Insurance in advertising games and serious games

Aware of this potential, numerous economic players have invested in this medium.

The insurance theme, being universal, has been naturally boosted in this recreational universe.

Tapping into gaming by the insurance business is just starting as it now turns towards augmented reality and virtual reality.

Insurance and advert gaming

An advertgame is a game that includes advert references designed to promote a given brand. This kind of medium, based on entertainment, makes it possible to capture prospects by means other than traditional media.

Advert gaming showcases several advantages:

• It increases brand exposure time by several dozen minutes,
• It makes consumers active, putting in place gradual commitment mechanisms whereby networking is carried out directly by means of dialogue boxes in a video game,
• It may establish a direct communication channel with consumers, enabling them to share their opinion about the brand.

In this category of game, the ”Trivial” rank high. Convivial Assurance Gan [5] published in 2002 by French insurer GAN, stands as its perfect representative. The game, involving no more than six partners, is more particularly designed for professionals. It comprises 330 question/answer cards on the subjects of History/Geography, Legal/Insurance, General background knowledge, Economy and Insurance.

As in every trivial worthy of respect, the player is provided with a collector that fills in with every good answer given. The topic of the questions depends on the color of the space where the player’s pawn is located. The first player having filled his or her collector is the winner of the game.

Players keen on immersive experiences will have to resort to Insure! [6]. This board game propels players at the top of an American surety insurance company struggling with the hazards of the local and federal economic policies.

The players would be seeking municipal bonds in order to snatch juicy insurance contracts. Issuers, with risky profile, pay more premiums but remain further susceptible to be defaulting, thus compelling players to put their hands in their pockets. Each player’s cashflow evolves as macro-economic events unfold, the latter being randomly picked from a pack of cards. The issuers’ risk profile is determined based on the same principle by means of dice throwing.

Insure! is edited by AMBAC a leading player on the markets of municipal bonds in the United States. The game has thus this particularity to place players directly right in the middle of the brand’s profession.

Online games are also another category sought after by advert gaming. The Longevity Game [7], available on the website of American insurer Northwest Mutual, has been under the spotlight of mainstream media as of 2007. Under the cover of a small flash application, the insurer has tackled the topic of life expectancy, estimated according to the history and life choices of internet users.

Sonpo24, subsidiary of Japanese giant Sompo, specialized in motor insurance, allied in 2008 with editor IDAC to produce Hana Koala Escape [8], an escape game, free of charge and designed in flash for PC computers.

Escape game is a particular kind whereby players find themselves confined in a room and faced with a number of puzzles that they have to resolve in order to find their way out. In Hana Koala Escape, players wake up to find themselves locked in a room after losing their way in a car on a stormy day.

The mechanics of Escape Game works well because the room where the character evolves displays an assisting device both minimal and adequate for the experience. The confidential setting and the mystery associated with the situation can only increase the addictive power of the game.

Just like movies, reference to the brand is meticulously placed. Advertising messages may appear when an electronic equipment of the house is turned on for example.

American insurer Progressive has followed in the footsteps of other players on the market with numerous games that can be played directly in the web navigator. This is how games such Operation Discounts!, Troubling Times in the Kingdown [9] and Superstore Shuffle were issued in the 2010s where the insurer exhibits his famous Flo mascot on stage.

Due to their platform configuration, applications stores on cellular phones are for insurers an additional relay to launch production. American motor insurer GEICO, in the middle of a commercial faceoff with Progressive, gets the edge in 2012 with the driving game GEICO Tricky Traffic [10].

European groups have also been in the race, with French insurer AXA innovating in 2011 with its three dimensional game Pass It On! [11]. In order to raise awareness of customers about domestic accidents, MMA insurance group issued in 2014 La Famille Zerodégat [12] Damage-free Household), a replica of the famous advert slogan “Zéro tracas, zero blabla” (No worry, no fury).

Advert gaming is also found in software platforms where brand products may be integrated as additional content.

The most astounding example in this regard is the partnership brokered in 2010 between Farmers Insurance and Zynga, developer of the simulation game of agricultural insurance Farmville [13]. The agreement enables American insurer to sell through the game agricultural insurance in order to protect the crops of the players.

Still in search for new aids, Progressive Insurance would come up with an add-on of this category in 2012 for the life simulator Sims Social on Facebook, followed in 2013 by an extension for the famous city builder SimCity.

Generally, social networks are an interesting base for advert games as they are adapted to short sessions and as they have a viral effect within circles of friends. That is how several productions have seen the light of day during the 2010s (Route-Rageou [14]s, Lock-a-door [15], etc.). Today, media are attracting new simple experiences such as the ones requiring minimum knowledge (quiz, contest games, etc.)

Insurance and serious games

Serious games are games integrating classical gameplay mechanics whereby entertainment does not stand as a major goal. These products, oftentimes meticulously made, are designed for teaching or informational purposes.

In the insurance field, they are aimed at the training of corporate staff who can be either in-house collaborators or external elements in case the product is proposed as a service.

AXA Group’s Esprit de Service [16] (Service spirit) stands as a good example for training to the satisfaction of customers. The serious games, issued in-house in 2014, proposes to players 40 situations drawing inspiration from real life. Collaborators train teams, leave some clues and communicate in order to resolve each situation. Esprit de Service accounts for 5 000 learners for 15 000 hours of training.

Furthermore, serious games have proved to be particularly adapted to the development of soft skills. Swiss group La Baloise proposes in this regard cooperation game Sarah's Vision [17].

Sarah's Vision freezes a universe of science fiction whereby the role of the insurer is no longer that of a claim manager but rather that of a highly specialized prevention and security company. Collaborators impersonate the role of special agents tasked to ensure the protection of important personalities.

The game, playing out as the group’s cultural transition project, is entrusted to 100 especially trained collaborators. It is also open for external sessions.