Health Points : Health Gamification Health Points

It's the Health Points Series 2 Finale recorded at the UKRI Healthy Ageing Challenge Conference, December 2023. 
 
We have a stellar lineup for our first ever in-person recording of Health Points:
Jon Hymus: Managing Director of Innerva - https://www.innerva.com/ 
Bruce Elliott: CEO of Memory Lane Games - https://www.memorylanegames.com/
Silvia Lin: Founder of Tycho MedLink -  www.tychomedlink.co.uk
 
A brilliant discussion and debate on the role and future of health gamification. 
 
We will be back with Series 3 in Spring 2024. 
 
Keep gaming and stay healthy, Ben & Pete
 

We're onto the penultimate Health Points episode for Series 2, and we have a cracking episode. Joining us is P***a Boothman, CEO at Playfinity. 
https://playfinity.com/
P***a has a background studying sociology and criminology and previous roles in marketing and commercials before joining Playfinity. 
In this episode, we explore:
Rather than focusing on the 2% of kids and adolescents who follow the competitive track for sports, instead focusing on the 98% of kids and adolescents whose main focus for sport, is fun.
Using technology, not to create new sports, but to measure sports actions, adding new game mechanics to existing exercises and sports
From kids jumping one million times with Plyfinity, to games which are powered by the number of ball kicks, highlighting the importance of new engaging ways to motivate kids to be active, for them, and their healthy future.

Welcome to Episode 14 of Series 2, and joining us is Bruce Elliot, Co-Founder and CEO of Memory Lane Games. 
Before Memory Lane Games, Bruce had a twenty-year track record of building world-class, innovative eCommerce companies. Having competed with Paypal in the online payment world to bring Kodak into the blockchain world,  Bruce has led start-ups and publicly traded companies from start-up to 1 million users and $250M annual revenues.
Memory Lane Games started following a conversation between the co-founders on how to support family members, and now it's delivering over 3,000 cognitive-stimulating and socialising games, with over 100k downloads that’s being played in over 130 countries.
https://www.memorylanegames.com/
 
 In this episode, we explore:
Designing ’ frustration-free’ games that includes ‘errorless learning’ that promotes longer-term engagement, social interaction, cognitive stimulation and empowered play
Which all results in more laughter, happiness, improved communication, relaxation, inter-generational connections and the potential to improve the symptoms of dementia globally.

We've landed at Episode 13 of Series 2, and joining us is Wain Choi, Chief Creative Offer at Black & White. 
 
Wain worked with some of the largest brands on the planet, marketing tech giants health & wellness features and functionality. His previous roles were as Creative Director at Zulu Alpha Kilo Inc and Cheif Creative Offer for OgiIvy and Cheil Worldwide. It was while at Cheil Worldwide he was part of the team that created the advertisement for Samsung's ' Look at Me' app, an app to support autistic children. The 'Touching Autism' promotion won the Cannes 'Gold Lion Award. 
 
https://www.brandinginasia.com/samsung-autism-ad-wins-cannes-gold-lion-award/
 
This episode of Health Points is a curveball to our usual guests, as focuses on how to make health gamification more visible and accessible. In this episode, we explore:
Taking digital products for entertainment and gaming and transitioning them to therapeutic purposes
Moving a cold engineering brand into a warm emotive brand, with a campaign that was so successful it won one of the most prestigious industry awards
The need to better communicate health gamification at a greater scale to promote the role of health gamification, and transition it towards mainstream medicine and therapeutics.

And we're at Episode 12 of Series 2, and joining us is Dr. Jonny Bloomfield, CEO at Oopla.
Jonny is a Behavioral Health & Performance Coach specialising in stress management, sleep, exercise & nutrition. He has a background in Sports Science, with a PhD from the University of Hull, and started his career as a Fitness Coach at Ulster Rugby. moving on to a Sports Physiologist at the Sports Institute of Northern Ireland, then taking on the role as the first Sports Scientist for England Rugby, before moving on to occupational science roles ahead of starting Oopla.
 
In this episode, we explore:

Taking international-level Rugby sports science to the front line of the health service staff

 

The exercise motivation mechanics, of not just points for being active, but adopting a strategy to be active, to get more points, reflecting more traditional strategic board & videos games

 

And working with different player types, to make sure everyone feels part of a community, no matter if they more of the traditional active ‘gym bunnys’, or those who are starting to discover being more active.

 

Rolling on to episode 11, and joining us today is Scott Taylor, co-founder and CEO of Perx Health, a chronic condition management service that supports users in developing better habits and a lifetime of better health.
 
Scott has an academic background in behavioural economics, with real-world interest in its application to motivation and positive health behaviour. He has a background in private equity investment in consumer, industrial and technology companies before he started Perx Health.
 
In this episode, we explore:
Taking an empirical approach with game feature identification, design and implementation, plus validating them with academic research
 
Creating business models for health gamification services that align to the economic incentives for health systems and health insurers, impacting their bottom line, creates new revenues.
 
That’s there’s no ‘silver bullet’ game mechanic. It’s the tailoring of gamification features to create personalised motivation for every user, which can lead to industry-defining engagement and retention stats