobile app.

“We work closely with our clients, including Flash Coffee, from day one – from coming up with the gamification ideas that best suit their objectives, crafting data-driven game campaigns with a set of measurable user/campaign metrics, to providing regular reporting and reviews on the key milestones and progress for accountability purposes,” said Shn Juay (pictured above), vice-president of product and marketing at Storms.

“This, coupled with our strong talent, gaming prowess and intellectual properties, puts Storms at a competitive advantage in the gamification field.”

The story behind the game

The new gamification feature that came to life on the Flash Coffee app might appear modest at first glance – it comes in the form of a Flash Coffee-themed spin-the-wheel game that rewards users with the prize their arrow points out to.

Flash Coffee-themed spin-the-wheel game launches this Lunar New Year and offers
daily attractive prizes until 31 March 2022 (Credit: Flash Coffee)

Sharing the rationale behind the choice, Juay said: “Spin-the-wheel did not become a big hit for no reason. This game gets people excited as there is an equal mix of anticipation and competitive element to score the best landing, especially when there are attractive prizes to win. It also requires little time investment from the users’ end due to its easy-to-play nature.

“With this game’s characteristics in mind, we are confident this game will contribute to helping Flash Coffee achieve its objectives as customers will feel motivated to download its mobile app to claim the rewards that they have earned, or repeat purchases while their rewards are still valid.”

What’s next

With the successful launch of its spin-the-wheel game, Flash Coffee plans to continue to invest in rewarding its customers through gamification.

Commenting on the next campaign that Storms will be working on with the Flash Coffee team, Juay shared: “There is no one-size-fits-all for gamification. To make gamification effective, marketers have to understand their target audiences’ motivation, what they appreciate and will be able to relate to.”

Marketers can find out more information about the work that Storms does on its website, and get in touch with its partnerships team to discuss how Storms’ gaming solutions can empower their businesses at partnerships@storms.com.