Games for Marketing – What’s the deal?

In my last post I talked about the emerging trend of using social games as a marketing channel. In this post I will talk about the points to keep in mind before taking the plunge and if it’s really the right strategy for your company.

Firstly, the in-game experience should be related to your brand positioning. It should deliver the right message to the right audience. If not done strategically, it can really hurt your brand image and turn off even the most loyal consumers who might not want to be related to your brand anymore. Some of the key questions to ask before taking the gaming path are:

Who is the target audience of the product?

What does the target audience expect?

What existing behaviors do the target audience already have sticked to their brains?

What are the media consumption habits of this audience?

Who are the purchasing decision makers for this audience?

Based on the answer to the above questions you need to decide if Advergames (social games used for marketing) are a sound investment for your organization e.g. If the target audience for your product is mainly women or baby boomers, then getting into Advergames is probably not worth the money as research shows that these consumers are not active users of social games.

Secondly, the game needs to engage the user with your message. Your message needs to be relevant to the game at its core and your product information should be as closely tied to the game goals as possible. One of the companies’ that has done really well in this area is Adidas in Power Football. The Adidas Campaign truly realizes the full promise of the in-game advertising medium. Gameplay attributes are assigned to each of the Adidas shoe models that the player chooses from. Corresponding gameplay attributes match the brand attributes of each shoe, delivering product education and virtual sampling.

Lastly, the game needs to be fun. This might sound naïve but it is surprising how many games miss the point. According to a recent study by Forrester, 18% of the serious game players in the US find Advergames as being “not fun” and boring. If it’s not fun enough to keep the user coming back for more, it will hurt the duration of exposure to the message and the brain will not retain the information.

And yes, being a marketing professional how can I forget the ever so useful analytics and usability studies. Look at the key user metrics – the click through and application download rates collect user experience feedback on the interface and game flow. For those who have not played you need to understand why they have not and what could motivate them to play. Use the data, evolve your campaign to adapt to the data, re launch the campaign and play on!