2022
Game as a Communication Platform
Keeping track of electricity prices and saving on electricity has become a popular pastime. Andel Energy can attest to this. The energy company with over 1.2 million customers has experienced in 2022 how Danes are particularly concerned about what they pay for their electricity when prices rise and fall more than ever before.
But even though prices are rising, there are thankfully many ways to save money on electricity. In addition to remembering to turn off electrical appliances when not in use, there can be many savings to be had by keeping an eye on electricity prices and using electricity during the times of day when the price is lowest. But everything is of course a balance, because we shouldn't end up sitting in the dark and waiting to cook dinner and enjoy time in front of the TV with family until the middle of the night, just because the electricity price has dropped at that time.
This is the core of the game "Familien Strøm" that Dwarf has developed for Andel Energi.
The Task
Andel Energi wanted a new format for brand activation. Something that involves and engages customers and leads, makes them smarter about their electricity consumption, and helps them save on electricity in the right places.
The Solution
The solution was a game where the goal is to keep the mood high for “Familien Strøm”, who like everyone else uses electricity for cooking, washing clothes, entertainment, and much more. The mood in the family should be kept high as long as possible while electricity consumption must be limited and optimized within a fixed budget. The game ends when the budget is used up or when a member of “Familien Strøm” becomes sufficiently dissatisfied.
The game includes a learning component in the form of an energy quiz that appears several times during the game. What temperature should your refrigerator be set at? What does it cost approximately to dry clothes in a dryer? And what does the term net rate actually cover? A correct answer to a quiz question triggers an upgrade of one of “Familien Strøms” electrical appliances.
The game was created in collaboration with our partner company Benny Box . Benny Box helped with all illustrations and animations, while Dwarf designed elements of the game, built the game platform and backend solution, and set up a tracking and marketing automation setup. The game is built on our own Rama.js framework and the framework is built on PIXI.js, which constitutes the foundation of several of our games for DR Ramasjang, such as Rosa's Neighborhood.
The game uses real electricity prices to provide a realistic experience of reality. The day-night cycle experienced in the game matches reality, although the tempo of time has been accelerated and a day in the game takes 2-3 minutes.
Andel Energi can edit and update the quiz questions, answers, and explanations themselves in a simple Laravel Nova database. Here they also have access to user feedback and general statistics, which can be used to further develop the game. Agillic is used as the platform in the accompanying marketing automation flow, which handles invitations, reminders, and re-activation for each new draw with player names and current position on the high score list as the personalized element.
The game is built modular, allowing the game engine to be reused for other campaigns throughout the year. The house, game characters, electrical appliances, consumption per hour, etc., are components that can be changed or adjusted continuously. In this way, the game should not pay for itself in a single Christmas month but instead, be seen as a communication platform that is activated in connection with selected campaigns. Thus, the game becomes a new element in Andel Energi's overall branding and communication to the market.
The Result
The target audience is broad and includes both the 1.2 million Andel Energi’s customers and all the remaining Danish households that want to learn more about their energy habits.
From December 5th to the end of the Christmas month, over 100,000 people have tried the game and the players who dominate the high-score list have played between 80 and 130 times each. The accompanying email campaign had a click-through rate (CTR) of 31.1%, and over 18,850 people participated in the associated competition and gave full permission or upgraded their existing permission to Andel Energi.
The game continues to run at a low level until the next campaign.
"The entire team at Dwarf has been highly engaged throughout the project and has taken a strong interest in meeting our needs. They have been able to turn a complex topic like energy into a game universe that is both entertaining and educational for our customers. And we can confidently conclude that the game and the launch of a Christmas version of the game has been a great success. We have received over 700 positive comments from customers who have played, achieved far higher participation than we dared to hope for, and tripled our expectations for permissions through the game."
Anne Bunch-Poulsen
Dialogue Specialist at Andel Energi
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Anne Bunch-Poulsen
Dialogue Specialist at Andel EnergiPeople
Team
Sune Helin Johnsen
Data & Insights Lead
Simon Christiansen
Frontend Developer
Other work
DR Ramasjang
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