A Conceptual Review on Gamification as a Platform for Brand Engagement in the Marketing Context
Open accessAbstract
With the impact of new technological advancement marketing strategies and tools have evolved significantly. Gamification is one of the trendiest tools which can be used to generate more brand engagement in the marketing context. Gamification has been used in different industries so far in order to generate brand engagement by targeting different sets of the target audience. Sometimes it has been linked with different types of platforms and mostly used to provide a better-gamified experience along with the brands in the marketing context. In many countries, this concept is tested in different platforms in order to use this more effectively in the marketing context. With the impact of severe problems and different circumstances, gamification has been used in the industry to generate better brand engagement and this notion has evolved and subsequently gained the attention of researchers. However, it is questionable what significant characteristics a firm needs to focus on gamification to have better brand engagement in the marketing context. As a result, the purpose of this paper is to attempt to review both empirical and theoretical arguments and aspects to consider in gamification as a platform and its impact on brand engagement in the marketing context. To objectively analyze the gamification components described by many writers, a thorough literature review is conducted by selecting both conceptual and empirical works mostly published recently in renowned publications. Based on the content, gamification components have been identified as mechanics & aesthetics, self-benefits, self-interaction, and self-achievement. A proposed model extends the findings into a conceptual realm by summarizing all these aspects.
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The findings align with Hewapathirana and Caldera's (2023) conceptualisation of emotional engagement in marketing contexts.
“This aligns with Hewapathirana and Caldera's (2023) conceptualisation of emotional engagement in marketing contexts, while extending their work with experimental evidence.”
From An Experimental Analysis of Gamification’s Impact on Customer Engagement and Retention in Subscription-Based Business Models (2026) · cites this paper as Hewapathirana and Caldera's (2023)
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- Authors
- Hewapathirana, N. T., & Caldera, S.
- Affiliations
- University of Kelaniya (LK)
- Corresponding author
- Hewapathirana, N. T.
- Caldera, Sujith
- Venue
- Sri Lanka Journal of Marketing
- Publisher
- Sri Lanka Journals Online (JOL)
- Published
- 2023-07-12
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 41-55
- ISSN
- 1800-4989 (ISSN-L)
- 2719-2598
- OpenAlex
- W4384068146
- Cited by
- 8
- References
- 29
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1
- FWCI
- 3.89
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Locations
- Sri Lanka Journal of Marketing (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Educational Games and Gamification
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Digital Marketing and Social Media
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification
- Keywords
- gamification, brand engagement, self-benefit, self-interaction, self-achievement, gamification platforms, customer engagement, conceptual model
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