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By Simon Fuller. Ad additions. With 72% of games players recalling seeing brand ads during play – according to in-game ad network Massive – you can see why the medium is enticing. But brands might be wondering just which kinds of games are best suited to receiving their ad money.
Racing simulation games are always chock full of the creations of leading car marques, such as the BMW M3 GT2 turning up in the recently released Need For Speed Shift. And brands like Red Bull and Diesel have already dived into the virtual world with Sony’s Home.
Coming soon is a console title, LEGO Rock Band, which propels players into the role of rock stars, trying their hands at recreating classic tunes via a set of controllers modelled on instruments. And then there’s the raft of advergames and branded iPhone titles doing the rounds.
Brands clearly need a few pointers.
“We tailor the specific games used for every single ad campaign to ensure not just the correct audience profile, reach and impressions, but also to ensure creative context and maximize impact,” says Ed Bartlett, vp for Europe at in-game ad network IGA Worldwide. “This is important, not just to the advertiser but also for the gamer, since grossly irrelevant ads might break the suspension of disbelief so important to the game experience.”
JJ Richards, gm at Massive, agrees. “In order for an ad to be incorporated into a game, the ad needs to enhance the entertainment value of the overall game experience, never detract from game play, and add realism to the game – meaning, ads in games are integrated in locations where one would expect to see ads in real life,” he says. “Our process of integrating ads is done with gamer satisfaction being the most important criteria, and Massive makes sure that every new in-game ad goes through extensive testing with gamers prior to placement.”
That means a player’s character approaching a billboard with a brand’s logo on it may fit snugly within the context of a fictional world, but shoving an inappropriate branded product into a cartoony, fantasy environment may not work as well.
And if the ad can make the game that tiny bit more realistic just by being there, then so much the better. “It’s important that the ads enhance the gaming experience,” says Noam Korin, vp of advertising sales, Europe, for in-game ad outfit Double Fusion. “For example, adding a sense of realism to an urban in-game setting.”
And what if the player actually uses a product as part of the game-playing experience? Research from Monash University in Australia, published in the International Journal of Advertising, concluded that if you’re driving a brand’s car product in a game, you’ll grow to appreciate it more in the real world too.
Good news for BMW and all those car manufacturers with their console racing games, then.
Finally, brands should remember that sometimes, even when business is booming for in-game ads, you can’t force it.
“Not all games are a fit for in-game ads,” says Korin. “If a game does not contextually lend itself to ads, then clearly ads shouldn’t be placed in the game.”