Success Story
“We needed something that was both informative and engaging to raise awareness of the vast opportunities that the data and marketing industry holds.”
Kate Burnett, General Manager of DMA Talent
Total Sessions
4,500
Opt-ins to Talent comms increase
300%
Time spent per visit
02:12
The Data & Marketing Association (DMA) is a not-for-profit trade association representing the UK data and marketing industry. Through its Talent division, it’s goal is to attract a new generation of fresh thinkers by raising industry awareness and showcasing the sector’s inspiring and dynamic range of career opportunities. The data and marketing industry’s wide range of careers and job types are currently not well known to many students across the UK. To raise awareness, the DMA created an interactive quiz, using personality-based questioning, to help emerging talent better understand what role and career path might be right for them.
Users can explore a series of scenario and personality-based questions, helping them to understand what job types their qualities will be best suited to. It will then highlight what qualities, skills, and tasks are required from an array of job types, from marketing and event executives, to copywriters and data analysts. Using case studies and video interviews, the quiz will allow the next generation of talent to see through the eyes of current industry professionals in their respective roles.
The DMA wanted to create a hub to help those making choices about their early-stage career to better understand what marketing as a profession has to offer, guide them through the types of roles available and match those that would be a good fit. The challenge was that just because you build software, there is no guarantee that users will engage with it ! So, the DMA wanted to find a unique, engaging way to draw people in, to create excitement whilst also providing something that was useful and valuable to the individual.
To achieve this the DMA decided that gamification was a perfect tool to help them grab attention and be the gateway to more in-depth content. The game format selected was a ‘personality’ style quiz. Utilising Playable’s marketing gamification platform, the ‘What type of marketer are you?’ quiz was developed. Using the DMA’s bespoke look and feel, the quiz asked about attitudes, opinions and how you acted in certain situations and drawing these traits together gave the participant a persona appropriate to their answers. The persona types were built on research previously undertaken by the DMA which highlighted key skills, and included profiles such as Communicator, Creative, Persuader, Thinker, Explorer and Organiser. Each of these personas led participants to the types of roles that would be most applicable within the industry.
As mentioned, a priority of DMA Talent is to usher in the next generation of talent into the industry. They do this by building relationships with education providers and businesses to deliver relevant content and introduce apprenticeships for those who don’t want to go through university. This also creates different kinds of opportunities and ways to enter the data and marketing industry.
Gamification and the Playable platform offered the DMA a relevant way to engage their target audience, capture their attention, and do so in a meaningful and educational way. The personality test ‘What type of marketer are you?’ also enabled the DMA to educate their target audience on how their aptitudes and traits can be used as a marketer, as well as introduce them to the wide-ranging opportunities that exist within the industry.
Gamification also works for the DMA because they consider the whole journey that their audience goes through; the personality test is not just a one-off. It is a gateway for the DMA’s audience to learn about their traits and skills, and it also created an opportunity for the DMA to encourage young people to become members of the association, starting them on their marketing career journey from ‘Classroom to Boardroom’. This was done in part by the player learning about their marketer profile ‘type’, and at the same time, being informed about the services offered by the DMA.
“With youth employment hit hard due to the coronavirus epidemic, DMA Talent and the DMA’s B2B Council were keen to support young talent at a crossroads in their career. We needed something that was both informative and engaging to raise awareness of the vast opportunities that the data and marketing industry holds. By working with Playable, we were able to bring this interactive quiz to life and ensure that it will really resonate with students, ” Kate Burnett, General Manager of DMA Talent
“With youth employment hit hard due to the coronavirus epidemic, DMA Talent and the DMA’s B2B Council were keen to support young talent at a crossroads in their career. We needed something that was both informative and engaging to raise awareness of the vast opportunities that the data and marketing industry holds. By working with Playable, we were able to bring this interactive quiz to life and ensure that it will really resonate with students, ”
Through purely organic marketing channels the reach and level of interaction with the quiz has been outstanding. To date, over 4,500 people have taken the quiz, raising awareness amongst the target audience to an unprecedented level. In addition to the interactions with the quiz, DMA Talent also saw a dramatic increase in opt-ins – a 300% increase was observed when compared with the opt-in rates from other marketing activities targeting this audience. In addition, on average, people engaged with the quiz for 2:12 minutes, significantly surpassing industry average engagement time for any digital content (which is a mere 15 seconds source: Chartbeat).
But the campaign didn’t just grab the attention of students, it also received PR coverage from leading industry publications including the likes of Marketing Week, Research Live and B2B Marketing. The DMA also saw an increase in interest from more experienced marketing professionals, including examples of them sharing their results from the quiz online and challenging their peers to take the quiz.
The DMA’s new opt-ins have been added into communications allowing DMA Talent to build long-term relationships, share industry best practice, and promote the value of DMA Student Membership.
The DMA is just getting started using the power of gamification and has already begun using the format as part of its live event strategy. A natural next step would be to continue to increase the audience reach for the existing quiz and investigate how the many other game mechanics available at the Playable platform could fit into their overall Talent strategy.
The DMA is the UK trade association for the data and marketing industry led by customer-first principles and a Code of ethics. The DMA has over 1,000 member organisations across the UK and almost a century of experience pioneering approaches in industry. Through the IDM, it continues to drive for marketing excellence through development and learning opportunities. DMA Talent’s range of initiatives is inspiring the next generation into the data and marketing industry to help meet the needs of today and tomorrow.
The DMA offers access to industry-leading events, the latest insight, advocacy, legal support and guidance. It anticipates and campaigns for the needs of the data and marketing industry through its close relationship with government and regulators. From the classroom to the boardroom, the DMA is driving the force of intelligent marketing, moving the data and marketing industry forward – for the good of marketers, businesses and most importantly, customers.
“The Playable platform has given us a clear competitive advantage. Without it, the campaign would have taken too much time, been too difficult, and we would have risked operational problems and breakdowns during the campaign. With the platform it all works – I don’t have to worry at all.”