here are some links to other MBA Students blogs about in-game advertising:
Trends, challenges and implications :
http://thesellinggame.blogspot.com/2008/10/in-game-advertising-and-video-games.html
Who are the consumers you can target?
http://miguelmazablog.blogspot.com/2008/10/in-game-advertising-so-what.html
Sunday 5 October 2008
Sunday 28 September 2008
How to build an effective in-game advertising campain?
Some recommandations to make your in-game ads efficient:
- Understand the gamers: their knowledge, their expertise and their reasons for playing.
- Always look to enhance the gaming experience, not detract it. “70% of heavy gamers state that contextual ads make games more realistic.”(Nielsen Interactive Entertainment). The ads must enhance gamers to immerse further into the game.
- Brands and commercial content must be relevant to the game.
- Brands shoul feel like a natural part of the game
- don't interrupt your consumer gaming experience
- don't assume it's enough to run your outdoor or TV ads within the game
- Customization can strengthen gamers engagement with a brand: give gamers the opportunity to experience your brand virtually. EX: http://www.igaworldwide.com/advertisers/casestudies/bensherman/
- In game communication must be measurable
DON'T:
Mc Donalds and Coke in a Zombie game.......relevant?!!!!See more on recommandations:
http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/8489.asp
http://www.iabuk.net/en/1/recommendationsforadvertisers.html
In-game advertising efficiency
One of the problems raised by many advertisers is that in-game advertising is difficult to measure.
Regarding the cost of advertising, for static advertising it is measured function of the forecast sales and average hours playing the whole game. For dynamic advertising, agencies use a 10 second of cumulative exposure during the game as a metric.
As in-game advertisng is a very adaptable medium, costs of campains can go from 50000€ to 300000€ and even to 1 million euros for integrated camapins.
DIGA campaigns - Monitoring and tracking (Source: IAB UK)
The gaming agencies have software that uses IP addresses for geo-targeting of in-game adverts. This also allows a unique user number to be generated locally which can recognise a gamer when he or she next appears online. Advertising can be targeted by date, time of day and frequency (it can also be frequency-capped to provide weekly reach). They are able to record the time that each ad impression takes places, what type of content the advertising was (for example a billboard or video stream) the duration the ad was seen for, the size of the ad relative to the player and the angle that the advert is being viewed at (angle of deflection). They then provide a report to their clients showing the results of the ads served including the reach of the campaign.
Until DIGA became a reality it had been difficult to reach mass audiences with in-game advertising. This is no longer the case as gaming agencies can now place ads in multiple games just as traditional outdoor media owners can provide a variety of poster sites.
DIGA facilitates high reach campaigns that connect brands with an engaged audience and is a targeted, accountable and measurable medium. The reporting metrics and general reach have put the in-game advertising industry in a strong position for the future. However, until more UK research is carried out and a common currency is agreed within the industry, advertisers may act with caution when considering adding in-game advertising to their media plan, despite being very keen to understand how they can benefit from this sector. With a continuing build up of research and the introduction of a standard buying model used by the industry to trade in-game advertising, the medium will, in time, see even greater growth possibilities.
“The single biggest hurdle for mainstream acceptance of the medium at this stage is the necessary research to prove the effectiveness and value of the sector, something each of the stakeholders is working hard to address having learnt valuable lessons from similar issues with the painful initial gestation of online. The issue of metrics standardisation across networks may be harder to solve, however with the market only ever to likely support a maximum of three substantial vendors globally, even this may not prove insurmountable.” - ED Bartlett – IGA
DIGA: Dynamic in-game advertising
See more on: http://www.iabuk.net/en/1/tradingandmonitoring.html
Agencies also published some reports about advertising efficiency, see the links below:
http://www.massiveincorporated.com/casestudiesa.html
http://www.doublefusion.com/advertisers/html/research.html
http://advertising.microsoft.com/research/jeep-gaming-case-study
quote:Jennifer McLean at Double Fusion comments that: “In-game advertising combines the branding power of television with the levels of accountability and measurability that advertisers are used to from the Internet. If a brand invests in a 30-second placement, it is guaranteed the ad will be seen on screen for that period of time, a commitment no other medium provides its customers.”
Regarding the cost of advertising, for static advertising it is measured function of the forecast sales and average hours playing the whole game. For dynamic advertising, agencies use a 10 second of cumulative exposure during the game as a metric.
As in-game advertisng is a very adaptable medium, costs of campains can go from 50000€ to 300000€ and even to 1 million euros for integrated camapins.
DIGA campaigns - Monitoring and tracking (Source: IAB UK)
The gaming agencies have software that uses IP addresses for geo-targeting of in-game adverts. This also allows a unique user number to be generated locally which can recognise a gamer when he or she next appears online. Advertising can be targeted by date, time of day and frequency (it can also be frequency-capped to provide weekly reach). They are able to record the time that each ad impression takes places, what type of content the advertising was (for example a billboard or video stream) the duration the ad was seen for, the size of the ad relative to the player and the angle that the advert is being viewed at (angle of deflection). They then provide a report to their clients showing the results of the ads served including the reach of the campaign.
Until DIGA became a reality it had been difficult to reach mass audiences with in-game advertising. This is no longer the case as gaming agencies can now place ads in multiple games just as traditional outdoor media owners can provide a variety of poster sites.
DIGA facilitates high reach campaigns that connect brands with an engaged audience and is a targeted, accountable and measurable medium. The reporting metrics and general reach have put the in-game advertising industry in a strong position for the future. However, until more UK research is carried out and a common currency is agreed within the industry, advertisers may act with caution when considering adding in-game advertising to their media plan, despite being very keen to understand how they can benefit from this sector. With a continuing build up of research and the introduction of a standard buying model used by the industry to trade in-game advertising, the medium will, in time, see even greater growth possibilities.
“The single biggest hurdle for mainstream acceptance of the medium at this stage is the necessary research to prove the effectiveness and value of the sector, something each of the stakeholders is working hard to address having learnt valuable lessons from similar issues with the painful initial gestation of online. The issue of metrics standardisation across networks may be harder to solve, however with the market only ever to likely support a maximum of three substantial vendors globally, even this may not prove insurmountable.” - ED Bartlett – IGA
DIGA: Dynamic in-game advertising
See more on: http://www.iabuk.net/en/1/tradingandmonitoring.html
Agencies also published some reports about advertising efficiency, see the links below:
http://www.massiveincorporated.com/casestudiesa.html
http://www.doublefusion.com/advertisers/html/research.html
http://advertising.microsoft.com/research/jeep-gaming-case-study
quote:Jennifer McLean at Double Fusion comments that: “In-game advertising combines the branding power of television with the levels of accountability and measurability that advertisers are used to from the Internet. If a brand invests in a 30-second placement, it is guaranteed the ad will be seen on screen for that period of time, a commitment no other medium provides its customers.”
In-game advertising: who is "in the game"?
Basically, there are three different players in the world of in game advertising: advertisers, agencies and publishers.
When advertisers want to lauch an in-game advertising campain, they go through agencies that have relations with publishers.
Three big agencies exist in this field: IGA worldwide, Massive(Microsoft) and Double fusion.
http://www.igaworldwide.com/
http://www.massiveincorporated.com/index.html
http://www.doublefusion.com/
Masssive describes in its Website 5 steps a company must follow to launch a campain:
http://www.massiveincorporated.com/howtobuymassive.html
Each agency has special links with certain publishers. They can target the consumer you want choosing a specific game that correspond to specific gamers. Thanks to dynamic advertising you can also target according to geography and enven demographics and gamers habits.
For example, with the X-Box 360 live, gamers play on-line and all their game parties are record in their profile.
Classic outdoor ads, videos, audio can be directly adpat to video games.
When advertisers want to lauch an in-game advertising campain, they go through agencies that have relations with publishers.
Three big agencies exist in this field: IGA worldwide, Massive(Microsoft) and Double fusion.
http://www.igaworldwide.com/
http://www.massiveincorporated.com/index.html
http://www.doublefusion.com/
Masssive describes in its Website 5 steps a company must follow to launch a campain:
http://www.massiveincorporated.com/howtobuymassive.html
Each agency has special links with certain publishers. They can target the consumer you want choosing a specific game that correspond to specific gamers. Thanks to dynamic advertising you can also target according to geography and enven demographics and gamers habits.
For example, with the X-Box 360 live, gamers play on-line and all their game parties are record in their profile.
Classic outdoor ads, videos, audio can be directly adpat to video games.
Some basic definitions of in-game advertising
Next step for studying in-game advertising, as I was a total novice in this field, I needed some key definitions and find those one quite relevant.
Video Game Advertising Key Definitions. Source: e marketer
Video game advertising spending – Total spending by marketers on in-game advertising and advergames.
In-game advertising – Advertising within and around the game space on PC-, console- and Web-based games. This category includes static ads, dynamic ads, product placements, game portal display ads and sponsored sessions; it does not include advergames or mobile games. Spending on in-game advertising is broken down into two sub-categories:
-PC- and console-based – Advertising within the game space on PC- and console-based games, whether they are played online or offline.
-Web-based – Advertising within and around the game space on Web-based games, which range from browser-based casual games to massively multiplayer online games.
Advergames – Video games created as a marketing tool, usually with brand awareness as the central objective.
Static in-game advertising – Advertising inserted into a video game during the game’s development cycle. Examples include virtual billboards and product placements. These ads cannot be altered once the game is published.
Dynamic in-game advertising – Advertising embedded into a video game using software codes that can be accessed online by the advertiser after the game is published. This allows advertisers and game publishers to customize ads “on the fly” in response to player characteristics such as geography, demographics and the time period.
More about static vs dynamic on IAB UK:
http://www.iabuk.net/en/1/formatsofingameadvertising.html
examples of static, dynamic, 2D, 3D, interactive in-game ads
The market is more and more shifting from static ads to dynamic ads because it can be adatped, it's interactive and up-to date.
Why should marketers be interested in in-game advertising?
As part of one of my courses I am taking in my MBA, I'm studying in game advertising. Well, for me who never play games and who is a complete novice I wanted to find some key factors that could give marketers and advertisers an interest in knowing more about it.
-As marketers, I am sure you have already been in this particularly difficult position of launching a marketing campain with a lower and lower budget. Advertising world is going a bit sick those days as "cost reduction" is being the mantra of most companies. So, marketers have to be more and more creative to find a effective way to advertise their product without spending a lot of money.
-TV, radio, internet, press: all those media are suffering advertising clutter. It's more and more difficult to get people attention. On the contrary, in game advertising is still in the development phase and can even give your brand total exclusivity.
-Video games is a huge industry and is expecting to grow amazingly in the coming years.
9 games were sold every second every day in 2007. (e marketer)
Youn men play 12.5 hours videogames a week compared to 9.8 hours watching TV (Nielsen Interactive entertainement)
-Video gaming offers the opportunity to connect your brand with traditionally difficult-to-reach young affluent males (18-34 years). You are now able to reach them while they are actively engaged with the medium.
Still skeptical?
Wait for the coming posts on the subject!......
TO BE CONTINUED......
http://electronlibre.info/L-in-game-advertising-ou-comment,091
(article in French about how to reduce cost in advertising in games)
customisation
In the trend of "customisation" of products those days, here are two examples very interersting:
Oakley custom eyewear:
http://oakley.ca/custom
design your own Oakley and buy them from 150$!
NikeiD
http://nikeid.nike.com/nikeid/?sitesrc=FRLP#home
design your own Nike and buy them from 95$!
Not only those interactive outlets add sales to the brands but it is an amazing source of information about customers preferences. In my opinion, this represents a new genaration for marketing. Customers are now designing, creating their own product. Interactive, virtual outlets offer amazing opportunities for brands which have enough money to support the huge logistics behind it.
Oakley custom eyewear:
http://oakley.ca/custom
design your own Oakley and buy them from 150$!
NikeiD
http://nikeid.nike.com/nikeid/?sitesrc=FRLP#home
design your own Nike and buy them from 95$!
Not only those interactive outlets add sales to the brands but it is an amazing source of information about customers preferences. In my opinion, this represents a new genaration for marketing. Customers are now designing, creating their own product. Interactive, virtual outlets offer amazing opportunities for brands which have enough money to support the huge logistics behind it.
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