Advergaming is an immersive mix of advertising and entertainment that makes use of video games. The term was coined by Anthony Giallourakis in January 2000 and later mentioned in Wired magazine’s “Jargon Watch” column in 2001.
Advergaming has been around for years. In fact, more and more consumers are meeting online for commercial, research, and entertainment purposes. It is important to mention that while tactics such as banner ads offer the opportunity to direct users to research online, they fail to engage consumers as much as advergames do.
What could you use Advergaming for?
Advergaming can be useful for brands in different ways:
- Build customer loyalty and reward customers.
- Increase brand value.
- Promote products, services, events, and ideas.
- Make use of the virality of games to reach a larger market.
- Generate a database of real and/or potential customers (leads).
- Save capital versus the traditional way of advertising.
- Increase website and social media traffic.
- Organize contests with prizes, generating interesting competition among your users.
What do I have to take into account?
- It is very important to find a balance between advertising and effective marketing with effective gameplay. Practically, the game should not simply be an advertisement, but it should have a marketing component.
- Scoreboard systems should be added, to incentivize the user and create a deeper experience.
- Expand the game to go viral, and for this social networks can be an excellent channel. Don’t rely on the fact that players are going to be logging on to your site every moment to play; invite them to do so.
- Find ways to reuse games. Keep in mind that after a campaign or event, you still have an entertaining piece of content and you shouldn’t just box it up.
There are many other practices that can help you position your brand through a video game, the important thing is to test with different people in your market and analyze the level of engagement of the game. Remember that people want to know more than just your discounts, they want to get more than just your product.
Digital Technology Consultant | Digital Project Manager | Consulting and Training | Gamification and Advergaming project design.
He has 16 years of experience in marketing, administration, and project management for the design and development of websites, custom web systems, mobile apps, advergaming, and gamification. Course facilitator and university professor, in subjects, focused on web design and development.