Let's Play: Gaming as a Marketing and Recruitment Tool

Seriously: Can companies use computer games to strengthen their brand presence and attract skilled workers? A week after the excitement of Gamescom has died down, it’s worth taking a moment to ask this question calmly – and discover some insightful and surprising answers. The Institute for SME Cooperation at Mittweida University of Applied Sciences (MIKOMI) provided a good opportunity to do just that at its ‘Knowledge Lunch’ on 28 August. This relatively new format is a one-hour virtual lunch break featuring insights from experts on current topics – this time on the subject of gaming, with Axel Dietze, an expert in e-sports, gaming and streaming at Mittweida University of Applied Sciences, as well as Dr Ralf Friedrich, Managing Director of HM digiRECRUIT GmbH, which specialises in recruiting skilled staff and employer branding for SMEs.

Playing and programming games combines passion with learning and work, connects people with machines, and creates digital solutions within companies for successful interaction with (future) employees and business partners. The games industry itself is also growing – albeit at a slower pace than recently – but Central Germany has already established itself as a hub for the future. This is due not least to the strong collaboration and knowledge transfer between academia and industry in the region.

The fourth MIKOMI Knowledge Lunch offered insights into the world of gaming and demonstrated how companies can enhance innovative marketing strategies and recruitment methods through games, and how managers can ‘playfully’ strengthen their employees’ engagement and loyalty. Targeted sponsorship of e-sports teams is also a way of attracting local attention and recruiting staff.

The Knowledge Lunch is a free event. It is aimed at anyone keen to discover new ideas that they can put into practice straight away in their day-to-day working lives. The format was inspired by the cross-sector network of participants in MIKOMI’s professional development programmes for executives, including many students and alumni of the extra occupational MBA programme in Strategic Business Management. The Knowledge Lunch is also a good example of the innovative teaching and learning methods that MIKOMI employs in its continuing professional development programmes. These methods make the MBA programme both efficient and engaging, and enable students who need to balance work, study and family life to organise their studies in a highly flexible and personalised way.