Name, place, animal … fruit and vegetables! Gamification and online search trends

Gamification can start from the most traditional games. For example, how can you make the timeless game of “name, place, animal” more compelling? By adding a few extra categories to the competition, such as fruit and vegetables! This is what emerged, along with other interesting data, from two studies carried out by our in-house department. And this must have been the thought of millions of Italians during the various phases of lockdown. By analysing online queries, in fact, you can notice search spikes related to the “…that starts with…” topic precisely during the periods of the strictest Covid restrictions. Not only, as you might expect, in March 2020, but also in December of the same year and in March 2021. A trend that continued into the new year as well, with a considerable increase in January 2022, a sign that the gamification process is only just beginning. So, which were the fruit and vegetables that proved trickiest for Italians, to the point of having to resort to Google searches to win the game? Vegetables starting with “g” and fruit starting with “e”: these were the toughest challenges of the last two years!

Gamification: what it is, why and for whom it matters

The term gamification refers to the use of mechanisms typical of games in other contexts. In other words, playful elements are applied outside the game itself, turning something that originally has nothing to do with the world of games into play and competition. In Italian it could be translated with the term “ludicizzazione”, whereby elements such as rewards, levels, leaderboards and scores are applied to a non-playful context. A very useful system for marketing and the new frontiers of communication: applying playful elements to services and products makes them more appealing, interesting and engaging. Building competition around brand elements increases awareness and improves the audience’s sentiment towards the brand. Through gamification it is possible to reach a wider audience, encouraging loyalty and creating a genuine relationship of value with the audience. From this point of view, fruit and vegetables searched online can become an added value for online grocery retail, but also a strategic asset for agricultural businesses and the food-service sector. Using online search reports to identify new trends and possible future scenarios, and adding playful aspects to your commercial and value proposition, are an important tool for improving your business.

Which fruit starts with “e”? Gamification and SEO

Now it’s time for the challenge: the letter drawn is “E”. Everything seems to be going smoothly and you start filling in the boxes at full speed: Emanuele, elastic, Empoli … Panic: which fruit starts with “e”? A question that recorded almost 50,000 absolute searches in March 2020, over 22,000 in December 2020 and 18,100 in January 2022. Fruit starting with “e” is the most searched among queries about the initial letters of fruit. Indeed, the difficulty is very high: there are only two fruits that start with this letter: eucalyptus, the fruit of the tree of the same name, and hesperidium, the fleshy fruit typical of citrus. After “e”, the letters that most puzzled Italians were “i”, “t” and “g”. With the last one you can play both guarana and jujube, while with “t” only tamarind. More problematic is “i”, for which no fruits exist. It comes as no surprise, then, that the number of absolute searches exceeded 40,000 queries in March 2020 and reached almost 15,000 in January 2022. If you want to surprise your friends with more common letters too, you can play tomato with “p” and pumpkin with “z”. Although they are commonly considered vegetables, in fact, they are properly fruits, and they will let you win plenty of challenges!

And which vegetable starts with “g”? Gamification and ecommerce

But if tomatoes and pumpkins are fruits, which vegetables can you enter for the letters “p” and “z”? Considering that courgettes are also biologically classified as fruits, for the last letter of the alphabet the choice is between saffron and ginger. With “p” the choice is wider, although you have to be careful: parsley, leeks, potatoes yes, peppers no because they too are fruits. The real nightmare of family and friends’ games, however, was the vegetable with “g”. This letter recorded 3,600 queries in March 2020, almost 2,000 in December of the same year and 1,600 in January 2020. Grain and okra are two excellent answers which, if written quickly, can earn plenty of points. Just as with fruit, for vegetables too the letter “e” threw hundreds of people into crisis. The query “vegetable with e” has an average of over 1,140 monthly queries over the last two years. Here the game is played on speed: edamame and chives will win the challenge. A great tip for anyone who has or wants to open an ecommerce store.

Online search reports: not just gamification

These curiosities emerge thanks to online search reports on the most searched seasonal fruit and vegetables online. An in-depth and detailed investigation that makes it possible to identify trends and habits, showing a snapshot of the market, interests and purchase intentions. For all operators in the food sector, grocery retail, supermarkets but also food service, online search reports can become an added value. By showing which foods and ingredients users’ interest concentrates on the most, the reports can kick off communication and SEO optimisation strategies, but also serve as the basis for editorial plans and blogs.

The most searched vegetables online in summer are three fruits!

The most searched vegetables in summer are peppers, with an average search volume of 60,667 monthly queries since March 2020. This is the highest average search volume of all: peppers are the kings of online searches. Absolute queries, in fact, never drop below 40,000 and reach peaks even above 90,000. But, as mentioned during the game, they are properly fruits! Just like tomatoes and aubergines, also heavily searched online with an average search volume of 52,025 and 44,888 queries respectively over the last 24 months. And courgettes too, which from April to July 2020 maintained an average of 74,000 monthly queries, are the fruit of the plant of the same name. In short, summer seasonal vegetables should actually be counted among the seasonal fruits. The biological and scientific difference lies in the fact that a fruit is defined as anything that grows from the flower of a plant following pollination and contains seeds inside. Vegetables, on the other hand, grow from leaves, stems and roots.

The most searched autumn vegetable is the pumpkin, which is a fruit! Gamification and seasonality

Among the seasons, autumn is the one that concentrates the highest number of online searches for the keyword “seasonal vegetables”, with peaks above 13,000 queries both in autumn 2020 and in the 2021 season. This record is certainly due to searches for the pumpkin, which in October reach 165,000 units. And then there are mushrooms which, again in October, totalled 90,500 searches in 2020 and 74,000 in 2021. Yet, both pumpkins and mushrooms are not really vegetables. Even though we are in the realm of gamification, and therefore less “serious”, we cannot overlook the fact that the pumpkin is a fruit while mushrooms fall within the natural kingdom of fungi. To follow science, then, the most searched autumn vegetables are properly broccoli, with a monthly average of 53,568 queries over the last 24 months, and a peak of 90,500 searches in January 2021.

Seasonal fruit in autumn

The pumpkin thus paves the way for autumn fruit. Here, the undisputed stars of October queries are chestnuts, which exceed 400,000 monthly searches. A highly concentrated search volume, which already in November drops drastically. Pomegranate, grapes and persimmons compete for third place on the podium. In terms of average search volume, it is grapes that take the bronze medal, with an average of 58,054 monthly queries over the last two years. Looking at the peaks, however, it is a head-to-head between pomegranate and persimmons, with the former totalling 143,100 absolute searches in October, both in 2020 and 2021, and the latter reaching 144,100 queries in November 2020.

Spring is the season of strawberries

After autumn, spring is the most searched season for fruit. The days that grow longer after the cold months and the darkness already in the afternoon, the longing for holidays and the blooming flowers, spark a desire for new flavours and colours. So spring fruit sees its online searches grow as early as February, reaching its peaks between March and April.  In the three months of March, April and May, the search volume exceeds 25,000 queries. The peak was recorded in March 2020, with as many as 31,450 online searches. What are the most searched fruits in spring? Between March and April there’s no contest: Italians crave strawberries! The strawberry represents the beginning of spring: it starts to bloom and ripen just as the cold ends. Strawberries mark the start of the warm season, a foretaste too of the summer to come. In April 2020 queries exceeded 90,000 units, while in 2021 the peak was in April with 74,000. While strawberries reach the highest peaks, in terms of average the most searched spring fruit is the kiwi. The average search level throughout the year is 47,120 online searches per month. Here peaks are recorded between February and March, and queries rarely drop below 30,000 per month in the other months too. A fruit that is particularly loved and searched for throughout the year, also for its properties and benefits. When you manage to blend the irony of gamification with information and advice, communication and marketing benefit greatly. That is why we always recommend planning editorial calendars that feature different tones of voice.   If you are interested in a gamification marketing proposal for your products or services, contact us: we will find a strategy to improve your online visibility

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