By David Scott Smith
In an age of Tivo, iPod, Podcasts, and Xboxes, today’s consumers are turning from traditional media to new forms of electronic entertainment, making them increasingly more difficult to reach through traditional advertising mediums. The challenge that marketers face today is finding innovative — and entertaining —opportunities to connect their brand with their targeted audiences.
A new media vehicle for brand marketing is through the use of advergames. Advergames are custom-developed online video games created specifically for a brand, where the plot and game-play revolve around a featured product or offering. Through word of mouth, offline marketing and online gaming channels, consumers are invited to play these branded games for free. Advergames are typically posted to a special area of an organization’s Web site, and are distributed to consumers through e-mail or accessed from popular online gaming portals. Advergames are quickly becoming a natural catalyst for generating viral advertising opportunities.
Studies show that consumers are willing to enjoy hours of free online gaming entertainment for the small price of experiencing subtle product placement and brand messaging in the context of the game. Many leading brands — ranging from Axe, Coca Cola, Dodge, Ford and Nike — have created their own branded video games, which allow consumers to experience their products through branded entertainment.
The key factor in making a successful advergame is incorporating a brand or product into the game to create a realistic and entertaining situation around the game play. An example of this would be if an automobile manufacturer featured the exact make and model of a SUV in an off-roading game. As players advance in the game, they could update to a higher model SUV and also select upgraded vehicle features. Likewise, a brand-name athletic shoe company could feature a sneaker in a basketball advergame. As players advanced in the game, they could select different models of shoes that would affect their performance and strength of their basketball abilities.
The success of an advergame is easily measured. Because prospect data and contact information is gained from game registration, brands can easily track who is visiting the site, the total accumulated hours of game play, and the number of times a game was referred or e-mailed to a friend — all valuable information to marketers.
Advergames present a tremendous viral branding opportunity for companies to exponentially distribute branded content across a range of audiences. With consumers increasingly turning from traditional media to new forms of electronic entertainment, it’s time for brand marketers to “get their game on” if they want to keep their competitive edge.
Tuesday, 26 June 2007
In-Game Advertising: Get Your Brand in the Game!
By David Scott Smith
Looking for new, innovative methods beyond traditional and online advertising to reach your target audience and increase brand awareness? In-game advertising may be the answer.
According to a Nielsen Interactive Entertainment study conducted in the fall of 2005, television viewership among men ages 18-34 has declined 12 percent, while this same audience spent 20 percent more time with video games. As a result, this highly elusive male demographic has become increasingly difficult to reach, especially through traditional advertising mediums. With market segments turning from traditional media to new forms of electronic entertainment, it’s time for brands to get in the game — literally — if they want to continue capturing audience share.
Unlike television viewers, which tend to be more passive, video game players are focused and actively involved in the gaming experience. Constantly alert and responsive to every element on the screen, gamers are an intensely captive audience. Unlike television advertising, which is often dismissed or ignored by the audience, in-game advertising can actually enhance the realism of the game play, thereby creating a positive connection between brands and consumers.
Companies looking to integrate their brand or products in video games will find a wide range of promotional advertising opportunities, including:
Looking for new, innovative methods beyond traditional and online advertising to reach your target audience and increase brand awareness? In-game advertising may be the answer.
According to a Nielsen Interactive Entertainment study conducted in the fall of 2005, television viewership among men ages 18-34 has declined 12 percent, while this same audience spent 20 percent more time with video games. As a result, this highly elusive male demographic has become increasingly difficult to reach, especially through traditional advertising mediums. With market segments turning from traditional media to new forms of electronic entertainment, it’s time for brands to get in the game — literally — if they want to continue capturing audience share.
Unlike television viewers, which tend to be more passive, video game players are focused and actively involved in the gaming experience. Constantly alert and responsive to every element on the screen, gamers are an intensely captive audience. Unlike television advertising, which is often dismissed or ignored by the audience, in-game advertising can actually enhance the realism of the game play, thereby creating a positive connection between brands and consumers.
Companies looking to integrate their brand or products in video games will find a wide range of promotional advertising opportunities, including:
- Dynamic ad placement — Dynamic ad placement allows for static and video-based ads to be positioned in console, PC, and online games. With the advent of live online gaming, ads can now be tracked and evaluated, offering time-sensitive messaging and geographic targeting, which allows brands to maximize their exposure among their target audience.
- Product placement — Product placement integrates consumer products into the scenery of a game in much the same way products are placed in television and film.
- Situation or plot placement — Situation or plot placement integrates products into the active game play. For example, you might see a vending machine featuring a popular cola brand displayed prominently in a video game, where a player might drink a can of cola to “power up” before completing the next challenge.
- Advergaming — Advergames are interactive games developed specifically for a brand where the plot and game-play revolve around a featured product. Advergames are generally posted to a corporate Web site or distributed through online game channels for download. Advergames are quickly becoming a natural catalyst for generating viral advertising opportunities.
The Streaking Game
The Streaking Game
Your name is Sputter Freesway; and you’re a streaker for hire. Companies hire you to streak at popular events to promote their brand. The longer you manage to run around and get the crowd’s attention with wild stunts (without getting busted by the police), the more you’ll get paid.
Now get out there and shake your money maker!
Your name is Sputter Freesway; and you’re a streaker for hire. Companies hire you to streak at popular events to promote their brand. The longer you manage to run around and get the crowd’s attention with wild stunts (without getting busted by the police), the more you’ll get paid.
Now get out there and shake your money maker!MMOs Set to Grow
If you've been avoiding jumping into the MMO pool, you may not be able to for much longer.
by Daemon Hatfield
by Daemon Hatfield
March 20, 2007 - A report released today by media analyst Screen Digest suggests that massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) are here to stay and are going to become even more popular over the next several years. Titled "Western World MMOG Market: 2006 Review and Forecasts to 2011," the report finds that the MMO market in North America and Europe hit one billion for the first time in 2006.Most of the cash generated from MMOs comes from subscriptions, which account for 87 percent of the market. But new business models like in-game advertising and microtransactions are on the rise, and are expected to slice a bigger piece of the pie in the coming years. In 2006, the North American subscription market hit $576 million, and Europe rose to $299 million. Europe has seen the fastest growth over the last few years, rising from $74 million in 2004, and is expected to see the most growth over the next few, as well.
MMO publishers can follow this green staircase to the money pile.
World of Warcraft is still the most popular subscription MMO in the Western market, by far. Blizzard's money-printing machine accounted for 54 percent of the subscription market in 2006 and generated $471 million in revenue. WoW's next-nearest competitor is Jagex's RuneScape, a much smaller-profile game from a boutique developer. Overall subscription revenue in the Western market in 2006 was worth $875 million.
Here's a screenshot from the new Pac-Man MMO.
"During the past few years the Western landscape for MMOGs has become increasingly fragmented following the introduction of new genres of game including social networking, virtual pet rearing, and virtual world building title," says Piers Harding-Rolls, Games Analyst at Screen Digest. "These new games and platforms have brought with them many new gamers and also new business models that are generating revenue that is largely incremental to the incumbent subscription business."By 2011, Screen Digest predicts over 10 million subscription accounts will be generating $1.5 billion in MMO revenue. Germany should maintain the largest amount of subscriptions in Europe, followed by the UK. France is set to see the strongest growth of European countries, growing 15 percent annually, with Spain and Italy both growing by 14 percent a year.Piers Harding-Rolls says, "Growth in the market will be primarily driven by increasing broadband household penetration, increasing penetration of online console platforms, and the continued introduction of more casual MMOG experiences, which are attractive to a wide number of consumers."
BMW pursuit Across Europe
If you thought you had seen everything in Advergaming.
Dont be too sure till you saw this. http://www.bmw-pace.com/pace/
They say its not a game but "The most interesting movie you have seen, and guess what you are playing the lead role" :)
Maxim's Top Ten Video Game Toilets
We know India has a few clean toilets.
But computer games? Maxim guides us through video games' twelve best restrooms.
But computer games? Maxim guides us through video games' twelve best restrooms.
Get Serious About In-Game Marketing
CNET Networks Entertainment's John Broady talks about why in-game ads are increasing marketer reach and relevance, and why they aren't just for kids anymore.
As vice president of operations and business intelligence, John Broady manages both the development of advertising opportunities and the creation of vital business-analysis tools for the CNET Networks Entertainment properties, which include GameSpot, TV.com, MP3.com and FilmSpot.
John Broady: Our strategy at CNET Networks is to build brands for people and the things they are passionate about, and gaming is definitely one of those areas of passion for our users. In my role, I closely analyze our users' natural website activity on GameSpot.com to spot trends both in our users' interests and also in the gaming industry at large. For instance, in October of 2006 we noticed that our users were consuming an extraordinary amount of content about the Nintendo Wii; we knew ahead of time that Nintendo had a big hit on its hands. We offer this business intelligence to game publishers in the form of GameSpot Trax.
Harris: How large is the current gaming market? What about the gaming audience do you think it would surprise most marketers to know?
Broady: It's huge! In January through March of this year alone, consumers spent $3.2 billion on gaming systems and game software. Most marketers would be most surprised to learn that the gaming population is older (it's not just teens) and more diverse (more women and parents are playing games than ever before) than the common perception.
Harris: With so many demographics groups embracing gaming, how do you market within games to all these different people at the same time?
Broady: That's a great question. But I believe that games actually offer a more targeted marketing opportunity than most other media. Most games appeal to a targeted portion of the gaming population, whether that's "hardcore teen gamers" or "kid beginner gamers." With this knowledge alone, a marketer has a good shot at crafting an appropriate marketing message.
Another plus for marketers is that as more and more games include a significant online component, more users will be "signed in" when they play games; this will allow marketers to craft a marketing message that is targeted to an individual based on age, gender and other factors.
Harris: TV viewers use TiVo to flip through commercials. Movie-goers complain or show up late to avoid ads before the film. So, what is it about the gaming market that is more accepting of marketing messages within the entertainment content?
Broady: I HATE those ads before movies. I actually go out of my way to see movies at a theater in San Francisco that promises not to pre-show ads. And I have to admit that I use my TiVo to skip over broadcast ads as well.
The advantage to in-game marketing is that it offers marketers three great ways to reach consumers:
An innocuous advertisement in the form of a billboard or kiosk (much like the ads you see behind home plate on televised baseball games). A key product placement that actually moves the story forward. Afterall, your race car driver has to drive a car… it might as well be the latest, greatest Chevrolet! A real-time opportunity to take an action based on something that's just happened in the game. For instance, a player could choose to purchase a solution to solve a particularly difficult puzzle, or alternatively to buy those jeans that the main character is wearing.Harris: Are there examples of games that you feel have done an outstanding job of incorporating marketing messages into the play experience? What can brands do to provide a more relevant marketing experience within games?
Broady: So far, the best examples of in-game marketing have been in virtual world games, and Second Life stands out. In fact, CNET Networks once had a "party" in Second Life in a building that looked almost exactly like our corporate headquarters!
But more clever messages are showing up in traditional games. For instance, the game "Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory" featured an ad for Axe body spray as part of a puzzle. That was a great match of marketer and audience.
Harris: On the flip-side, what could a brand do to really blow it when marketing in games? Are there any absolute don'ts or things to watch out for?
Broady: I'm a believer that the best practices in marketing stay the same, regardless of the medium. Today's consumers will pay the most attention to messages that are relevant, funny and actually add something to an experience. If I were a marketer, I'd make sure that my agency were scouting out only games that were a great (and I mean great) fit for my brand or product.
Harris: What would you say is the biggest challenge for entertainment brands that want to incorporate their TV or film properties into a gaming experience?
Broady: It's interesting you ask that question, because we experienced this same issue, only in reverse. At CNET Networks Entertainment, our first site was GameSpot. As we rolled out new brands such as MP3.com, TV.com and FilmSpot, it took us several months before we stopped looking at the world through a gamer's perspective!
The biggest difference is that users consume most media, such as films and music, to relax. But users consume games to challenge themselves and to compete; games are very much a task-centered experience. How can I get from point A to point B? Entertainment brands need to make sure that their marketing message is relevant to the task at hand, or they will miss their target by a mile.
Harris: What are your thoughts on multiplayer online games? Do these capture the same user attention for brands as other gaming formats, or are they so singularly immersive that marketing messages are more likely to get overlooked?
Broady: Multiplayer online games are definitely intense, but with players' senses heightened to make that next kill, a well-thought-out marketing message has a great chance of being absorbed.
Harris: Is there a secret weapon of in-game marketing or a technique that marketers aren't yet embracing the value of?
Broady: The biggest secret weapon is to understand games. If you're a marketer and you don't play games, either start playing them or hire someone who does. Gamers are the farthest thing from a captive audience. In this case, knowledge truly is power.
Harris: What do you see as being the next big thing in game-related marketing? Anything on the horizon that you are excited about seeing?
Broady: I still remember being 11 years old in a movie theater, watching with rapt attention as Elliot laid a trail of Reese's Pieces to lure E.T. to out of the redwood forest. Reese's Pieces were on our shopping list for months afterwards. I'm still waiting for my "E.T." moment in gaming. But I'm sure my wait will be worth it; games are the perfect place for a product to move the story forward and at the same time make a huge impact in gamers' imagination.
I hope marketers out there will see that there's nothing to be scared of here. Only opportunity.
As vice president of operations and business intelligence, John Broady manages both the development of advertising opportunities and the creation of vital business-analysis tools for the CNET Networks Entertainment properties, which include GameSpot, TV.com, MP3.com and FilmSpot.
John Broady: Our strategy at CNET Networks is to build brands for people and the things they are passionate about, and gaming is definitely one of those areas of passion for our users. In my role, I closely analyze our users' natural website activity on GameSpot.com to spot trends both in our users' interests and also in the gaming industry at large. For instance, in October of 2006 we noticed that our users were consuming an extraordinary amount of content about the Nintendo Wii; we knew ahead of time that Nintendo had a big hit on its hands. We offer this business intelligence to game publishers in the form of GameSpot Trax.
Harris: How large is the current gaming market? What about the gaming audience do you think it would surprise most marketers to know?
Broady: It's huge! In January through March of this year alone, consumers spent $3.2 billion on gaming systems and game software. Most marketers would be most surprised to learn that the gaming population is older (it's not just teens) and more diverse (more women and parents are playing games than ever before) than the common perception.
Harris: With so many demographics groups embracing gaming, how do you market within games to all these different people at the same time?
Broady: That's a great question. But I believe that games actually offer a more targeted marketing opportunity than most other media. Most games appeal to a targeted portion of the gaming population, whether that's "hardcore teen gamers" or "kid beginner gamers." With this knowledge alone, a marketer has a good shot at crafting an appropriate marketing message.
Another plus for marketers is that as more and more games include a significant online component, more users will be "signed in" when they play games; this will allow marketers to craft a marketing message that is targeted to an individual based on age, gender and other factors.
Harris: TV viewers use TiVo to flip through commercials. Movie-goers complain or show up late to avoid ads before the film. So, what is it about the gaming market that is more accepting of marketing messages within the entertainment content?
Broady: I HATE those ads before movies. I actually go out of my way to see movies at a theater in San Francisco that promises not to pre-show ads. And I have to admit that I use my TiVo to skip over broadcast ads as well.
The advantage to in-game marketing is that it offers marketers three great ways to reach consumers:
An innocuous advertisement in the form of a billboard or kiosk (much like the ads you see behind home plate on televised baseball games). A key product placement that actually moves the story forward. Afterall, your race car driver has to drive a car… it might as well be the latest, greatest Chevrolet! A real-time opportunity to take an action based on something that's just happened in the game. For instance, a player could choose to purchase a solution to solve a particularly difficult puzzle, or alternatively to buy those jeans that the main character is wearing.Harris: Are there examples of games that you feel have done an outstanding job of incorporating marketing messages into the play experience? What can brands do to provide a more relevant marketing experience within games?
Broady: So far, the best examples of in-game marketing have been in virtual world games, and Second Life stands out. In fact, CNET Networks once had a "party" in Second Life in a building that looked almost exactly like our corporate headquarters!
But more clever messages are showing up in traditional games. For instance, the game "Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory" featured an ad for Axe body spray as part of a puzzle. That was a great match of marketer and audience.
Harris: On the flip-side, what could a brand do to really blow it when marketing in games? Are there any absolute don'ts or things to watch out for?
Broady: I'm a believer that the best practices in marketing stay the same, regardless of the medium. Today's consumers will pay the most attention to messages that are relevant, funny and actually add something to an experience. If I were a marketer, I'd make sure that my agency were scouting out only games that were a great (and I mean great) fit for my brand or product.
Harris: What would you say is the biggest challenge for entertainment brands that want to incorporate their TV or film properties into a gaming experience?
Broady: It's interesting you ask that question, because we experienced this same issue, only in reverse. At CNET Networks Entertainment, our first site was GameSpot. As we rolled out new brands such as MP3.com, TV.com and FilmSpot, it took us several months before we stopped looking at the world through a gamer's perspective!
The biggest difference is that users consume most media, such as films and music, to relax. But users consume games to challenge themselves and to compete; games are very much a task-centered experience. How can I get from point A to point B? Entertainment brands need to make sure that their marketing message is relevant to the task at hand, or they will miss their target by a mile.
Harris: What are your thoughts on multiplayer online games? Do these capture the same user attention for brands as other gaming formats, or are they so singularly immersive that marketing messages are more likely to get overlooked?
Broady: Multiplayer online games are definitely intense, but with players' senses heightened to make that next kill, a well-thought-out marketing message has a great chance of being absorbed.
Harris: Is there a secret weapon of in-game marketing or a technique that marketers aren't yet embracing the value of?
Broady: The biggest secret weapon is to understand games. If you're a marketer and you don't play games, either start playing them or hire someone who does. Gamers are the farthest thing from a captive audience. In this case, knowledge truly is power.
Harris: What do you see as being the next big thing in game-related marketing? Anything on the horizon that you are excited about seeing?
Broady: I still remember being 11 years old in a movie theater, watching with rapt attention as Elliot laid a trail of Reese's Pieces to lure E.T. to out of the redwood forest. Reese's Pieces were on our shopping list for months afterwards. I'm still waiting for my "E.T." moment in gaming. But I'm sure my wait will be worth it; games are the perfect place for a product to move the story forward and at the same time make a huge impact in gamers' imagination.
I hope marketers out there will see that there's nothing to be scared of here. Only opportunity.
Your Go-To Guide for In-Game Advertising
Get a complete overview of the in-game advertising sector, and see how to make best use of the opportunities available.
Game on
It seems hardly a day goes by without a fresh news article or story relating to in-game advertising. Faced with game-changing challenges in almost every aspect of their traditional B2C marketing communications landscape, the foremost brands and agencies are now moving out of the "test phase" with in-game advertising and investing dedicated budgets and infrastructure at a level that will have a measurable impact alongside other core marketing activities.
Early adopters such as Daimler Chrysler, Intel and Red Bull have already captured significant mindshare, but the variety of brands adopting the medium is now as broad as the game genres in which they appear, and every major territorial market is waking up to the unique dual benefits of engagement and measurability that in-game advertising brings.
This first article in a series of three will take a look at the specific categories that exist within in-game advertising, and the ideal uses and benefits of each.
Dynamic advertising
Dynamic advertising is a relatively new method of using embedded software, a dedicated back-end infrastructure and the internet to update, change and track the viewing of advertising placements in a game in real-time. The aggregation of a potentially unlimited number of games, genres and platforms into a network counteracts fragmentation and allows for extremely high potential reach, even when sub-sampled into specific geo-demographics.
Advantages. The advantages to this model include the ability to serve high value 'above the line' creative into a range of standardised ad formats. Dynamic in-game ads also provide extremely high accountability, thanks to a combination of a uniquely engaged audience, minimum size-on-screen impression thresholds and a CPM-style trading metric, effectively guaranteeing delivery. It also delivers the ability to go live with a new campaign within hours, and to localize messaging by territory.
Disadvantages. There are no obvious disadvantages, however segmented reach (territory, genre vertical, demographic, et cetera) has yet to reach critical mass, but it is growing very rapidly. Also there is yet to be a standard impression metric between networks, so it is important for marketers to understand the different options before embarking on an in-game campaign.
Future potential. Once network reach hits critical mass and metrics are proven and standardized, buying dynamic in-game advertising will be as natural and commonplace as TV, print, outdoor or online. Independent market forecasts are currently in excess of $1 billion by 2010.
Static advertising
The term "static advertising" has frequently been used as a catch-all for any non-dynamic opportunities, including product placement. However, static advertising is really the definition of billboard and logo placements that are "hardcoded" into the game environments before the game launch. This was the primary form of in-game advertising until the advent of the internet-enabled console and the subsequent dynamic ad networks.
Advantages. Static in-game ads allow you to reach every user of the game, regardless of internet connectivity, and they are still the only way to reach users of certain platforms, which are not yet enabled for dynamic advertising.
Disadvantages. It is currently impossible to accurately track ad viewing metrics, or to update or switch off campaigns. Long lead times for creative also need to be in place, due to game approval, mastering and distribution processes. There is also fairly limited geo-demographic reach in any one single game title compared to a dynamic buy.
Future potential. Static placements are likely to be substantially replaced by dynamic advertising inventory as volume and penetration of internet-connected game platforms increases.
Product placement
As with product placement on both the big and small screen, there are growing opportunities for brands to include products and product references within popular videogames. However, games are able to go that crucial step further than Hollywood by allowing the player to actually interact with a product and to experience product features and benefits in a completely contextual entertainment setting.
Advantages. No other medium allows marketers to get a fully operational, photorealistic and physically accurate model of their goods into millions of hands in a contextual setting before the product has even hit the shelves.
Advantages. No other medium allows marketers to get a fully operational, photorealistic and physically accurate model of their goods into millions of hands in a contextual setting before the product has even hit the shelves.
Disadvantages. Despite offering very obvious value, it is currently difficult to quantify the impact of in-game product placement in raw ROI terms. Opportunities are also limited and very specific, demanding a close working relationship with the game developer / in-game agency, and a healthy pre-launch time schedule and budget. In addition, as with static advertising, the hard-coded nature means it cannot be switched off or updated once launched.
Future potential. It is now possible for product placement to be tracked using similar technology to dynamic advertising, allowing for more advanced metrification. Some companies are also experimenting with being able to insert and update 3D geometry with a view to enabling fully dynamic product placement; however, as with a film script, the intrinsic nature of this kind of opportunity within a game design means that this is unlikely to become truly scaleable. Yet, you can expect to see the lines between product placement and branded content to blur, as new interactive content -- such as licensed cars in a racing game -- are offered free-of-charge or discounted to users via digital distribution channels such as the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live.
Advergaming
Advergaming is the creation of a bespoke interactive game based around a brand, product or event. It typically refers to a web-based game due to the need for a simple, cost-effective mass-reach distribution channel. Advergames are often "re-skinned" versions of an existing game, featuring simple yet addictive gameplay mechanics.
Advantages. Advergaming can be 100 percent on-message and provides exclusive share of voice. Moreover, these types of games are typically very sticky, engaging users with easy-to-play, fun dynamics and often a high score element to keep people coming back.
Disadvantages. Advergames need to create their own audiences, and those audiences need to be relevant and in sufficient volume to make the time and expense of developing them worthwhile.
Future potential. More advanced console-based projects, such as the recent Burger King Xbox games, have brought production values up to date, and digital distribution channels on both console and PC will make finding the relevant audience easier.
In-Game Advertising Dos and Don'ts
The Mediaedge:cia strategic planning director shares a few words of wisdom about advertising in games.
In the current environment of evolving technologies and media fragmentation, consumers are in control of their viewing and entertainment choices more than ever before. Amid increasing commercial clutter, that control is challenging advertisers' ability to connect effectively with consumers through advertising and other forms of communication. As advertisers recognize a growing need for a closer interaction between the brand and the consumer, the search for any potential touch-points that can effectively deliver brands' messages never ceases.
Enter video games.
With revenue expected to break the $10 billion mark this year and garner over $300 million in advertising investment, the gaming industry represents a strong marketing opportunity.
Video gaming offers the opportunity to connect with traditionally difficult-to-reach consumers-- young affluent males. It attains the fourth-highest reach (after TV, internet and radio) against teens and heavy gamers. Not only can in-game advertising efficiently reach key consumers, it can also reach them while they are actively engaged with the medium.
How can marketers get smarter by playing in this environment?
In order to maximize the value of in-game communication, several studies have examined the role of brands within video games and players' attitudes towards gaming and in-game communication. The goal has been to learn how best to use games to create meaningful relationships between brands and consumers. The results are a set of insights and guidelines that will help deliver more effective in-game communication.
Ready to play?
A brand's presence should enhance the gaming engagement
Gaming's greatest benefit for brand communication is intense consumer involvement that can transfer over to a brand if the placement is executed in a relevant way. In fact, gamers are giving advertisers clear permission for brands to appear within a game-- so long as the brands serve as conduits for gamers' further immersion into the game, strengthen the game’s sense of escapism, and ultimately enhance the game’s alternate reality experience.
Brand and commercial content must be relevant to the game
As with all forms of communication, relevance of a brand to the game and its key target audience is essential. Hence, each in-game opportunity must be evaluated on its own merits. It's not about "are video games right for my brand?" but rather "which one of the games would be the ideal choice for my brand?" In other words, to prevent avoidance, the communication/commercial content must fit into the type and mood of the game and connect with its players. The key is to understand both the consumer and the game itself.
To maximize the value of in-game communication, marketers and planners must consider a game's purpose and plot, its genre and format, the profile of gamers, the specific brand placement within the game, how, when and where the game is played, as well as the particular culture around the game.
The closer the connection between the brand, the game and the player (i.e., a car in a racing game), the better the chances the game's involvement will transfer onto the brand.
Brands should feel like a natural part of the game
When discussing the value of in-game advertising, we talk about capitalizing on the high emotional investment the average gamer brings into the game. The last thing the gamer will tolerate is a disruption of the game's flow or delaying of the game's rewards caused by the appearance of a brand or its ad totally out of context. To leverage the gamer's genuine active engagement, a brand's creative should reflect the gaming environment and be tailored to an exact position within a game, so that the in-game communication does not feel like an ad, but acts as a natural extension of the game.
Game developers and ad-serving networks should work closely with brand owners and their agencies to optimize a brand’s involvement within a game.
Customization can strengthen gamers' engagement with a brand
Games provide an excellent opportunity for key consumers to experience some brands virtually, often under conditions not possible in the real world. Allowing players to personalize their own in-game experiences -- such as selecting a racing car or a team's logo uniform -- involves them further with the game, moving them deeper into the game's alternate reality. In many instances, this active involvement with in-game products and brands influences players' real-world brand perception and buying behaviors.
In-game communication must be measurable
The opportunity to reach the target audience in a highly involved environment carries a hefty anticipation of getting bang for your buck. Hence, several factors -- defining measurable performance metrics of in-game communication that will capture the degree of active involvement with a brand, improvement in the brand's recognition, perception, anticipated purchase behavior, et cetera -- are essential to the development of ROI metrics and, ultimately, the success of in-game communication.
As more of the above guidelines get incorporated into in-game communication efforts, the more likely it is that marketers will succeed at effectively connecting with a brand’s target consumers.
On the other hand, avoiding the "bombs" below will improve the chances for more effective in-game placements. You can score extra points by never…
In the current environment of evolving technologies and media fragmentation, consumers are in control of their viewing and entertainment choices more than ever before. Amid increasing commercial clutter, that control is challenging advertisers' ability to connect effectively with consumers through advertising and other forms of communication. As advertisers recognize a growing need for a closer interaction between the brand and the consumer, the search for any potential touch-points that can effectively deliver brands' messages never ceases.
Enter video games.
With revenue expected to break the $10 billion mark this year and garner over $300 million in advertising investment, the gaming industry represents a strong marketing opportunity.
Video gaming offers the opportunity to connect with traditionally difficult-to-reach consumers-- young affluent males. It attains the fourth-highest reach (after TV, internet and radio) against teens and heavy gamers. Not only can in-game advertising efficiently reach key consumers, it can also reach them while they are actively engaged with the medium.
How can marketers get smarter by playing in this environment?
In order to maximize the value of in-game communication, several studies have examined the role of brands within video games and players' attitudes towards gaming and in-game communication. The goal has been to learn how best to use games to create meaningful relationships between brands and consumers. The results are a set of insights and guidelines that will help deliver more effective in-game communication.
Ready to play?
A brand's presence should enhance the gaming engagement
Gaming's greatest benefit for brand communication is intense consumer involvement that can transfer over to a brand if the placement is executed in a relevant way. In fact, gamers are giving advertisers clear permission for brands to appear within a game-- so long as the brands serve as conduits for gamers' further immersion into the game, strengthen the game’s sense of escapism, and ultimately enhance the game’s alternate reality experience.
Brand and commercial content must be relevant to the game
As with all forms of communication, relevance of a brand to the game and its key target audience is essential. Hence, each in-game opportunity must be evaluated on its own merits. It's not about "are video games right for my brand?" but rather "which one of the games would be the ideal choice for my brand?" In other words, to prevent avoidance, the communication/commercial content must fit into the type and mood of the game and connect with its players. The key is to understand both the consumer and the game itself.
To maximize the value of in-game communication, marketers and planners must consider a game's purpose and plot, its genre and format, the profile of gamers, the specific brand placement within the game, how, when and where the game is played, as well as the particular culture around the game.
The closer the connection between the brand, the game and the player (i.e., a car in a racing game), the better the chances the game's involvement will transfer onto the brand.
Brands should feel like a natural part of the game
When discussing the value of in-game advertising, we talk about capitalizing on the high emotional investment the average gamer brings into the game. The last thing the gamer will tolerate is a disruption of the game's flow or delaying of the game's rewards caused by the appearance of a brand or its ad totally out of context. To leverage the gamer's genuine active engagement, a brand's creative should reflect the gaming environment and be tailored to an exact position within a game, so that the in-game communication does not feel like an ad, but acts as a natural extension of the game.
Game developers and ad-serving networks should work closely with brand owners and their agencies to optimize a brand’s involvement within a game.
Customization can strengthen gamers' engagement with a brand
Games provide an excellent opportunity for key consumers to experience some brands virtually, often under conditions not possible in the real world. Allowing players to personalize their own in-game experiences -- such as selecting a racing car or a team's logo uniform -- involves them further with the game, moving them deeper into the game's alternate reality. In many instances, this active involvement with in-game products and brands influences players' real-world brand perception and buying behaviors.
In-game communication must be measurable
The opportunity to reach the target audience in a highly involved environment carries a hefty anticipation of getting bang for your buck. Hence, several factors -- defining measurable performance metrics of in-game communication that will capture the degree of active involvement with a brand, improvement in the brand's recognition, perception, anticipated purchase behavior, et cetera -- are essential to the development of ROI metrics and, ultimately, the success of in-game communication.
As more of the above guidelines get incorporated into in-game communication efforts, the more likely it is that marketers will succeed at effectively connecting with a brand’s target consumers.
On the other hand, avoiding the "bombs" below will improve the chances for more effective in-game placements. You can score extra points by never…
- Assuming video games will work with any brand
- Interrupting, delaying or inappropriately altering game-play with in-game communication
- Imposing on gamers' attention with communication that doesn't add to the game
- Assuming real-world creative will work within a video game environment
- Considering "advergames" as an inexpensive way of reaching a gaming audience.
Arming yourself with these guidelines of dos and don’ts when contemplating and executing in-game communication may just help you snatch the big winning score!
Fran Kennish is senior partner, director of strategic planning at MEC MediaLab, part of Mediaedge:cia. As leader of the planning research group, she oversees research needs, capabilities and dissemination of media knowledge across all North American offices.
Friday, 22 June 2007
IGA, Nielsen Partner to Track In-Game Ads
In-game advertising firm IGA Worldwide announced that it has partnered with Nielsen Entertainment to conduct a landmark study of the effectiveness of advertising in videogames.To produce the new research, which will compiled from June through August of this year, IGA has signed on two top videogame publishers – Electronic Arts and Activision – as well as a pair of Omnicom agencies: Organic and PHD. Nielsen will leverage the company’s BASES online research panels to measure videogame advertising’s ability to impact classic ad effectiveness yardsticks, such as awareness and intent to purchase.
According to IGA CEO Justin Townsend, while most major brands and ad agencies are already sold on the need to somehow engage the huge audience for videogames, they are clamoring for more ammunition to justify spending in the medium. “All the brands and the agencies say ‘we’ll increase budgets, just give us the research,’” he said.
Initially, this study will focus only on high-end retail PC games, rather than games played on major consoles like Sony’s PlayStation or Microsoft’s Xbox. High-end PC games also happen to be IGA’s specialty, as the company has existing partnerships with game developers like Activision to place advertising and product placements into games that are played using an Internet connection.Yet Townsend emphasized the study’s collaborative nature as key to producing research that would establish new benchmarks for the growing in-game ad market. “You don’t want to do just one-off case studies,” he said. “We don’t want to set the standards based on our own business model but rather what the industry wants. There is so much impartiality here, at the end of the day, its about the results This should be a major event for the industry.”
Chad Stoller, executive director, emerging platforms at Organic, said that he believes that lessons learned from this research should be applicable for videogame advertising across the board. “There are a lot of players in this particular study,” he said. “It’s very collaborative. It’s ok with me that it is focused on PC games. These players tend to move the marketplace.” : Mike Shields - JUNE 19, 2007.
Tuesday, 19 June 2007
A Look Ahead: Consoles
by Gerry Block
The history of gaming consoles is long and fabled. From the early travails of the first home consoles like the Magnavox Odyssey in the early 1970s, to the industry crashes in 1977 and 1983, to resurrection in 1985 and the 5 successive generations of console battles that have followed, the story is anything but boring. After a degree of stability was reached thanks to the NES in the mid-80s, a loose 5-year hardware cycle took root in the videogame industry. Spurred by the dream of owning the dominant platform in each console generation, historic heavyweights like Atari, Nintendo, and Sega, as well as more recent titans like Sony and Microsoft have invested billions in developing increasingly powerful and feature rich hardware. Today, a three-way battle rages between the 1.5-year old Microsoft Xbox 360 and newer Sony PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii. Though each console is still quite early in its lifespan, the successors to each are undoubtedly already on the drawing boards. Over the many generations of console wars that have gone down in history, the industry has proven itself both adventurous and highly reactionary. As such, when looking forward to the future of gaming consoles to come, the reality of what will eventually be released will likely be dictated as much by what proves successful in the current generation as what is available via technologic progress. To offer insight in what the future of console gaming holds, we offer our analysis and predictions for various aspects of what a 2010 future-console may contain.
Media Storage
Today, the HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray war is still developing, and neither format seems ready to give in. By 2010, or thereabouts, there may well be a resolution that will dictate which of the optical formats it will be sensible to employ. Hardware cost for each, or the winner, will likely be quite low by this time, which will make an inclusion of the technology in a console more a matter of compatibility than a true feature. Unlike previous generations, however, physical media will likely not be the primary mechanism of content distribution for the next round of consoles. Digital distribution is the future, and is in fact already in place. Microsoft's Xbox Live Marketplace is offering both game and movie downloads today, and as increasingly fast broadband internet becomes ubiquitous and storage-cost on hard drives negligible, physical media will fall into decline. As such, expect all of the future-consoles to feature large hard drives for saving downloaded content. By 2010 it's likely that drives capable of hundreds of gigabytes, if not a terabyte or more, will be cost efficient enough to include in videogame consoles.
Hardware Features
In that it's unlikely that any of the future-consoles will aim to exist without the support of the internet, built-in Wi-Fi (probably 802.11n) will likely be an ubiquitous hardware feature. Supporting devices like digital cameras, handheld gaming platforms, and even credit cards are beginning to incorporate Wi-Fi features, which will hopefully lead to wireless convergence among them all by 2010. The manufacturers of gaming consoles have always hoped to capture the position of living-room media hub, and will likely aim to incorporate as much of this new technology as possible in addition to offering media-sharing capabilities similar to, and hopefully even better than, the Media Center Extender functionality of the Xbox 360 and media-hub features of the PlayStation 3, More than 25% of American homes now own HDTVs, and projections indicate we'll reach 50% and more long before 2010. As such, the future-consoles will likely all make HDMI their primary video-output, though we suspect legacy formats will also be supported through at least the next-generation of consoles.
Hardware Processing Power
Prior to the Nintendo Wii, the primary selling point of each and every new gaming console has been the promise of better graphics and more realistic games. Over the roughly 20 years since console gaming became truly established, we've progressed from pixilated models with little to no animation to our current generation of hardware that increasingly nears photo-real quality. Were it not for the recent, but so far unabated, massive enthusiasm for the Nintendo Wii, predicting yet more development of console processing power would be a no-brainer. However, if, and that's a big if, the current sales trends continue, hardware manufacturers may well aim lower in packing processing power into the next generation machines. Limiting hardware cost may become one of, if not the, major focuses in console design in reaction to the popularity of the cheap ($250) Wii and the struggles of the extremely powerful, but expensive ($600) PlayStation 3. Rather than aiming for the stars as Sony did in designing the 9-core Cell Processor, Microsoft and Nintendo's strategy of building consoles from roughly off-the-shelf components derived from PC-technology will likely be employed. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as the strong graphical performance of the Xbox 360 demonstrates today. Nevertheless, such design necessitates that the conceptual future-consoles rely on hardware that is superseded in the PC space by the time the console actually sees the light of day.As such, a future-console intended for a 2010 release will likely share similarities with high-end PC gaming components released in late 2008 or 2009. Multi-core CPUs will be a given, though we'd guess we won't see more than 4-cores unless proprietary chips are designed. Multi-core GPUs are a possibility as well, though rumor suggests ATI's next major platform, the R700, will follow a route of multi-chips instead of multi-cores. Most exciting from the hardware point of view, however, will be the likely addition of dedicated physics processors or processor-cores dedicated to the task. The physics trend, which is in its infancy in PC gaming today, will likely be the next big graphical feature to follow up the "HD-generation" of consoles now on the market. Though games of today feature some real-time physics, with strong hardware support and developer familiarity that will develop by 2010 the future-consoles will likely be showcasing the fully-destructible worlds and true cloth and liquid physics modeling that are making games like Crysis the darlings of the current PC gaming industry.
Controllers
The reactionary quality of the gaming industry was blatantly revealed at E3 2006 when it became known that Sony, in response to the massive enthusiasm the Nintendo Wii's motion-based controller was generating, decided to add tilt-sensitivity to the PS3's SIXAXIS just weeks before the show. With Nintendo now the darling of the 'average-gamer' and reaping great benefits, it's not improbable that each and every future-console will make some form of motion-sensing a key element in its control interface. While we don't expect Nintendo competitors to abandon 'hardcore' controllers in favor of Wiimote like sticks, Wii-like pointing functionality will be assured.
Online Networks
The already-established console networks like Xbox Live and the PlayStation Store will develop and expand in new ways. The potential of leveraging a videogame console as a portal for digital content distribution will be great by 2010, which will mean such networks will expand the breadth of content they provide dramatically. IPTV (essentially cable-TV transmitted via the internet) is another avenue of content distribution that will likely be embraced by future-consoles, and, in fact, Microsoft is already demonstrating the Xbox 360's capabilities in this regard.
Conclusion
The combination of these various elements will likely be future-consoles rather akin to what is available now, simply more powerful and feature rich. Physics, in our estimation, will be the greatest graphical improvement leveraged by the next round of consoles, though software lighting effects like HDR, currently available only to high-end PC gamers, will also make an impact. The true avenue for exciting new capabilities in the next generation, we believe, will be the possibilities provided by digital distribution and IPTV. The gaming consoles of today have already established their utility in this regard, and as the paradigm develops in the coming years, it's likely few other hardware platforms will be able to match their accessibility and installation base.
The history of gaming consoles is long and fabled. From the early travails of the first home consoles like the Magnavox Odyssey in the early 1970s, to the industry crashes in 1977 and 1983, to resurrection in 1985 and the 5 successive generations of console battles that have followed, the story is anything but boring. After a degree of stability was reached thanks to the NES in the mid-80s, a loose 5-year hardware cycle took root in the videogame industry. Spurred by the dream of owning the dominant platform in each console generation, historic heavyweights like Atari, Nintendo, and Sega, as well as more recent titans like Sony and Microsoft have invested billions in developing increasingly powerful and feature rich hardware. Today, a three-way battle rages between the 1.5-year old Microsoft Xbox 360 and newer Sony PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii. Though each console is still quite early in its lifespan, the successors to each are undoubtedly already on the drawing boards. Over the many generations of console wars that have gone down in history, the industry has proven itself both adventurous and highly reactionary. As such, when looking forward to the future of gaming consoles to come, the reality of what will eventually be released will likely be dictated as much by what proves successful in the current generation as what is available via technologic progress. To offer insight in what the future of console gaming holds, we offer our analysis and predictions for various aspects of what a 2010 future-console may contain.
Media Storage
Today, the HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray war is still developing, and neither format seems ready to give in. By 2010, or thereabouts, there may well be a resolution that will dictate which of the optical formats it will be sensible to employ. Hardware cost for each, or the winner, will likely be quite low by this time, which will make an inclusion of the technology in a console more a matter of compatibility than a true feature. Unlike previous generations, however, physical media will likely not be the primary mechanism of content distribution for the next round of consoles. Digital distribution is the future, and is in fact already in place. Microsoft's Xbox Live Marketplace is offering both game and movie downloads today, and as increasingly fast broadband internet becomes ubiquitous and storage-cost on hard drives negligible, physical media will fall into decline. As such, expect all of the future-consoles to feature large hard drives for saving downloaded content. By 2010 it's likely that drives capable of hundreds of gigabytes, if not a terabyte or more, will be cost efficient enough to include in videogame consoles.
Hardware Features
In that it's unlikely that any of the future-consoles will aim to exist without the support of the internet, built-in Wi-Fi (probably 802.11n) will likely be an ubiquitous hardware feature. Supporting devices like digital cameras, handheld gaming platforms, and even credit cards are beginning to incorporate Wi-Fi features, which will hopefully lead to wireless convergence among them all by 2010. The manufacturers of gaming consoles have always hoped to capture the position of living-room media hub, and will likely aim to incorporate as much of this new technology as possible in addition to offering media-sharing capabilities similar to, and hopefully even better than, the Media Center Extender functionality of the Xbox 360 and media-hub features of the PlayStation 3, More than 25% of American homes now own HDTVs, and projections indicate we'll reach 50% and more long before 2010. As such, the future-consoles will likely all make HDMI their primary video-output, though we suspect legacy formats will also be supported through at least the next-generation of consoles.
Hardware Processing Power
Prior to the Nintendo Wii, the primary selling point of each and every new gaming console has been the promise of better graphics and more realistic games. Over the roughly 20 years since console gaming became truly established, we've progressed from pixilated models with little to no animation to our current generation of hardware that increasingly nears photo-real quality. Were it not for the recent, but so far unabated, massive enthusiasm for the Nintendo Wii, predicting yet more development of console processing power would be a no-brainer. However, if, and that's a big if, the current sales trends continue, hardware manufacturers may well aim lower in packing processing power into the next generation machines. Limiting hardware cost may become one of, if not the, major focuses in console design in reaction to the popularity of the cheap ($250) Wii and the struggles of the extremely powerful, but expensive ($600) PlayStation 3. Rather than aiming for the stars as Sony did in designing the 9-core Cell Processor, Microsoft and Nintendo's strategy of building consoles from roughly off-the-shelf components derived from PC-technology will likely be employed. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as the strong graphical performance of the Xbox 360 demonstrates today. Nevertheless, such design necessitates that the conceptual future-consoles rely on hardware that is superseded in the PC space by the time the console actually sees the light of day.As such, a future-console intended for a 2010 release will likely share similarities with high-end PC gaming components released in late 2008 or 2009. Multi-core CPUs will be a given, though we'd guess we won't see more than 4-cores unless proprietary chips are designed. Multi-core GPUs are a possibility as well, though rumor suggests ATI's next major platform, the R700, will follow a route of multi-chips instead of multi-cores. Most exciting from the hardware point of view, however, will be the likely addition of dedicated physics processors or processor-cores dedicated to the task. The physics trend, which is in its infancy in PC gaming today, will likely be the next big graphical feature to follow up the "HD-generation" of consoles now on the market. Though games of today feature some real-time physics, with strong hardware support and developer familiarity that will develop by 2010 the future-consoles will likely be showcasing the fully-destructible worlds and true cloth and liquid physics modeling that are making games like Crysis the darlings of the current PC gaming industry.
Controllers
The reactionary quality of the gaming industry was blatantly revealed at E3 2006 when it became known that Sony, in response to the massive enthusiasm the Nintendo Wii's motion-based controller was generating, decided to add tilt-sensitivity to the PS3's SIXAXIS just weeks before the show. With Nintendo now the darling of the 'average-gamer' and reaping great benefits, it's not improbable that each and every future-console will make some form of motion-sensing a key element in its control interface. While we don't expect Nintendo competitors to abandon 'hardcore' controllers in favor of Wiimote like sticks, Wii-like pointing functionality will be assured.
Online Networks
The already-established console networks like Xbox Live and the PlayStation Store will develop and expand in new ways. The potential of leveraging a videogame console as a portal for digital content distribution will be great by 2010, which will mean such networks will expand the breadth of content they provide dramatically. IPTV (essentially cable-TV transmitted via the internet) is another avenue of content distribution that will likely be embraced by future-consoles, and, in fact, Microsoft is already demonstrating the Xbox 360's capabilities in this regard.
Conclusion
The combination of these various elements will likely be future-consoles rather akin to what is available now, simply more powerful and feature rich. Physics, in our estimation, will be the greatest graphical improvement leveraged by the next round of consoles, though software lighting effects like HDR, currently available only to high-end PC gamers, will also make an impact. The true avenue for exciting new capabilities in the next generation, we believe, will be the possibilities provided by digital distribution and IPTV. The gaming consoles of today have already established their utility in this regard, and as the paradigm develops in the coming years, it's likely few other hardware platforms will be able to match their accessibility and installation base.
Toyota Auris Ice Challenge - ATL Advergaming
Featuring the new Toyota Auris, the « Toyota Auris Ice Challenge » is an online 3D game developed with the Virtools technology.
This close collaboration with the Japanese car manufacturer results in a high-quality application that allows you to take control of one of the 3 versions of the new Auris :
- 2 sports replica versions involved in the Andros Trophy 2006/2007, driven by the famous French drivers Alain Prost, Olivier Panis and Bertrand Balas
- A classic Auris version, whose European launch is scheduled for March 2007.
The "Toyota Auris Ice Challenge" is an online competition organised by Toyota France.
http://www.toyota-auris.fr/
This close collaboration with the Japanese car manufacturer results in a high-quality application that allows you to take control of one of the 3 versions of the new Auris :
- 2 sports replica versions involved in the Andros Trophy 2006/2007, driven by the famous French drivers Alain Prost, Olivier Panis and Bertrand Balas
- A classic Auris version, whose European launch is scheduled for March 2007.
The "Toyota Auris Ice Challenge" is an online competition organised by Toyota France.
http://www.toyota-auris.fr/
With the concept of Advergaming, interactivity becomes much better then entertainment: a communication factor
Advergaming is the practice of using video games to advertise a product, organization or viewpoint. The term "advergames" was coined in January 2000 by Anthony Giallourakis who purchased the URL'S Advergames.com along with Adverplay.com. The term Advergames was later mentioned by Wired's "Jargon Watch" column in 2001, and has been applied to various free online games commissioned by major companies.
One of the most successful online advergaming portal has been Wrigley's Candystand.com. Launched by the LifeSavers Company in March 1997, Candystand.com reaches over 5MM unique users each month. The site features over 65 flash and shockwave games.
One of the most successful online advergaming portal has been Wrigley's Candystand.com. Launched by the LifeSavers Company in March 1997, Candystand.com reaches over 5MM unique users each month. The site features over 65 flash and shockwave games.
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