Easter eggs (without my son)- Part 2

Naama: Welcome to another episode of Dopamin Lab. Guys, I'm so excited about you asking me where's this week's episode? So you asked, we listened, and here I am recording late at night, drinking coffee and under the influence of some heavy painkillers. honestly, I was going through a serious Dental treatment that prevented me from doing this episode on the promised cadence. So two days later, here is a follow-up episode of the previous episode I did with my son Yali about Easter eggs. And the reason I'm doing a follow-up episode is because we didn't cover most of what I planned, because we got so carried away with his examples. And most of the time we were on the floor laughing and these parts did not survive the edit, obviously. So here's a follow-up episode on Easter eggs. And going back to the podcast cadence, I'm still learning this. And the analytics of this platform is so fascinating. And as I'll have more episodes, I'll have more data points. but me not being able to record on time will create an interesting test on the optimal publishing time for me. And that leads me to giving you a sneak peek about a future episode I'm going to do with a friend of mine who used to be a business analyst in one of the games that I've worked for. And I think he's one of the best storytellers I know. Turning data into an interesting story and into insights and actionable items is a rare skill. And since I'm obsessed with data, I wanted to dedicate an episode to data and data storytelling. So stay tuned for that. Now, back to Easter eggs. As I promised, I want to divide the episode to what? why and how. So what are Easter eggs? Easter egg is a hidden feature, message, reference, or a surprise intentionally placed in a game, product or other experience for users to discover. It's not openly advertised or required. For the main experience. I would divide Easter eggs into two types. The first type is purely decoration or playfulness, and it is there just to entertain or satisfy curiosity. And the second type contains functionality. Where discovering the Easter egg unlocks an action, feature, reward, advantage, or other meaningful interaction. Now to the why. Why doing an Easter egg? So there are a lot of good reasons to do Easter eggs, and I think I can talk about it for hours, but I'll try to focus my answer on why from both players. or consumers side and from business side. from the player or consumer side, discovering something hidden can feel like solving a secret or being clever enough to uncover it. As a player, I feel like I got something for looking closer or for paying attention. And it's not part of a mass communication that everyone else sees. So I feel special. There's also the surprise element. This unexpected moment can break the routine and make the experience more entertaining. There's also the human element. It makes the game or the product feel less like a system and more like something created by real people with humor and creativity and character. It gives players a story to share with friends or the community. And lastly, when an Easter egg is functional, the discovery itself can lead to a reward or a shortcut or new interaction, hidden content, or another benefit. And that's the why. Now for the business side. Why I as a game developer put an Easter egg. So a lot of times teams or product people will see it as an unnecessary effort. But I think it's worth the effort. And here's what's in it for the business. So, one, it increases engagement and retention by creating additional reasons to interact with the product. Two, it builds stronger emotional attachment to the game or brand. Which can contribute to long-term loyalty. Three, it creates organic conversation and community as players like to share discoveries with each other. Four, it rewards dedicated users and it and it makes highly engaged players feel recognized. And sometimes it's even less costly than rewarding them. And to them, it might worth even more. Five, it differentiates the product by giving it personality and memorable detail that competitors may not have. Six, it drives specific behaviors when the Easter egg has functionality. For example, encouraging players to explore a feature, return to the game, or engage with content they might otherwise overlook. Now to the how. I have five key rules. and then I want to share some of my favorite examples. So one start with the player experience. What do you want players to feel when they find out about it? Ideally, it creates a reaction like, that's cool. Wait, what is that? I can't believe I found this. Or I need to show it to someone. That's how you want players to feel. Two, you need to make the discovery intentional. The Easter egg should require exploration, but don't hide it to a point that nobody will ever find it. Ideally, you should put a small clue or a pattern or an opportunity for the player to notice. Three, you need to make the discovery itself rewarding. And remember that reward doesn't have to be a currency or an item. The important thing is that players will feel like, I'm glad I found, I'm glad I looked. Four Give it a reason to exist. The best Easter eggs feel connected to the world or to the product or to the people behind it. Five, don't make the business objective too obvious. If players discover something and immediately think, this is just here to make me do something, then it stops feeling like an Easter egg. It's just another chore. And now I want to share some examples. So in the previous episode, I talked about that t shirt that I found that had a badge with some self-care messages that I liked. So discovering this next to the washing instructions just strengthened the connection with the brand and it gives more personality and character. Another example that I have is From Nike. They have the Air Jordan 1 Retro shoes. And if you look down inside the shoes, you'll see a quote that says, I'm scared of what I won't become. And this is of course Michael Jordan. So it's powerful because of the context of the product. Michael Jordan, competition, ambition, and personal achievement. And my favorite example of all times is Kabuto Noodles, which is a noodles box. And in the box, if you peel the label, you'll find a hidden message. And I'll share it in the post so you can see how cool it is. So if you peel it, you'll see on the inside the brand's mascot. It says underneath, it says next to it, only a true samurai separates paper from plastic and has the judgment to recycle them both. So first of all, it's so unexpected and it's cool. And not only rewarding the customer, but that moment of discovery connects them to the brand. So this company cares deeply about sustainability, which is reflected in their product and their processes and the packaging, and they make the customers feel like they are part of it. So an Easter egg is also a cool way to add the company's agenda. Now, the cool thing about this Easter egg is that the message Spreaded so quickly online, people sharing the Easter egg and others rushing to confirm it themselves. So the result was a huge boost in sales, but not from a campaign, but from a clever packaging that rewarded curiosity But I do want I do want to say. that not every Easter egg needs to have a business KPI. Some are valuable because they are just fun. And those moments can build the emotional layer of a product that is much harder to create through traditional ways. So I do want to wrap up and say thank you for listening, for sending feedback, for asking what happened to this week's episode. And I also want to say that in the next episodes I'll have some more interesting subjects like community, how to build one, how to manage one. I'll have an episode about loopholes, as I said before, hashtag unpopular opinion why they are actually good for your game and business. I'll have an episode about data and storytelling as I said, and a lot more to come. So I'll be here every Tuesday unless I have to go through another dental treatment. And thank you so much for listening. you next time.