Success Story
How a Danish Insurance company is achieving remarkable results using gamification to engage both potential customers and current ones.
Marketing for a “low-interest” industry like insurance comes with unique challenges: customers don’t necessarily have a need to engage with them often, and a relationship can be hard to build. Yet, Alka Insurance has found that with the right strategy, even insurance companies can capture attention, drive meaningful interactions and ultimately, increase brand loyalty.
“When customers engage with our Christmas Calendar, they are far less likely to churn. We proved this through an A/B test where 20,000 customers didn’t receive the campaign, and after 3 and 6 months their churn rate was significantly higher. That result alone shows the direct impact gamification has on retention!” Mathias Lykke, Head of Digital Sales at Alka Insurance
“When customers engage with our Christmas Calendar, they are far less likely to churn. We proved this through an A/B test where 20,000 customers didn’t receive the campaign, and after 3 and 6 months their churn rate was significantly higher. That result alone shows the direct impact gamification has on retention!”
Mathias Lykke, Head of Digital Sales at Alka Insurance
Insurance companies like Alka face multiple challenges: low customer interest, a highly competitive market, highly legislated approach when it comes to marketing and promotion, and price-driven purchasing decisions. On top of that, switching providers has never been easier. Online comparison tools make it simple for customers to find the best deal in just a few clicks, making customer loyalty more and more difficult to achieve.
The question for Alka: How do you attract and retain customers in such an environment? How do you build loyalty beyond always offering the lowest prices?
The answer? A sophisticated marketing approach that combines gamification, storytelling, and seasonal campaigns to differentiate themselves from competitors and keep customers engaged.
Alka’s strategy centers on gamification campaigns, such as their Christmas Calendar, Easter game, and Summer quizzes. These campaigns are promoted across multiple channels, including email, social media, radios and banner ads and on-site promotions, driving participants to the iFrame version of the game embedded directly on their website.
Once there, visitors engage with the interactive content, but the impact doesn’t stop at gameplay. Alka has observed that participants tend to stay longer on the website, explore different insurance offerings, and in some cases, convert; whether by requesting a quote or a consultation, updating a policy, or making a purchase.
Alka runs campaigns throughout the year, including their Christmas Calendar, Easter, Summer, and other seasonal initiatives. These campaigns reach audiences when they’re not actively thinking about insurance, helping keep Alka’s brand positive and top-of-mind beyond standard touchpoints like purchasing new insurance or renewing a policy.
Strategically, the prizes used in the games are thoughtfully tailored to each season:
This approach not only generates engagement but also positively shapes how audiences perceive the Alka brand. They are present at key moments, they have prizes that fit the mood, and that are well-known for their Danish audience.
The last piece of the puzzle? Storytelling! Alka created the Juhl family, characters featured across multiple, if not all, their campaigns. The idea was to make the games, and insurance in general more relatable and engaging.
The Juhl family, ranging from Julius, the curious boy, to their mischievous family dog Jazz, is instantly relatable and funny. They are far from perfect and often find themselves in tricky situations. Throughout their adventures, or misadventures, the audience helps them navigate challenges, learning along the way how Alka’s insurance coverage can save the day. By combining humor, relatable scenarios, and educational content, the Juhl family makes insurance both entertaining and memorable, while strengthening the connection between Alka and its customers.
“Because gamification campaigns are so well-rounded, they can achieve multiple goals at once. Take our Christmas Calendar, for example, it had five main objectives, and sales wasn’t even one of them. Yet it helped us gain new marketing permissions, engage our audience during a key seasonal event, create a hook for future interactions, increase time spent with the brand, and boost customer engagement and loyalty by reducing churn.” Mathias Lykke, Head of Digital Sales at Alka Insurance
“Because gamification campaigns are so well-rounded, they can achieve multiple goals at once. Take our Christmas Calendar, for example, it had five main objectives, and sales wasn’t even one of them. Yet it helped us gain new marketing permissions, engage our audience during a key seasonal event, create a hook for future interactions, increase time spent with the brand, and boost customer engagement and loyalty by reducing churn.”
Alka ran three engaging summer campaigns in 2025, each featuring different scenarios with the Juhl family that combined fun gameplay with practical insurance education:
A “Guess the Word” game tied to the Danish Easter tradition of gækkebrev had the Juhl family asking players to guess the sender. A gækkebrev is a Danish Easter tradition, a handmade letter, often made by children, containing a rhyme or riddle. Sent anonymously, the recipient must guess who it’s from, and if they’re wrong, they owe the sender a small treat, often chocolate.
In this Easter game, the sender of the gækkebrev was _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (Mit Alka). By mixing this beloved Danish tradition with the perfect prize – Easter chocolate baskets from the well-known Danish brand Summerbird – the campaign resonated strongly with the Danish market.
Alka’s Christmas Calendar 2024 featured a new quiz every day, each centered around the Juhl family and their funny misadventures. On December 1st, for example, Julius drops his Playstation. Does the holiday end in disaster, or does Alka’s extended electronics coverage comes to the rescue? Each daily quiz was paired with various prizes from partners like Coolshop, keeping participants motivated to return throughout the month.
In fact, Alka’s 2024 Christmas Calendar ranked among the top three best-performing Danish Christmas calendar campaigns in 2024 made with Playable, an incredible achievement for an insurance brand competing against retail and eCommerce giants.
“After last year’s Christmas Calendar, we tried something new. We sent an email to everyone who had participated and invited them to do an insurance check as a good start to the new year. Because they were already engaged with the calendar, the booking rate was much higher than usual, and that made the campaign extremely valuable for us.” Mathias Lykke, Head of Digital Sales at Alka Insurance
“After last year’s Christmas Calendar, we tried something new. We sent an email to everyone who had participated and invited them to do an insurance check as a good start to the new year. Because they were already engaged with the calendar, the booking rate was much higher than usual, and that made the campaign extremely valuable for us.”
Alka Insurance demonstrates that gamification, when executed thoughtfully, can transform marketing into an engagement engine even in the “low-interest” industries. Beyond engagement, these campaigns build trust, create memorable brand experiences, and set the stage for meaningful customer actions, from exploring offerings to requesting quotes. The Juhl family adds personality and relatability, while seasonal campaigns like the Easter game and Christmas Calendar create timely touchpoints that keep Alka top-of-mind. The result isn’t just higher engagement, it’s measurable business impact: lower churn, stronger loyalty, and higher meeting booking rates. Alka’s story proves that gamification isn’t just an add-on; it’s a core driver of a smarter, more effective marketing strategy.
“If someone told me gamification doesn’t work for insurance companies, I’d say that’s bollocks, they simply haven’t tried hard enough. Gamification can work in almost any market and with any audience. We’ve proven its value again and again, and, surprisingly, our strongest responders are people aged roughly 40 to 80.” Mathias Lykke, Head of Digital Sales at Alka Insurance
“If someone told me gamification doesn’t work for insurance companies, I’d say that’s bollocks, they simply haven’t tried hard enough. Gamification can work in almost any market and with any audience. We’ve proven its value again and again, and, surprisingly, our strongest responders are people aged roughly 40 to 80.”
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