How Future Ad Labs and Heinz monetised the Captcha

Any idea what these words say?

We all hate completing these boxes when filling in forms.

At least 300 million CAPTCHAs are completed daily, which equates to 150,000 human hours wasted every day.

We know it makes it secure and it’s for our own good, but squinting at indecipherable words is annoying – basically security is never fun.

But Future Ad Labs thinks it can be.

Head in the game

Simultaneously monetising and gamifying the CAPTCHA, Future Ad Labs has launched an intriguing alternative.

PlayCaptcha replaces the standard security feature with a game.

Developed for Heinz, one game invites visitors to pour a virtual bottle of Salad Cream onto a sandwich.

And with Reckitt Benckiser, the team has created a virtual dirty penny which users clean by dragging it into a bowl of Cillit Bang.

By enjoying the experience more than its alternatives, users are more likely to remember the brands and products involved.

Designed to CAPCHTA our hearts

Research conducted with Vizeum found more than 9 out of 10 respondents found PlayCaptcha to be a better user experience than standard word-based CAPTCHAs, with another 9 out of 10 users recalling the Heinz product following the completion of the task.

“The success rates of PlayCaptcha are undeniably impressive and we are thrilled to be one of the early adopters of such innovative technology”, commented Ian McCarthy at Heinz.