Video- game advertising- why should you give it a try?
Frankly speaking, there are many forms of internet marketing and advertising. In other words, as an internet marketing professional, there are many options available to you. You can decide to give info of your products and services via the emails. On the other hand, you can choose to display them via banner advertising. Then, you have the choice of including them in a PPC [Pay Per Click] campaign. In short, today’s internet marketing professional has a galore of choice before him.
However, have you ever given a thought to video games? Yes! Yes! Those same video games that are loved by millions, worshiped by billions and cursed by a few thousands. Now, you are likely going to question me about the logic behind including a talk on video game in a blog that mainly focuses on search engine optimisation and Internet marketing.
Well, advertising in a video game might just be the next big thing, especially, if this particular report from ClickZ is to be believed. The report states that, “A recent study of approximately 600 video game players found that those gamers exposed to in-game ads while playing displayed an increased brand recognition compared to those who were not shown ads. The survey was conducted by Nielsen Entertainment, a unit of The Nielsen Company, and undertaken in Q1 of this year on behalf of in-game advertising network Massive, a unit of Microsoft. As part of the survey, respondents from Massive partner Electronic Arts’ “Need for Speed Carbon,” racing game were placed into a test or control group based on whether they played on an Xbox 360 or PC system and were shown ads, or played on another system and were not shown the ads. The survey found that on average the test group’s brand familiarity increased by 64 percent, its brand rating increased by 37 percent and its purchase consideration increased by 41 percent over the control group that was not shown ads. It also found that average ad recall increased by 41 percent and ad ratings increased by 69 percent.”
The above report proves that you can establish a successful communication channel with the audience, if you can place your product in a video game.
Now, you will ask, “why does the target shows such a high degree of involvement?”
Hmmmm. the answer is simple. Have you watched people playing a video game? You can sense that they are completely involved in the game. Now, compare the scene when a person is seated in front of TV. There is every chance of him moving away from the TV set when ads are being broadcasted. In other words, there is every chance of your target audience missing out your advertisements. However, such a scenario does not comes fore in case of video games.
The advantage of video-game advertising is perhaps best summed up by Cory Van Arsdale, CEO of Massive, “”When you play the game and you see how the ads are rendered you get a huge sense of the engagement and that backs up the data more than anything. This will start to validate the direction we’re headed. It’s validating for advertisers and marketers the value of the engagement in the game.”
So, including the ad of your product in a video game might jus work wonders for your sales.
