*Advergaiming: Advertising through Video Games

Advergaming: Advertising through Video Games

The practice of using video games to promote a particular product or an organization is known as “Advergaming” and it has been employed successfully for many years now. “Wired Magazine” first used this term in a column in 2001 to describe the commissioning of free online games by large companies. This type of advertising works best when advertising consumables. Services (unless they are very low cost) do not fair as well employing advergaming.

There are three general categories of Advergaming: ATL Advergaming, BTL Advergaming and TTL Advergaming.
ATL Advergaming can be broadly described as offering a promotional video game. The business incorporates interactive video games on its website so as to create more awareness about their product among the website visitors. This method is also used to attract more visitors to the site and to increase the traffic flow on the website. If the games are made for product advertising, the product is highlighted in the game itself. Again, this type of advertising fares best when a consumable item is being marketed.

Before the invention of the internet, floppy disks and later compact disks were used as a medium to promote games and in turn a particular product. It started with a floppy disk basically to create awareness as well as product promotion. The first Advergame was distributed by American Home Food, which was developed by Chef Boyardee. Taco Bell and Coca Cola followed by giving customers floppy disks containing promotional games. The first Advergame to be distributed on compact disk was by Chex and General Mills. The graphics of these games have matured from arcade style flash to three-dimensional visual masterpieces.

BTL Advergaming is comprised of recruitment tools like In-game advertising, militiamen and edutainment. Usually the mascot of the particular company is depicted as the hero in such games. Pepsi man and Burger man were the mascots used in promotional games designed by Pepsi and Burger King respectively. The storyline of these games can be commercial, educational or recruitment in nature. An example of recruitment is the game ‘American Army’. It was created to attract more youths towards devoting their lives to an army career. Games meant to promote sports like Formula One racing are also a part of this technique.

In-game advertising is more of a commercial type and is purely targeted for promotion of the product via the game. This type of advertising continues to accelerate. It has become especially popular in the motion cinema industry. Many action-type movies are promoted by this method. A good example can be seen on the website for the movie, ‘The Mummy’. This site contains games possessing a storyline similar to the movie and the player is given knowledge of the facts about the movie and its subject, the Egyptian Mummy. Along similar lines, Educational Advergaming refers to games that portray a moral message to the players.

These games can also act as a medium of advertisement themselves like in the video game of EA Sports; banners of Pepsi line the frame of the game. By using this strategy the companies are able to provide low price or free games to consumers that continuously advertise their brand subliminally. This advertising tool is also effective in reducing the price of games that have a monthly fee.

TTL Advergaming or ‘through the line’ Advergaming is the most rare form of Advergaming. URL links are embedded into a game that takes the players to the web pages, which has BTL Advergaming. Different methods are used to attract the player to a particular webpage. In the game ”Enter the Matrix,” URL hyperlinks are depicted in the background, which the player is forced to click to learn about the facts relating to the plot of the next level and at the same time advertises about the product. The curiosity to learn about the theme of the game attracts the player, although it might not be necessary to click to finish the game. Such kinds of games are usually known as link-chases as one link will lead to another. Website visitors are sometimes tempted with a prize to prompt them to click the URL.
This technique of advertising is really beneficial as it not only creates awareness among the players, but also amongst friends who land on the website based upon a friend’s suggestion.

The success of all forms of Advergaming is largely dependant upon word of mouth. Thus, this type of advertising is referred to in some circles as ‘Viral Marketing’. In the year 2004 alone, this industry generated around $83.6 million and involved over 105 million players. Those numbers are anticipated to be many times higher today.

They key point to remember, is the product and the intended audience must be compatible. If your business is selling low-cost consumables, this form of advertising is highly effective. Even better, if your consumables are most frequently purchased by the free (teen aged)gaming crowd, your success rate can be phenomenal. If your product really intended for a more mature audience, don’t expect to find them on free gaming sites. If your product is higher line or represents an opportunity requiring some form of investment, this advertising medium has yet to prove itself effective.

With that said, there are some free software sites that advertise by giving away free software to include utilities, applications, games, etc. These appeal to a much broader audience and can still be effective for advertising all levels of products and services. Dealing with the supplier of the utility can often result in an advertisement of a complimentary product/service (yours) being included in the software release. Spend some time researching this method of advertising. If the user likes the software, they already have an instinctive respect for you and regard you as somewhat of an expert. When looking for products/services similar to yours, they will seek you out first.

Richard Loewenhage

CEOnwww.LivingMyLifestle.comn