Jonathan Arber
Game On - advergaming comes of age
We recently attended Game On, an event organised by Yahoo! and various advertising organisations to promote the concept of advergaming and to disclose the results of the first major study into its effectiveness.The study found that advergaming is particularly effective in increasing brand awareness and affinity, and thus the likelihood of purchase. In addition, while consumers were still aware that they were effectively playing an advert, they found it far less intrusive than banner or pop-up advertising, and many were keen to play the games again.A variety of statistics were thrown about to reinforce the point that advergaming has huge potential, including the slightly startling fact that 100% of UK 6-10 year olds now play video games of some kind (indicating a large potential market in the future, rather than a suggestion that advergames should be aimed at children!). The point was also made that 30% of Internet users now go online for no specific reason other than "fun", and that these casual browsers are an ideal target for advergames. Comment: What exactly is "advergaming"? Put simply, an advergame is a piece of online gaming content created specifically for an advertiser and with their marketing objectives in mind. It is not simply a game that carries some form of in-game advertising.The continuing growth in broadband and the web's evolution into a breeding ground for rich-media, interactive content presents a fertile environment for advergames, some of which are now very impressive in terms of graphics and gameplay. The web is increasingly becoming an entertainment hub, and advertising needs to adapt to reflect this - static banner ads are not enough. At the end of the day, consumers want content, not adverts. Online advertising needs to keep pace with the Internet, as content becomes increasingly rich and interactive. Users are increasingly wanting to control and share their online experiences, and advergaming plays well to this, particularly with the possibility of multiplayer games. Indeed, a key message of the event was that advergaming should be a part of any future online advertising strategy.The increase in numbers of so-called casual gamers presents an ideal target market for advergaming, and those ISPs/portal providers with dedicated games channels should be actively looking into this area. However, it's important to remember that advergaming is all about engagement - in other words, attracting and keeping customers' attention. The key way to do this is by first and foremost making sure the gaming content is of a high quality - consumers must not only enjoy playing an advergame, but voluntarily come back to it and actively recommend it to their friends.
