Companies usually think of games as a product that needs to be sold or a lure to get audiences to visit their website. However, when used as a marketing tool, games provide all sorts of benefits, such as growing your audience base, increasing user satisfaction, and increasing revenue. By integrating advertising with gaming, you create a more immersive and enjoyable experience for the user, and hopefully make them a return customer.
From NPD’s Changing Games Landscape talk at Casual Connect last year (March 2009), playing video games was the 5th rank leisure activity for the US population aged 13+ with 63% positive response. In addition, NPD reported that video games dominate the share of monthly spend on content among the entertainment categories, with 1/3 of the wallet share. Based on a recent eMarketer study, social gaming is the fifth most popular social networking activity, ahead of watching videos or searching for new contacts. With an audience of that magnitude, gaming is a huge eyeball opportunity for marketers.
Last week Plexipixel’s Executive Producer Vicky Tamaru and Sales and Marketing Liaison Justin Nix attended the Casual Connect conference, and heard a lot of discussion around how effective games are in marketing. Shannon Callies, Group Planning Manager of Microsoft Games Advertising was a huge proponent of combining marketing and your game into one package. Integrating advertisement with gaming creates an immersive experience for the user and increases brand recognition, Callies said.
The main room at Casual Connect 2010 at Benaroya Hall. Courtesy Marcus Eikenberry of MarkeeDragon.
Marketers should note not only the sheer number of gamers but also the receptive state of the gamer to advertising. Because of the immersive and interactive nature of games, the gamer is much more likely to be openly receptive to brand awareness. A 2009 study from NeoEdge Network found an increase of 500% in unaided brand awareness in viewers compared to T.V. Audiences also had a 56% more favorable view of a brand when it was tied to a game. Brands are becoming more and more aware of this, and have shown they are interested in sponsoring game content.
Brands like Toy Story, Nickelodeon, Zappos and others have used games to great success. The convenience store chain 7-Eleven had a very successful tie-in with the Facebook favorites Farmville and Mafia Wars during June and July. Zynga, the company behind Farmville and Mafia Wars, also partnered this summer with food companies Green Giant and Cascadian Farm. As Advertising Age reported in a May article:
“Recently H&M ran the first-ever brand integration on MyTown, a mobile game like Monopoly set in the real world, created by developer Booyah. During the campaign, H&M was the most searched location within the game, 700,000 users checked in to its retail stores, and 8 million saw its virtual goods. The game, which has 2.3 million users since launch in December, has since worked with brands such as Travel Channel, Olay and Microsoft Windows.”
Plexipixel has seen this kind of success ourselves. We developed the Adidas Penalty Shootout game to promote Microsoft’s Predator FC vs. F50 contest. The game garnered 13 million plays in two months, although it was only released in five European countries; a Microsoft Advertising case study called it “one of the most successful online games in the world.” What’s even more exciting is when the game players become evangelists of the content, spreading it to their own social graph and beyond. Check out a YouTube video of an English kid playing the game on our blog.
Although still in its infancy, there is a growing interest in geocaching (treasure hunts using GPS coordinates) or location-based service promotions. Companies like SCVNGR, Foursquare, Loopt and Gowalla are starting to work with retailers to offer discounts to gamers who complete certain challenges or just show up at a specific time.
Games are a great way to grow brand awareness and allegiance, creating a better overall experience for your audience. Who’s up for a game night?
