Leapfrog Marketing into Gaming

I’m not too ashamed that I have become a fairly serious gamer in the past couple of years. I was raised on Atari 2600, spent college with Sega Genesis, and recently jumped headlong into the Xbox 360. You could say I have a relationship with games such as Guitar Hero, Rock Band, and Call of Duty 4. I find these games to keep my mind sharp while providing me a disconnection from what went on at the office all day. Of course, I cannot completely disconnect from my day job in advertising, which means I have been a close observer of how these games have tried to inject advertising into my field of vision.

The marketing world is becoming extremely interested in the rising amount of time people are spending with video games. “Interested” in this case means both: (1) worried about the fact that eyeballs are moving away from ad-supported media (e.g., young men are watching less Monday Night Football and playing more Madden ‘08); and (2) excited by the chance to put a marketing message into a gaming space where people are extremely passionate and paying close attention. Video games join new media options such as mobile and podcasts as a place where different marketing strategies are playing out quickly. I believe these approaches are breaking down broadly into interruptive vs. meaningful marketing.  Today I share two examples of companies that are taking these different routes, and show us that the meaningful path makes more sense to both players and brands.

The first example comes from Guitar Hero 3.  In case you just landed on the planet a few days ago, Guitar Hero and its close follower, Rock Band, have become the biggest brands in the gaming universe over the past few years. They have given millions of players the chance to take a tiny taste of what it feels like to rock, and they now have a channel directly into the home through Internet connections that provide a way to play with friends or download additional songs. This is a very, very tempting target for marketers. Since its beginning, Guitar Hero used real musical equipment brands such as Gibson in the game. It’s a modest type of product placement marketing that makes sense. But a few months ago I noticed something different in my field of vision - an advertisement. See if you can find it in the screen shot below:

It’s hard to find in this shot in the upper left corner, but it doesn’t look that much clearer on my 50″ HD plasma either. This is an ad for Microsoft’s Sync in-car audio system. The brand has bought ad space in the display monitor at a concert venue where your Guitar Hero song is being played. I saw another ad for the new Fox TV show Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. The ads are barely visible on screen, and even less so when you’re concentrating on hitting notes that are coming down your screen (i.e., playing the game).

This in-game ad approach is hardly offensive and barely interruptive, but it sure isn’t meaningful, and I cannot see how it drives sales. These ad examples are likely targeted perfectly, but they are unrelated to the game itself.  Just as experts are saying with mobile marketing, I believe in-game marketing must add value to the experience in order to be tolerated by players and drive sales. This is no fun for the advertiser, the game producer, or (especially) the consumer.  At best, it’s ignored wallpaper.  At worst, the game owner feels that he needs a refund on the $60 he paid for the product.

On the other hand, a friend pointed me to another compelling approach where the in-game marketing adds value to the customer’s experience. Paramount Pictures has partnered with Ubisoft to “inject” a scavenger hunt into the game Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 in support of the release of its movie Tropic Thunder. In this game-within-the-game, players are invited to search for a series of nine branded clues. Those who complete the mission get a chance to win prizes such as a VIP game map and other Ubisoft games. Here’s a screen shots from the game:

Unlike the Guitar Hero example, Ubisoft and Paramount have created an experience that adds value to their customers’ lives. They understand the insight that many first-person-shooter gamers love the chance to try new missions and maps. And they know that word of such freebies travels fast among the connected game communities. Of course, they’ve also nailed the demographic targeting for the movie, and timed the promotion perfectly to start the critical release weekend buzz.

Leapfrogging Interruption into Meaning

The term “leapfrog technology” is increasingly used to show that developing nations may skip intermediate steps of technology use and go straight for the best-in-class standard. In Africa, for example, villages are going straight from no phones to mobile phones, not bothering to put up telephone lines. In Brazil, consumers shifted straight to debit cards. In Pakistan, rural villages are going straight to solar. In these and other cases, it simply makes sense to go straight to the most advanced technology.

Perhaps new media will similarly represent “leapfrog technology” for marketers. Instead of going to the old way of interruptive advertising when these new media options arise, we will “leapfrog” straight to meaningful marketing because it simply makes too much sense for consumers and companies.

(Side note: Look me up on Xbox 360, screen name: Barbobus.)