eLab’s Knowledge Repository

eLab – Gamers and advertising.ppt 

The idea is to sell real-world advertising in electronic games, played on a computer, a console or online. Companies such as Massive Inc. (bought by Microsoft in May 2006) place billboards, posters, vehicles, pizza boxes, etc. within the game in order to increase gamers’ brand recognition. In virtual worlds such as Second Life, people create their own avatars (online alter ego), they build houses, they start virtual business (clothing, real estate, detective agencies, sex shops…), they organize social events, and so on. These virtual worlds are extremely interesting because they show people’s intimate dreams and fantasies, and because they have a huge potential for marketers.

Gamers account for 70% of the 18-34 year-old male demographic who spend more time gaming than watching TV. Furthermore Nielsen Interactive Entertainment has shown that gamers recall advertisements in games up to 35% of the time and a Harvard Business School study shows that over 90% of core gamers do not mind in-game advertising, as long as content is relevant to the game and enhances the gaming experience.

Some figures:

• gaming industry’s revenues are expected to break the $10 billion mark in 2006 (of which in $300 million from in-game advertising)
• 6 million paying subscribers for the online game World of Warcraft,  165’000 residents in the Second Life virtual world, 7 million avatars as visual representation in the Yahoo! community
• Second Life residents spend 5 million (real) dollars a month for virtual products and services; according to this Business Week article, more than 3'000 residents earn an average of $20'000 (the real green ones) a year; British branding firm Rivers Run Red is working with real-world companies to bring their products inside Second Life.

In Second Life it is already possible to find Coke, Corona, Evian, virtual McDonalds with free burgers, Nike shoes that make avatars run faster, etc. What is really interesting is that some of these brands or products have been brought in Second Life by residents and not by the companies themselves.

There are however anti commercial feelings coming from some gamers/residents, who do not want to have “3D spam” in their world. Some also express concern about privacy issues, as their activities in virtual worlds can be tracked. Others are skeptical about real-world marketing in Second Life, because they completely change their personality online and like to keep the two worlds separate. Finally, each virtual world or game has a different culture and public, which means that no single marketing approach is likely to be successful. As this Harvard Business Review article concludes, this is virtually unexplored marketing country.

Rate this / See ratings