Gaming and Advertising: a promosing upturn

Gaming & Advertising Pieter-Jan Adriaensens

Gaming & Advertising a promising upturn

Content

What is the situation like today?

How did the past had its influence on the present?

Advergaming and in-gamevertising

They come in many forms and shapes

Advergaming and social gaming

Advergaming, crossmedia and communities

Advergaming and protest

Conslusions

What is the situation like today?

The gaming-public has broadened Cliché images are fading Gaming is an interesting channel for advertisers to reach the difficult to reach target group 18-36 yrs old

When we were young we used to hook up with our friends to play Playstation games. Nintendo’s Wii brings back those emotions Gaming has and will become more and more a social event

How did the past had its influence on the present?

Inception & first experiments: 60’s – 80’s There wasn’t much technology available in this period. Creating games was almost unaffordable and thus held a huge risk . One of the first companies to start advertising through games was Ford (Mustang), quickly followed by Coca-Cola & Bud in the early 80’s (booming of the pc market)

The advent of PC games: 90’s The upcoming of the personal computer was promising but advertisers kept making the same mistakes as in the period before. A positive evolution of this period was the bringing of in-context advertising: content contributes to the realism of the game and is not irritating (more subtle). A new era with new possibilities was needed and thus the Internet made her entry in the early 90’s, rapidlychanging the possibilities & experiences of the gaming industry

Internet & Flash: the new millennium Advergames knew a huge popularity boost because of the fast uprise of the Internet. They could be spread more effectively and a larger audience could be reached. The introduction of Flash offered new possibilities: it was fast in development, cheap and had excellent sound. 2000 : America’s Army: the biggest online advergame ever made. It was created to influence young people to choose for a career in the US military

Gaming is booming! Source: 2006 Frank N. Magid Associates, Inc . 89% Of Americans watch primetime TV 4% Of Americans watch a movie in a theater 58% Of Americans play some kind of a computer/ videogame

Source: Yankee Group, 2005 Source: Yankee Group, 2005 “ Offline advertisers buy time, interactives create time”

Q. Do you play games online? (%) 55.9 52.6 63.6 58.8 50.4 53.3 58.2 57.4 44.1 47.4 36.4 41.2 49.6 46.7 41.8 42.6 Total Male Female 13-17 18-24 25-34 35-44 45+ Yes No More than 83 million gamers are currently online (2006) Women take in more than 60% of the online gaming population. They often play casual games and are the ones with spending power. Games are ideal to reach the difficult to reach segment 18-34 of age (they avoid traditional media more often). The green bar are the ones responsible for purchase. Source: Nielsen Interactive Entertainment 2006 Active Gamer Benchmark Study & Media Metrix, July 2006

Gaming in comparison with other more traditional media The Gaming category reaches majority of web users Total Monthly Minutes (billions) Games tops the number of monthly minutes users spend by category Total Monthly Online Users by Category

83MM people went to a gaming

site in July

48% of online population

0 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 10,000 12,000 14,000 16,000 18,000 20,000 Entertainment Retail Games News Chat Business XXX Adult Sports Travel Technology Source: Media Metrix, July 2006 0 20,000 40,000 60,000 80,000 100,000 120,000 140,000 160,000 Unique visitors Retail Entertainment News Business Technology Travel Games XXX Adult Sports Chat

Gender balance is evening out "With the explosive growth in casual games over the past few years, it's no surprise that the gaming population, overall, is beginning to strike a more even gender balance than it had previously, when it was oriented heavily toward young males," says Mr. Verna. "This shift is creating opportunities for marketers to reach highly coveted demographic segments that in the past were not readily associated with video games." M. Verna, eMarketer Senior Analyst of Universal McCann

Source: http://blog.delaranja.com/?p=836 & http://business-model-design.blogspot.com/2007/01/nintendos-blue-ocean-strategy-wii.html Nintendo focussed their attention on consumers in stead of the brand. They put ‘fun’ central. Nintendo’s Blue Ocean Strategy

Advergaming & In-gamevertising Say wuh?

Source: IAB Belgium Not changeable advertising inside of a game. In-game Static In-game Advertising Video or rich media advertising that is presented as the game loads In-game Pre- Roll A product plays an active role in the game; the player experiences the product features & benefits in context with the game play situation. In-game Plot Integration Integration brand messaging, sponsorship and/or products into the game. Around Game, In-game Product Placement Website, Leaderboards, Tournaments, Sweepstakes, retail promotions. Around Game, In-game Sponsorships In-game In-game Integration Description Advertising Format Video or rich media advertising that is presented in a natural break in game play, typically between levels. Inter-Level Advertising Changeable and/or clickable advertising within networked games. Dynamic or Interactive In-game Advertising Custom-made games specifically designed around a product or service. In many cases they also bring out a message about the brand. Advergames

They come in many forms and shapes

Advergames: loyalty & sales

Advergames: corporate responsibility

Advergames: brand experience

Advergames: online multiplayer games

In-Gamevertising (1) Ads can not change Static In-Gamevertising

In-Gamevertising (2) Ads change according to time & location Dynamic or Interactive In-Gamevertising

In-Gamevertising (3) An activity in the game… … triggers an email to the player* … promoting trial of the product (in this case). *requires player opt-in Source: AdScape

In-Gamevertising (4) Inter-level In-gamevertising

In-Gamevertising (5) Pre-Roll In-gamevertising

In-Gamevertising (6) Product Placement In-gamevertising

In-Gamevertising (7) Sponsorship In-gamevertising

In-Gamevertising (8) Plot Integration In-gamevertising Plot integration is when the products play an active role in the context of the game, allowing the audience to experience specific product attributes e.g. solving crimes with the help of a car and sophesticated technology.

Casual Games

Based upon the old game ‘bricks’

Mobile Games & Mobile Advertising Mobile gamin is set to known a huge growth in 2009

Advergaming & Social Gaming

The Lost Experience Games can become powerful in social networks: they can act as a katalysator between people and unite them according to interest. Source: http://www.thelostexperience.com/

Virgin Records ‘the collective mind’

What happens when you create a good mix between Advergaming, crossmedia & communities?

GoSupermodel – Village game Communicate towards a specific community with its own values and needs. In this case girls can become a virtual supermodel by playing the advergame Source: http://nl.gosupermodel.com/

Crossmedial concept Community Gaming Dolling Shopping Express Yourself! Socialisation Fun Economy All elements are inter-connected Online Mobile

Why do they like it?

Safe ’hang-out’

High security, Girls only!

Broad palette of services

Entertainment, Community, Creative challenges, Excitement

Real life aspiration

Users are in transition phase (Kids -> Young adults)

Shopping, dressing up and ”Express yourself!”

The generic ”Princess Dream”

All young girls dream of becoming a beautiful Supermodel surrounded by ”glitter & luxury’

Young females represent the fastest growing segment of Internet usage (Mediascope Europe, 2006)

In-game shop SHOP SHOP Let users buy and interact virtually with your brand

In-game magazine Establish your magazine online - in the right context Magazines

In-game trailers Movies Exploit the richness of Online media

Some figures (dk) Target group is: Girls 12 - 17 yrs old

334.000 registered profiles in Dec06

144.000 Unique Visitors in Dec06

39 million Page Impressions in Dec06

Advergaming used as a way to protest

Criticism against corporations Anti-advergames are to detract from or call into question a set of products or services for expressive, cathartic, social, or political purposes. Source: http://www.mcvideogame.com/

Let people think about something. Bring over a certain message Disaffected – serious game Source: http://www.persuasivegames.com/games/game.aspx?game=disaffected

What can we conclude?

We have entered the domain of the user