Advergaming: Fad or Serious Market Trend?

Websites, email, search, banners, pop-ups, what’s next? How about “Advergaming”? Although the term may seem esoteric, it makes sense once you discover the meaning. Advergaming involves utilizing interactive media in the form of a video game to promote a company’s products and services. The format is really not that new, but it has been garnishing increasing attention from top advertisers.

Advergaming pioneers started developing these interactive advertisements with the proliferation of the Internet in the mid 1990s. Although this advertising format did not burst onto the scene like email or search marketing, it has been slowly gaining momentum for the past 10 years. Today the advergaming concept has evolved into a complex tool within the marketing mix. Normally, these videogames are delivered via the Internet and can involve a complex arcade style action game to a simple interactive version of a scratch card. Another format is product placement in top video game titles for Sony PlayStation or Microsoft’s Xbox.

So why are companies continuing to exploit this medium? Is it just a fad or a serious market trend? I have to side with the serious trend. Multiple benefits are derived by utilizing an advergame within an interactive campaign. First, brand awareness and recall are increased through the high level of engagement with the customer. When a user plays a videogame, their attention is highly focused on the game itself and any element within the game. A company’s brand becomes engrained in memory through continued interaction with the brand throughout the course of the game. Second, customer participation with a promotion increases significantly, allowing a marketer to increase their database of prospects. Third, an advergame is cost-effective (like other forms of interactive media) when compared to traditional forms of advertising.

One of the biggest trends now is integrating advergames with an online sweepstakes promotion. Viewers are attracted to participate in the promotion from the entertainment value they receive by playing the game. Viewers become more engaged as they compete with the game hoping to win a prize. The end result is increased registration, which builds the marketer’s database and increased brand awareness. Companies such as Chrysler, IBM, Nokia, McDonald’s, Kraft, HBO and other top companies are utilizing this form of advertising in increasing numbers.

So with the benefits derived from advergaming, will consumers grow tired of this method and cause advergaming to lose its effectiveness? I believe it will only grow stronger with time. Generation X grew up with videogames; Atari, Intellivision and the local arcade. Generation Y and Echo-Boomers are even more entrenched with videogames from PlayStation, Nintendo and Xbox. This demographic is fanatical with games. It’s a highly valued form of entertainment. Baby boomers loved to go to the movies growing up, and they still go in droves. However, the videogame industry has now surpassed the movie industry in gross receipts and today’s gamers will continue to play well beyond their adolescent years. Speaking of, I’m a 34 year-old Gen X’er, and it’s time for me to get back to some gaming. See what I mean? I wonder who’s going to hit me up with their advertising message next?