MRG Conference: Advergaming Offers New Engagement Portal

Gaming is the fastest growing entertainment sector in the world, and is no longer the sole territory of spotty teenagers, according to Nick Tapley, OMD Insight, speaking at the MRG conference in Vienna yesterday.

With the average age of a gamer now 29, and over 40% of gamers female, advertisers are increasingly investing in this medium. Tapley outlined why one form of advertising in games, advergaming, should be considered as a viable medium for advertisers.

Advergames are free-to-play online games, created specifically with a strong brand message, allowing full engagement with the gaming consumer.

In the first research of its kind, OMD Insight used its Snapshot panel to evaluate consumers’ views on advergaming, through analysis of a series of online branded games based on fruit drinks; Ocean Spray and a fake brand called “Juice Boost”.

A follow up survey after the gameplay showed that over a quarter of the sample believed that advergames made a brand more credible, and further research in conjunction with OMD Reconnect showed that advergames are not seen as very intrusive when compared with other online advertising techniques. In addition, the likelihood to buy the items also increased after gameplay.

Due to these games being online it is easy to measure engagement by calculating the number of plays, how long the player was engaged with the game, how many times the game was forwarded on to friends and how many sign-ups, sales or customer details were collected at the end.

Men are more likely to enter their personal details if there is a leaderboard where they can “beat their mates” while women are more likely to if there is an opportunity to win prizes. For over 35s, they will fill it in if it is “easy to do”.

Tapley finished by signaling his hope that media agencies will see the engagement opportunities in this new medium and begin to include them in campaign plans.

Media Research Group: 01980 862 248 www.mrg.org.uk