Virgin Empire, a new educational, engaging and entertaining bank platform for children. The project was a live brief from Virgin Money which tasked us to create a vision for a youth account. Tasked to work in pairs on this short 8 week project very closely with employees from Virgin Money. We created a multi-platform online banking service in the form of a game. This allowing users to build up their own personal Virgin Empire whilst been subconsciously educated on banking through finance and saving plans, also learning about interest in game time. The game platform also had hidden elements, such as research for various Virgin Companies.
Target Audience
For this project we wanted to aim at the age group from which a child gets their first account. The reason for this was that we identified that people tend to stay with the same bank they start with unless they have a really bad experience. As a result we wanted to aim the bank service from the age of 11. We found out that this age group don't tend to be educated on banking and that they don't use online banking. As a result we wanted to create something that would educate and engage users. With this age group in mind, we thought what better than a game, but not just another game, one that entertains whilst educating.
Multi-Platform Application
We created a multi-platform online banking service in the form of a game. This allowing users to build up their own personal Virgin Empire whilst been subconsciously educated on banking through finance and saving plans, also learning about interest in game time. The game platform also had hidden elements, such as research for various Virgin Companies.
Engage
Using a game mechanic named Appointment Dynamic which gives users pre-defined tasks based upon a time element ensures that the user keeps coming back at various times throughout the day. For this platform we have a series of missions with different time scales as well as buildings to collect money from and various times during the day.
Educate
Giving users various tasks in the form of missions with education value hidden behind a game scene. The platform teaches users about finance plans, saving and interest rates. As well as missions giving buying options the game offers a happy meter acting as Richard, this gives the users another reflection point on their actions, their aim to keep Richard happy.
