Event planning and promotion: HOOK model application event planning

First of all, as the title says. Two or three weeks before I wrote this article, I celebrated my birthday and "reluctantly" grew another year older. Unlike my birthday when I receive gifts from others, I just take it as an excuse to get together with my friends. Since it is a party, it must not be boring. Going to KTV after dinner is a common thing, so some special entertainment activities were designed.

This article will focus on the entertainment aspect of this design and use the HOOK model to analyze its underlying logic.

The HOOK model (addiction model) mainly analyzes how to make users "addicted" to the product, that is, the four major product logics that make users develop usage habits, including four elements: trigger (Trigger), action (Action), reward (Reward), and investment (Investment).

————"Addicted" Nir Eyal, Ryan Hoover

Without further ado, please take a close look at the following details.

1. Theme: Game of Players

2. Game time: 90 minutes

3. Game content: Players can obtain points by participating in competitive and casual games within a limited time. Players can use their existing points to participate in lucky games within the limited number of lucky games to increase/double their points. After the time limit is over, players can redeem prizes with their existing points

①Mario Kart (Unlimited times)

In each round of the game, participating players need to form a team of two;

Available games: Participate in Mario Championship, difficulty requirement: high;

Points judgment rules:

①Competition ranking;

② The opponents will receive corresponding prizes and points based on their matches;

Note: The opponent ranking is determined by the ranking order of the two participants in the tournament, and no further notes are given below.

②Mario Tennis (Unlimited times)

In each round of the game, players must form a team of two. Available games: Mario Tennis 1V1 or Ring Co-op Tournament;

Points judgment rules:

①1V1 match: The opponents will be rewarded with corresponding prize points based on their matches;

② Ring Cooperation Competition: Each team will get corresponding prize points based on the ring points they get in the game;

③ Landlord (unlimited times)

The number of players participating in each round should meet the standard of 3 people, and the participating players should play 5 games, that is, 5 games per round.

Points judgment rules:

The game score is calculated based on the victory of each game, and corresponding prize points are obtained according to the ranking.

(If two or three people get the same score, the winners 1-3 will be decided by rock-paper-scissors)

①Peace Elite (Unlimited times)

The number of players participating in each round must not be less than 2 and not more than 4. Participating players need to form a team of 4 to participate in the [Firepower Showdown] event. Participating players will receive prize points based on their team ranking and individual kills in each game.

Points judgment rules:

①Texas Hold'em (1 time/person)

Players can invest their existing points to participate in the Texas Hold'em game and compete against the organizer. Players participating in the game have only three rounds of dealing opportunities (including voluntary waivers, but excluding voluntary waivers by the organizer).

The hand sizing rules are the same as in regular Texas Hold'em. When a player makes a single bet, he should increase the bet according to the existing prize points. If the player wins after the cards are opened, the prize points bet will be doubled. Among them, a player's number of abandons shall not exceed 3 times.

The organizer may not add more than 50 points at a time, there is no limit on the points for following the code, and the organizer's waiver may not exceed 5 times per person.

② Flip poker cards (1 time/person)

Players only have one chance to participate. There is a joker card mixed into 10 playing cards. The player who turns over the joker card can double the existing prize points.

Prize Points Redemption Rules

1. Trigger

1) Triggered by scenario factors

I invited 8 good friends to this birthday party. They didn’t know each other and were in different fields and industries. Taking into account that we were not familiar with each other, I arranged the dinner session separately so that everyone could get to know each other to a certain extent through topics during the dinner, laying the foundation for the next game session (deep ice-breaking).

After dinner, I went to a coffee shop with a nice environment, which I had rented in advance.

I think providing a scene with an environment and privacy factors will facilitate offline gatherings among friends.

In such scenes, people often chat, communicate, or entertain and relax. This is the game scenario I provided to my friends.

2. Action

Triggering is choosing or creating the right path/environment to remind the target group to take action, while action is motivating the target group to complete the action (i.e. participation).

For an action to occur, the actor must first have the motivation to perform the action and the ability to perform the action. Then, if they have sufficient motivation and ability to perform the intended behavior, they will do so when induced/triggered.

———Fogg Behavior Model

Here, Fogg's behavior model is cited as an analysis.

B（Behavior）=M（Motivation）+A（Ability）+T（Triggers）

Action = Motivation + Ability + Trigger

The triggers have been described above, so let’s look at the analysis of motivation and ability.

1) Motivation: Prizes

Continuing with the previous topic (trigger chapter), I don’t want to let my friends have awkward conversations, one reason is that during the dinner, we already have a certain understanding of each other, and another reason is that communication and chatting is a one-to-one/one-to-many thing.

When people communicate, there must be "speaking" and "listening". This method is more suitable for offline gatherings with a small number of people. If there are more people, it will become the following two situations:

① A group of people listen to your speech, and there is a "core" person in the group;

②When you are talking, the other people who are on good terms with you are also talking, each of them is doing their own thing and not interrupting each other;

Taking into account the possibility of the above two situations, I set up a game session. In order to trigger friends to participate in the game, I set up some small prizes at my own expense (of course, punishment can also be used instead - depending on people's social tolerance and familiarity), so that everyone can have fun.

In Fogg's behavioral model, there are three core motivations that drive people to take action:

① Pursue happiness and avoid pain;

② Pursue hope and avoid fear;

③ Seeking recognition and avoiding rejection;

I chose to motivate my partners to participate in the game through two aspects:

① Game entertainment level: entertainment + reward = happiness;

②Social level: confrontation + cooperation = social.

① In terms of game entertainment, I chose three types of games as content support: casual, lucky, and competitive. Players can choose the corresponding game links according to their own personality and hobbies. During entertainment, points earned can be exchanged for prizes, satisfying the user's sense of accomplishment. Physical prizes also give players tangible gains and happiness.

The value of the prize may not be very high, but it can serve as a goal. You can get corresponding gifts by playing games, which is of course more interesting than playing with unfamiliar people.

② On the social level, the ways to obtain points (game play) include competitive competition and cooperative teamwork. Players can interact with each other by competing against their opponents, developing a sense of competition; they can also form teams to work together to clear levels, thereby developing bonds and deepening connections.

2) Ability

For an action to occur, the actor must first have the motivation to perform the action and the ability to perform the action. Then, if they have sufficient motivation and ability to perform the intended behavior, they will do so when induced/triggered.

———Fogg Behavior Model

Remember this behavioral model? For an action to occur, the actor must first have the motivation to perform the action and the ability to perform the action.

When designing the game, I not only considered the game content, but also considered the target audience of the game. The following three categories of games basically meet the needs of the dozen or so friends on the scene and match their abilities, so they can get started quickly:

In actual event project planning, we must carefully consider the capabilities and execution of the target group. For example, try to think about the following styles:

①For children: simple and interesting;

② For the elderly: Don’t be too novel, but have some depth and connotation;

③For young people: diverse styles and complex and diverse content;

Of course, the above three are not perfect answers. Readers can think about what kind of people these groups are from the user's perspective? What are the characteristics of universality? How to meet the universal characteristics of a certain group?

3. Reward and Investment

Whenever I talk about the HOOK model, I like to explain these two items together.

From triggers come motivations, and from motivations come actions. Players participating in the game will also consider the cost of their actions, and of course game designers must also consider this aspect.

①Do the prizes you offer match the effort the players put in?

②How to achieve activity results while controlling costs? (Activity closed loop)

Generally speaking, there are four forms of input: ① time; ② money or equivalent; ③ physical strength; ④ mental strength;

At its core, it’s simple. Control the costs invested by players and match the corresponding products and values. This is also the core ability of an excellent planner.

Please forgive me for posting the reward picture again. I will not explain in detail why I set this exchange point value and exchange rules. Please think about the logic behind this from the details of the case.

Taking advantage of the small group activity prepared for this birthday celebration, I wrote this article and shared it with you all. Reach, action, reward, and investment. These are not very novel behavioral models. The AARRR operation model and RFM user value model that we are familiar with may be more complete than them. However, the HOOK model can more directly understand the generation and characteristics of user behavior.

In the growth path of attracting new users-active-retention-conversion-dissemination, it is quite interesting to try to use the HOOK model to analyze the different behavior points of different users in detail.