Strategic HR Review Emerald Article: Social media gaming - a recipe for employer brand success Tisha Freer Article information: To cite this document: Tisha Freer, (2011),"Social media gaming - a recipe for employer brand success", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 11 Iss: 1 pp. 13-17 Permanent link to this document: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/14754391211186269 Downloaded on: 30-09-2012 References: This document contains references to 4 other documents To copy this document: permissions@emeraldinsight.com This document has been downloaded 356 times since 2011. * Users who downloaded this Article also downloaded: * Sherrie A. Madia, (2011),"est practices for using social media as a recruitment strategy", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 10 Iss: 6 pp. 19-24 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/14754391111172788 Carolyn Heller aird, Gautam Parasnis, (2011),"From social media to social customer relationship management", Strategy & Leadership, Vol. 39 Iss: 5 pp. 30-37 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/10878571111161507 (2011),"Friends in online places: usiness and social media", Strategic Direction, Vol. 27 Iss: 10 pp. 19-22 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/02580541111171229 Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY For Authors: If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service. Information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.com With over forty years' experience, Emerald Group Publishing is a leading independent publisher of global research with impact in business, society, public policy and education. In total, Emerald publishes over 275 journals and more than 130 book series, as well as an extensive range of online products and services. Emerald is both COUNTER 3 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. *Related content and download information correct at time of download.
Social media gaming a recipe for employer brand success Tisha Freer Tisha Freer is based at Evviva, State College, Pennsylvania, USA. Abstract Purpose As part of an ongoing employer brand initiative, Evviva rands developed My Marriott Hotel, a culinary social media game, for Marriott International that launched on Facebook in June 2011. This article seeks to focus on this initiative. Design/methodology/approach Global research insights identified social media and gaming as primary in-home activities and a path for repositioning the Marriott brand with internal and external target audiences. Focus groups, interviews and ethnographic observations led to key game-play and design components that would ensure the game delivered operations realities as well as entertainment value. Findings The game was designed as a tool for reaching employment candidates in countries like China and India where the service industry is growing but hospitality is not a highly sought career. y managing a virtual hotel kitchen including staff, supplies and ingredients, players are given insights into the world of hospitality and a culinary career at Marriott. Practical implications y relying on target audience insights to build a business case, the project received support from key executive leaders throughout the process and their involvement generated over $500,000 in media exposure during the first few weeks of game launch. Originality/value As first to market with a hospitality simulation game, numerous observations can be made about the processes that lead to successful game development and global deployment on Facebook s API. Keywords Social media, Online games, Employer brand, Hospitality, Recruitment, Management games, Hospitality management, usiness enterprise Paper type Case study E vviva rands is a specialized brand consultancy known for its ability to turn employee and organizational insights into brand building opportunities. Evviva relies on its Inside Insight process, including subject matter interviews, focus groups and ethnography, to understand the true DNA of an organization and the employees role in delivering on the brand. There is an inherent focus on service brands at Evviva due to the fact that service brands rely heavily on their employees to articulate the brand, embody the brand and quite simply be the brand the People rand. As the brand shop for people brands, Evviva specializes in building and executing brand strategy that creates connections between the employee, the organization and the customer. As part of an ongoing brand initiative, Evviva developed My Marriott Hotel, a culinary social media game, for Marriott International Inc, which was released on Facebook in June 2011. Marriott International Inc is a global hospitality company and premiere service brand with more than 129,000 employees in 3,400 properties across 68 countries and territories. Focus groups and ethnographic observations were conducted in 2009 with Marriott employees and target candidates around the world. In summarizing these insights, a few themes emerged. They include the following: DOI 10.1108/14754391211186269 VOL. 11 NO. 1 2012, pp. 13-17, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1475-4398 j STRATEGIC HR REVIEW j PAGE 13
Employment selections are often based on brand recognition if it s a good brand it must be a good place to work. Hospitality was not seen as a career but rather a job this perception was especially true in countries like India and China where parents still maintain a lot of control and influence over their children s employment choices. Employment selections are often based on brand recognition if it s a good brand it must be a good place to work. This is beneficial in markets where the Marriott name is strong but posed challenges in low recognition markets. Social media is the predominate activity outside of work for both target candidates and current employees. Consumption of social media was even higher in countries where the service sector consists primarily of ex-patriots as this is their vehicle for keeping in touch. While Marriott.com is the seventh most visited property online and Marriott is consistently ranked as a est Place to Work by Fortune, there was no social media career content available. The rationale for developing a social media game Evviva recommended the development of a social media game to address the issues identified above and to provide a tool for employee pride and engagement around the world. During focus group sessions, Evviva learned of the role social media played in day-to-day living for many employees living as ex-patriots in places like India and the UAE. They found that eight to ten hours per day were spent in internet cafes connecting with friends through activities such as IM chat, Facebook or Orkut and online collaborative gaming, like the currently popular Words with Friends. Evviva s rationale for a hospitality-focused game also addressed the perceptions of hospitality as a career. Many employees working in emerging and developing markets come from small villages and rural settings where life inside a hotel much less a large, formal western-style hotel was unimaginable, unattainable or misunderstood. y creating a game environment that revealed the operations inside a hotel, players would get a better understanding of a hotel environment, the Marriott brand and service standards and the important role an employee plays in delivering the Marriott experience. Making it fun and informative Recent research published by University of Amsterdam identifies three primary motivations for user consumption of brand-related social media: entertainment, information and remuneration (Muntinga et al., 2011). Evviva designed and developed My Marriott Hotel, a social media game played on the Marriott Jobs and Careers Facebook page, with the goal of helping the target audience learn about Marriott in a way that is fun, engaging and informative. The game is the first in a series of planned games and focuses on the culinary environment inside Marriott properties. It is intentionally not designed as an assessment tool but serves up operational realities to users by allowing them to create a restaurant wherein they are responsible for the quality of ingredients and tools, training of staff, managing employees and ensuring guest satisfaction. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal (erzon, 2011), Susan Strayer, senior director global employer brand and marketing at Marriott, said: That s why our game is so appealing not only am I having fun but I m actually getting an understanding of what it takes to run a kitchen. PAGE 14j j STRATEGIC HR REVIEW VOL. 11 NO. 1 2012
An iterative development process Ensuring the game delivered operational realities in a setting that was both fun and competitive was crucial to game success. Evviva again relied on research and ethnographic insight to get at these realities. Interviews with key culinary personnel at Marriott as well as observations in test and live kitchen environments led to critical components of the game such as dish selection, the involvement of a general manager role and the pace of play. Marriott committed to a significant amount of testing internally by culinary employees and in some cases Evviva used that feedback to change game play outcomes allowing the game to reflect a more Marriott-style kitchen environment. A burger was always intended to be on the menu of the game but the look of the game s burger changed after internal game testing by the culinary team a Marriott burger always has the tomato under the meat patty because taste testers in live Marriott test kitchens said this results in a tastier burger. In another example, the location of the stoves in the game screen was changed to more accurately reflect Marriott-style kitchens. Striking a balance between fun and entertaining and realistic and relevant meant leaning on user and audience insights throughout the process and changing the game design to ensure both short-term engagement and long-term success. Overcoming the challenges to be first to market In facilitating Marriott s position as first to market within the hospitality sector for a social media recruitment game, numerous challenges were overcome that led to the game being both relevant and successful. Current market conditions and the global economic climate meant the game needed a compelling business strategy and executive-level support. The success of the project also relied on creating a team of top research, brand, development and project management talent regardless of the geographic locations of the talent. Evviva s research insights around social media s adoption rate and perceptions of hospitality coupled with the goal of filling 50,000 jobs in 2011 were the foundation for a solid business case positioning the game as a risk worth taking in an otherwise risk-adverse set of market and industry conditions. Evviva partnered with Marriott s global employer brand and marketing team to champion the game as a tactic for reaching its target audience, 18 to 27 year olds in developing global markets where hospitality is often perceived as a job rather than a career. Once the project was approved, Evviva began the task of tightly managing a truly global project team with game developers in South Africa, creative and concept development in the UK, research insight and project management in the UK and San Francisco, CA and a client team based in ethesda, MD. Evviva s insight team was involved throughout the development and deployment of the project to ensure it delivered against the key findings that initially led to the game as recommendation social components, revealing operational realities and brand recognition. Going live Leadership from the insight team also turned out to be crucial once game development began integrating with the Facebook API and transitioning from a concept stage to a live, playable game. The insight team understood how the target audience accesses games, shares results and essentially makes games like these an extension of their social lives it was not enough to have a game on Facebook, it also needed to reach a global target audience in meaningful and relevant ways. My Marriott Hotel was introduced via multi-media press releases, an on-site employee launch and demo as well as an exclusive media web demo on 7 June 2011. Public relations efforts in both the US and the UK resulted in media coverage on Fox affiliates, Wall Street Journal, Times of London, Economic Times of India, usatoday.com, washingtonpost.com, cmo.com and over thirty online media outlets and blogs resulting in an estimated half-million VOL. 11 NO. 1 2012 j j STRATEGIC HR REVIEW PAGE 15
dollars of free press. Three weeks after the launch of the game, Marriott Jobs and Careers page on Facebook received over 10,000 likes and the game is being played in over 101 countries. Marriott s employee social media policy allowed existing employees to share and promote the game within their own social networks while those outside the organization took notice of Marriott in a new way. In her review of My Marriott Hotel for hotelchatter.com, Susan Deluzain arry, said: Yes, this is Marriott. I was as surprised as you are! I usually expect one of the hipper companies to come out with this stuff first, so when I read about it on HotelChatter I rushed right over to Facebook to check it out. oy, was I impressed! (arry, 2011). The critical success factors Key Marriott leaders throughout the organization gave their support for the game during conceptualization, development and launch, which allowed the game to be a tool of engagement both internally and externally. Marriott s investment in Evviva s research insights was critical to the success of the game as a simulation for an actual Marriott environment, including the look and feel of the kitchen and equipment, interactive style of play and game realities demonstrating actual realities both players and Marriott employees have to manage kitchen ingredients well in order to prepare and deliver quality dishes. Culinary ethnography in the Marriott test kitchens, hotel kitchens and dining areas provided the nuances which made the game distinctly Marriott from the signature Marriott urger that can be found on every Marriott menu to the placement and types of the stoves players can procure for their hotel kitchens. Usability testing became an important feedback channel for improving aspects of the game like speed of play, audio features and procurement, all of which can be well planned in concept and development phases but take on new meaning in a test environment with actual players. Moving from the test phase to real play in a live Facebook environment meant navigating Facebook s API environment with little guidance from Facebook s development team. Technical expertise from Evviva s contracted developers and Marriott s social media team worked closely together to troubleshoot issues between the Facebook API, hosting servers and the actual game. Prior to the launch of the game, Marriott updated internal global social media policies giving employees a clear path to playing, enjoying and sharing the game in accordance with company policy. A global, multi-media press strategy catapulted the social media game onto the radar of media channels in India, London, the U.S. and beyond. Today, Marriott s global employer brand and marketing team provides continual game updates via the Marriott Jobs and Careers Facebook page including current leaders, game statistics, comment feedback and answers to frequently asked questions. Meeting engagement objectives In its initial 60 days the game succeeded in meeting a core objective by engaging both employees and the external target audience simultaneously. Game play in other languages including Mandarin and Spanish are planned as well as additional game modules that will expose players to other hotel operations such as housekeeping, guest services or front desk. Numerous challenges were overcome that led to the game being both relevant and successful. PAGE 16j j STRATEGIC HR REVIEW VOL. 11 NO. 1 2012
Insights, organizational support, usability testing and tight project management proved to be Evviva rands winning recipe for putting Marriott International on the map as the first in hospitality to use a social media game for recruiting and employee outreach. References arry, S.D. (2011), What one hospitality junkie learned from playing My Marriott Hotel for 36 hours straight, Weblog entry, available at: www.hotelchatter.com, 14 June, available at: www.hotelchatter. com/story/2011/6/14/132929/553/hotels/what_one_hospitality_junkie_learned_from_playing_my_ Marriott_Hotel_for_36_Hours_Straight erzon, A. (2011), Enough with call of duty, answer the call in room 417, The Wall Street Journal, 6 June, available at http://online.wsj.com/article/s10001424052702304432304576367493214200856. html Muntinga, D.G., Moorman, M. and Smit, E. (2011), ;Introducing CORAs: exploring motivations for brand-related social media use, International Journal of Advertising, Vol. 30 No. 1, p. 13. Further reading Sengupta, D. (2011), Hiring and training are now fun and games, The Economic Times, 7 June, available at: http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-06-07/news/29629891_1_simulationhotel-management-institutes-recruitment About the author Tisha Freer serves as Head of Client Partnerships for Evviva clients headquartered in the Americas. Tisha and her teams lead the collaboration between Evviva, its channel leads and its client s portfolio of agencies to communicate the People rand. Throughout her career, she has led client-agency partnerships for companies in every vertical from aerospace to finance. Prior to partnering with Evviva, Tisha held senior client management roles at both JWT and TMP Worldwide. She is a graduate of Whitworth University and a certified focus group moderator. Tisha Freer can be contacted at: freer@evvivabrands.com To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: reprints@emeraldinsight.com Or visit our web site for further details: www.emeraldinsight.com/reprints VOL. 11 NO. 1 2012 j j STRATEGIC HR REVIEW PAGE 17