Advergames Outscore In-Game Ads

by Shankar Gupta

Sep 27, 2006 - Media Post

GAMES BUILT AROUND A BRAND, or advergames, are often a better option for marketers than placing ads within a game, a panel of executives said Tuesday at the OMMA conference in New York.

Advergames usually are relatively cheap to produce, and simple to distribute, the executives said. What's more, advergames don't require the same degree of coordination between different parties as ads served while consumers are playing a game.

"It's much easier," said panelist Zack Zeiler, interactive creative agency VPI.net CEO and president. "You can distribute it for free--you don't need to have a particular platform."

Mike Monello, co-creative director of branded entertainment company Campfire, discussed one campaign that his firm did for Audi. Users learned about the car's high-tech features as they played the game, Monello said. "You could never convey all that information in a 30-second ad," he added. Overall, 37 percent of players went to Audi's corporate site, configured a car and registered for a test drive, according to Monello.

In addition, he said, advergames can build buzz--at least for now, when they're still relatively novel. In-game ads, on the other hand, face similar problems as traditional ads--especially the need to compete for consumers' attention, Monello said. "When I drive by a billboard in 'Need for Speed,'" he said, "it has the same effect on me when I drive by a billboard on I-95."

The Plot Is the Pitch

September 1, 2006 - New York Times

THERE are short films, and then there are very short films. How short? Six films on a Web site that is scheduled to go live today run 60 to 90 seconds each — about as long as it takes to brew a cup of espresso.

Those running times are no coincidence: the Web site (espressoshorts.com) is sponsored by the appliance maker Krups to promote a line of espresso makers being introduced in the United States. Krups also plans to circulate “Espresso Shorts,” created by film students at New York University, on Web sites like video.google.com and youtube.com, and to underwrite a series of movie-related promotions that include a sponsorship of the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.

The short films are another example of a trend that is remaking the marketing landscape, known as branded entertainment. Rather than just buying commercial time during TV shows — for 30-second spots that viewers often skip or zip through — advertisers are paying to commission programming that incorporates products into the plot lines.

Such sponsored programming also gives advertisers more control over the environments in which their pitches appear. Compare that with the problem faced by marketers planning to buy commercials during the new season of “Survivor” when they learned that the producer, Mark Burnett, would divide the teams along racial and ethnic lines.

“We need to find other, interesting ways to communicate with consumers,” said Steve Jones, marketing director at the North American unit of Krups in Medford, Mass., which is part of the French company Groupe SEB.