Wednesday, October 20, 2004
Posted by Roberto
11:19 AM
0 comments
IN-GAME BRAND MESSAGING:
A NEW TREND IN PRODUCT PLACEMENT
Today more than 70% of men between the ages of 18 and 34 have become gamers who spend as much time playing video games than they do watching television. The average gamer is a surprising 28 years old. In 2003, Advertisers spent $12 billion on TV spots targeting young men, but only $10 million on in-game ads. Jupiter research shows that awareness of the power of in-game advertising is growing and that in-game ad spending will in fact jump to $750 million by 2006.
The marketing budget for ads in video games at DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group was zero four years ago. Now it represents more than 10 percent of the division's overall marketing budget, planting Chryslers, Jeeps and Dodge cars in more than a dozen video games while spending on television and print ads has dropped. In its first experiment, the automaker invested six figures a few years ago so players of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 game would have to do rail stunts over a Jeep to get points, or go through game levels decorated with Jeep billboards.
Two days ago (Oct 18), Massive Incorporated launched the world's first video game advertising network, enabling publishers and advertisers to finally capitalize on the largest cultural and economic entertainment force in the world. The Massive Advertising Network (SM) uses patent-pending technology to dynamically serve advertising across a network of premier video game titles and delivers measured results on consumer interaction with this brand messaging. Billboards in a subway scene could feature a new movie trailer one day and the hottest new energy drink the next. Promotions could be tailored to geography, so that players in New York and California might see different versions of a car ad.
Ed Zobrist, vice president of global marketing at Vivendi, points out that in-game advertising it's really only going to work in games where it makes sense, since real world brands just do not have a place in a fantasy game! Vivendi Universal Games plans to introduce four games using Massive's advertising service and Ubisoft plans to use Massive's technology in the next sequel of the popular Tom Clancy Splinter Cell series.
Massive Incorporated
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