Winning Games

Online

In December 2005, prior to the launch of its Rapid Release Gelcaps, Ontario, Canada-based Tylenol, makers of the over-the-counter pain relief pills of the same name, decided to provide its employees with an educational game from interactive promotions provider Launchfire Inc. The company needed a way to get salespeople to commit facts about the new product to memory, and there seemed no better way to do that than through a game that felt more like playing than learning.

Entitled, "The Need for Speed Trivia," key information about the product, along with just-for-fun, speed-related facts, were put on a graphic-rich CD-ROM for reps to play either offline, or live, against peers. "We put that into a trivia game similar to what you might see at a bar," says Denyse Lafrance Horning, product director-Adult Tylenol. For a sense of competition, a timer and scoring system were incorporated. Reps that chose to play live raced against each other to see who could correctly answer the greatest number of questions in the shortest amount of time. "The extra layer that brought it over the top was a high score system, so anyone who participated in the game had visibility to who had the leading score," continues Lafrance Horning. "There was a great response to that competitive element."

Rolled out live at a national sales meeting, reps were taken through a few practice rounds, and then given the CD-ROM containing the link to the online site that allowed them to enter the competition. Questions, presented in multiple-choice format, were designed to reinforce the information they had just received at the conference about the new gelcaps. "Our sales force is exposed to so much information," she points out. "They've sat through brand launch presentations time and again, so we're always challenged to find a new way to get them excited, so they can then take that excitement and bring it to the buyers, and, ultimately, the consumer."

According to Launchfire data, the game did the trick. The Ontario-based vendor reports that each sales rep played an average of 47.3 games, and interacted with the program for an average of 71 minutes. More important is the feedback the company got from participants like territory manager Darcy Williams: "We learned about the product, which was fantastic," she says. "It was just a different medium for the message, and we had fun doing it, too." No one had to encourage her to log-on. "It didn't seem like we were doing work," she says. "I remember sitting there until one in the morning, playing this game for three hours because I wanted to win."

On the Board

If you want face-to-face interaction between employees during your simulation, you may opt to follow in the footsteps of Bellevue, Wash.-based online travel