It was the one function where the organisers were pleased as punch to see everybody staring down at their phones.
In Sydney last night, breast cancer charity the McGrath Foundation launched its new online game, the McGrath Foundation Digital Cup, in an effort to attract more donations to the charity.
It's the first time in Australia a major charity has used gamification as a platform to attract more donations.
To access the game players need to make a donation to the foundation, and the foundation is hoping this new approach will help breach the gap between the McGrath Foundation Pink Test and the ICC Cricket World Cup.
“We were looking about how to engage with members and non-members during the period between the Jane McGrath Pink Test and the ICC World Cup,” McGrath Foundation CEO Petra Buchanan told AdNews.
“The ICC has been kind enough to select us as the charity of choice for the World Cup, but we were trying to think about how we could plug that gap.”
Amidst the brainstorming, Buchanan attended a function where she met the creative director of Pro-Active Games in Brisbane, Rob Holden.
She struck up a conversation with him, and four months later the game is ready for the public.
“We were talking about what was being done in the corporate space with gamification and the outcomes that was driving,” Buchanan said.
“So we started looking closely at gameification and it was being done in the corporate world, but the other thing we hit upon is that 50% of gamers in Australia were women, so that's a natural fit for us.
“We also had that confluence of us being associated with cricket, so we took those two things as the jumping off points.”
It also looked a Bond University research which suggested that more than 93% of households own at least one device for playing games, suggesting the appetite was there.
The game itself pits players against each other in teams of 11, where users can elect to bat, bowl, or field.
For now, the game is in a “practice” phase where people can sharpen up their skills. But come Valentine's Day, users will be able to play with their team for prizes in a tournament-style event.
But how do you go about trying to attract attention to the game itself?
“The challenge is that we don't have a million dollar marketing campaign where we can do above the line work, so we have to be a bit smarter about it,” Buchanan said.
“That also fits into why we chose the digital format, but we wanted something where people can talk about it online, share it, invite their friends.”
One of the key features of the campaign is that users can either join an existing team, or set up an XI of their own. Buchanan and the foundation are hoping users invite their friends to join in rather than join an existing team.
“Of course people are more than welcome to join an existing team, but we're hoping that once they discover how fun the game is, that they'll invite all their friends to join them,” Buchanan said.
EPSN Australia has signed up as the official media partner of the push, and all donations will go towards placing McGrath Breat Care Nurses in communities right accross Australia.
The game is available through browsers on desktops, mobiles, or tablets with HTML5 or above capabilities and up to date operating systems; iOS7 and Internet Explorer version 10 or above.
You can sign up for the game at http://www.mfdigitalcup.com.au
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