MASSIVE SIGNED A DEAL WITH THQ, its first top-five developer client, to serve and track dynamic, in-game advertising into its upcoming video game titles, including Juiced, a motocross simulation.
"THQ's one of the top five publishers, so we're pretty happy to have them on board," said Massive Incorporated Chief Marketing Officer Nicholas Longano. "This would probably be one of our biggest publishers so far." Massive's current developer and publisher partners include well-known firms such as Ubisoft, Konami, Vivendi Universal, and Atari, but the other four of the five biggest game developers--Electronic Arts, Activision, Sega, and Nintendo--are not Massive partners.
According to Longano, their network of games has served ads into 19 million play sessions, and the company hopes to begin developing ways to more deeply embed advertisements and sponsorships into the game itself. "We're obviously talking about deeper integrations in which advertising and messaging become part of the gameplay experiences," Longano said. "Rewards such as upgrades, level loads--things that in the past they've had to pay for or things that weren't part of their gameplay experience--ultimately, at the end of the day it's going to enhance your experience; you're going to get more for your buck."
Longano declined to comment on whether future THQ titles would be including that deeper integration of ads and sponsorship, saying that the upcoming ad and sponsorship options would be available to all their publisher and developer clients, including THQ.
by Shankar Gupta, Tuesday, Dec 20, 2005 6:00 AM EST
Fine-tuned ad technologies are expected to advance in 2006.
BOSTON (AP) -- MobiTV Inc. built its business by sending TV broadcasts to cell phones. People willing to stare at the small screen for extended periods can tune in channels such as ESPN and MSNBC.
But MobiTV recently began doing more than just relaying the signals. Now the company removes some ads that appear on TV broadcasts and replaces them with ones geared for wireless viewers.
Here's the logic: Consumers willing to pay for TV on a cell phone tend to be more affluent, urban and tech-savvy than the average viewer. So why should they get the same ads as the average viewer?
Waning are the days of blasting a commercial to a vast network audience and hoping someone out there responds.
Technologies will emerge in multiple realms in 2006 and beyond -- from video games to cable TV to podcasts -- that will give advertisers intriguing abilities to pinpoint designated segments of the public with specific messages.
''We're now entering a new age where the advertising doesn't have to be intrusive, irrelevant, bombastic -- shotgunned advertisements in which we make everyone learn about dog food even if they don't have a dog,'' said Paul Woidke, vice president of technology for the ad division at cable giant Comcast Corp.
Such fine-grained marketing has long been predicted for the digital age because of the demographic and behavioral tracking it enables.
Perhaps the idea's ultimate extension appeared in the 2002 sci-fi movie ''Minority Report,'' when the main character, running for his life, is spotted by a billboard that proclaims, ''John Anderton, you could use a Guinness about now!''
Putting the concept into practice on the Internet has been bumpy. Many Web surfers recoil at ''adware'' -- or more derisively, ''spyware'' -- software that monitors their clicks to serve up ads presumed to matter to them.
That's not to say the idea is dead -- Claria Corp., formerly known as Gator Corp., has resurrected its business of delivering personally targeted Web ads now that it is moving away from doing it with pop-up windows.
But the real innovation in targeted ads these days seems to be occurring in other media platforms.
Consider the service that Massive Inc. launched in 2005 to feed ads to video games.
It was possible beforehand to put ads in video games, such as on the billboards that would appear around the track in auto-racing games. But those had to be programmed into the game, often a year before the title's release.
By working with game programmers, Massive built a system that can feed ads in real time to games played on the Web or networked console services like Xbox Live. Now those ads around the track on auto-racing games can change depending on when and where the game is being played.
Movies opening in limited release in European cities have been pitched to game players only in those areas. The WB Network placed ads in games during prime-time hours in the days before launching a new show.
Massive's ads appear in context so as to minimize annoying players. So while a street-fighting game might show a Pepsi truck driving by, there tends not to be any product placement in fantasy titles that draw gamers seeking escapism.
But the next step is a bit tricker. Massive is exploring ways that ads can be directed to certain players, depending on demographic criteria. That would require players' permission and willingness to proactively register their interests -- beyond, of course, what their choice of video game says about them.
That audience self-selection approach is in the works at TiVo Inc., whose digital TV recorders have made the entertainment industry uneasy because they make it easy to skip commercials.
In early 2006, TiVo plans to launch a service that would ask users whether they're open to seeing commercials in particular categories. Someone shopping for a new car, for instance, could signal a willingness to check out auto commercials.
TiVo will then feed relevant ads to customers' digital recorders for viewing at their convenience.
TiVo's head of national ad sales, Davina Kent, says she expects high consumer interest because the ads would be more comprehensive than typical 30-second spots, and more visually stimulating than anything viewers might find in Internet research.
She added that an even greater connection between viewers and ads could come if TiVo can reliably and anonymously predict users' interests -- much as it guesses TV programs they might like -- and send the right ads along, too. Someday, say, a company like Nike Inc. might sponsor packages of content sent to people deemed sports enthusiasts.
Invidi Technologies Corp. is aiming to make that happen automatically. Invidi's software, sitting in TV set-top boxes, can monitor a user's channel-surfing habits and determine a rough profile, including gender and age, then serve up ads accordingly. CEO David Downey said cable and satellite companies and telephone carriers (many of which are now entering the TV business) are exploring the service in several countries.
To be sure, the software makes some erroneous guesses. But Downey contends that ''the system that TV is bought and sold on today is so inherently broken, that to improve on it several hundred times ... isn't that hard to do.''
Perhaps most compelling is the technology's power to separate ads from programming. An advertiser could order that commercials be shown to people in certain demographic categories a set number of times, no matter what TV program such viewers happen to be watching.
Less granular advertising approaches already exist, such as an ad-assembly service from Visible World Inc. that can funnel slightly different versions of commercials to audiences in different locations. Consumers in a baby boomer-heavy ZIP code might see a travel ad with more spa and golf footage, for instance, than viewers in an adjoining district.
But it could be 2007 before subscriber-level ad systems are widely deployed. Forrester Research analyst Eric Schmitt notes that cable TV operators have been reluctant to install necessary software on set-top boxes, which can be a complicated process.
It might also be challenging for advertisers and media companies to reorient the ad-sales process to fit the segmentation these technologies allow.
''We're basically at the threshold of a new era,'' said David Ernst, executive vice president at ad buyer Initiative Media. ''But things are changing more in the evolutionary than revolutionary fashion.''
As in seemingly everything nowadays, there could be an interesting role for Google Inc.
Like other Internet search sites, Google deploys perhaps the most successful incarnation of targeted advertising: Certain queries to the search engine trigger advertisements corresponding to the subject.
Google's director of product management, Richard Holden, would like to expand that model as video on demand begins to flourish, either on the Internet or on cable systems. When users hunt for programming, Holden suggests, Google's method for linking ads to search terms could run in the background -- along with the auction process Google uses to determine prices for the ads.
With their massive popularity and boundless record keeping, sites like Google and Yahoo Inc. can capture detailed information about their users -- especially with the rise of ''social networking'' zones that group people of common interests.
Yahoo wouldn't discuss next-generation ad possibilities. But Holden said Google has no plans to change its method for ad targeting by incorporating information gleaned about individual users.
It would be hard, he said, to beat the existing premise: ''When people are searching for something, they're giving you some pretty specific information about what they're interested in.''
By Associated Press
As Long As Message Makes Sense Within Video Game’s Story
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) – With video games becoming mainstream ad vehicles and marketers expected to spend $185.6 million on ads in games in 2005, figuring out what kind of ads gamers will accept is becoming crucial.
Authenticity seems to be the watchword for gamers the world over, according to a new study by Mediaedge:cia. In the U.S. alone, 150 million people play video, electronic or online games.
On average, U.S. gamers play between three to four hours over a week, and heavy gamers devote 11 hour. The hours spent on gaming demonstrate how passionate gamers are about this pursuit, but that doesn’t mean they are averse to ads.
“We were pleasantly surprised by the acceptance of advertising if it’s done in the right, subtle way and helps to increase the gaming experience,” said Fran Kennish, director-strategic planning for MediaEdge:cia.
Game enhancers
In fact, gamers say that advertisements even enhance the game experience when they help to create the alternate reality.
Advertising placements that mimic real-world ads, such as billboards in sports or racing games, are accepted by gamers because they are perceived to add to the reality of the game, according to the study.
“I’ve played many baseball games and have been a little upset every time Fenway Park is played; there is usually no Citgo sign. That Citgo sign has practically become synonymous with Fenway Park and the Boston Red Sox,” said one unnamed respondent quoted in the study.
Heavy gamers have the most positive experiences with advertising. Male gamers in particular claim ads make the game more realistic, especially if they help the player reach a certain objective.
“In ‘Metal Gear Solid 2,’ when you opened up the enemy’s lockers, you could see FHM posters inside [featuring] beautiful girls in swimsuits,” said a respondent, talking about ads enhancing reality.
Delicate balance
But, the study cautions, “There is a delicate balance between enhancing realism and obstructing escapism.” In theory, all games are possible venues for placements, though sports and racing games lend themselves to the medium better. It is nearly impossible to place a modern brand in a sword-and-sorcery epic or a futuristic sci-fi game. “I’d hate to be playing some shooter set in 2275 and see an ad for a 2004 Jeep Cherokee,” said a respondent.
Another respondent pointed out that if the main character in, say, “Grand Theft Auto” remarks that he’d “‘never go out and kill someone without my Red Bull energy drink.’ That could ruin a game because it disrupts game flow.”
The bottom line? “If it’s subtle and fits in, it’s perfect,” Ms. Kennish said. “Anything else would not fly.”
The study was conducted through surveys on blogs and polled more than 250 gamers in nine countries.
November 28, 2005
By Kris Oser
Latest to Offer Dynamic Ad Insertion in Online Games
LOS ANGELES -- When AtomShockwave began creating games for advertisers several years ago, the San Francisco-based online gaming company had no idea how popular the concept might become among marketers.
AtomShockwave's network will consist of a growing stable of online games into which ads can be dynamically inserted. Click the above images to see actual ad placements.
The company certainly knows now.
Immersive network
AtomShockwave has launched the Shockwave.com Immersive Network, a platform that will place multiple advertisers within the company’s popular games. The first to feature brands will be the title "Switch Wakeboarding," with other games to be added to the network in the coming months.
The company has already signed up Sprint, SBC Communications and Sony Pictures to use the company’s new product.
In the new network, a brand’s logo can appear on anything from billboards or on the sides of vehicles within the gameplay.
AtomShockwave, which operates the Shockwave.com and AtomFilms.com sites, as well as AddictingGames.com, hopes to feature up to five companies in rotation in a single game. An advertiser could also buy all of the impressions within a game for a period of time.
Last month, Shockwave.com attracted 22 million unique visitors who played more than 25 million game sessions. The company offers more than 200 games.
Unobtrusive ad integration
“The challenge for us is making sure that the advertising is integrated in a way that doesn’t interrupt game play and feels natural,” said Dave Williams, general manager of Shockwave.com. “We’re working hard to make sure that the ads feel natural.”
The company previously produced brand-backed games for companies like Dodge, Radio Shack, McDonald’s and Honda, and was starting to receive an increasing number of requests from other advertisers looking to hire AtomShockwave to create their own titles, often referred to as advergames.
Marketers have been seeking access to AtomShockwave’s lucrative young audience -- young males who play the company’s action games and older females attracted to its puzzle games.
Earlier this month, the company bolstered its demos by acquiring AddictingGames, a heavily trafficked directory of casual games on the Web. The purchase not only gave AtomShockwave an additional 5 million unique users per month, but also a concentration of mostly 12- to 24-year-old males.
70 million play for Radio Shack
The company’s "Red Line Rumble" game, initially created for Radio Shack, has recorded more than 70 million game plays. The "Dodge Charger Hemi-Highway" has generated more than 1 million game plays in just four weeks.
But given its limited resources, AtomShockwave’s staff just couldn’t handle the extra workload to create an individual game for every advertiser that wanted one.
It’s not that the potential revenue wasn’t attractive. An advergame for a single advertiser can start in the six figures and go up from there. Comparably, prices to advertise in the Shockwave.com Immersive Network range from the tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“We were doing a lot of business with advergames, but there was increased interest in getting brands integrated into content,” Mr. Williams said. “Advergames are great for a single marketer, but they often take months to develop and can be expensive for the advertiser. They do take time to get running. If an advertiser wants to do a game quickly, the in-game strategy is a great option.”
Pre-game ads
In addition to in-game advertising, Shockwave.com will continue to offer advertisers packages to air spots before games or integrate themselves throughout the Shockwave.com site.
Initially, the Shockwave.com Immersive Network will be able to deliver a minimum of 10 million to 12 million impressions per month, according to the comapny. It hopes to increase that to 50 million impressions a month by early 2006, as more games are added to the network
Ad impressions will generally run from three to seven seconds in action games, though they could be much longer in some games, for example in racing games, where ads can be displayed on the hood of a car.
AtomShockwave isn’t the only player in the in-game advertising space.
Massive dominates the in-game ad business with its own network. Meanwhile other firms like WildTangent and Double Fusion have increased their own efforts to go after advertisers’ dollars when it comes to producing advergames or negotiating in-game ads.
And for good reason.
More than a third of the Internet’s active users are said to visit online gaming sites, according to Nielsen/NetRatings, and have made in-game advertising a $500 million business, according to the Yankee Group. That number is expected to climb dramatically over the next few years. The in-game ad market could top $1 billion by 2010. That’s still miniscule compared with the $22 billion that cable TV and $12 billion that Internet ads generate.
November 21, 2005
By Marc Graser
Researchers at Nielsen took it upon themselves to study the behaviors/gaming habits, purchase intent and more of what they're calling the active gamer. Nielsen's findings included a growing demographic, increasing importance of online games and MMOs, and further adoption of mobile entertainment. More within...
Nielsen Entertainment today announced partial results from two separate studies that will be published tomorrow: Benchmarking the Active Gamer and Benchmarking Mobile Entertainment.
Both reports surveyed over 2,000 respondents in North America during September 2005 who were "engaged actively in either video games or in their use of mobile services." According to Nielsen, an "active" gamer is one who owns a console and spends at least one hour per week playing it. A number of topics were covered in the studies, including purchase intent, spending and behavioral patterns, genre preferences and more.
Widening demographic
In the Benchmarking the Active Gamer study specifically, perhaps the most interesting discovery is that the demographic of game players is starting to expand. Nielsen found that males in the 25-34 range and Hispanics "represent the most valuable emerging market for video games." This group now has higher budgets for entertainment, and as such there is a greater potential for increased video game spending.
"... it's quite possible playing video games will assume a significant role as a common cultural experience, in the way that movies and television do today," Michael Dowling, GM, Nielsen Interactive Entertainment
Furthermore, while men outweigh women 76 to 24 percent when it comes to MMO games, in the casual online games market the split between genders is almost even—49 percent women vs. 51 percent men. Speaking of MMOs, online gaming is becoming increasingly common and the importance of MMOs is growing. Nielsen found that 57 percent of active gamers have played online. The free casual online games have drawn the most interest, but 21 percent also said that they have played MMO games.
Games as part of the cultural experience
Not only is the demographic getting broader with the online segment growing, but Nielsen also found that active gamers in general are spending more time playing games. The study shows that 25 percent of a gamer's leisure time is now spent playing a game, and males in particular play (on average) 12 hours a week. This is valuable time for marketers that many gamers used to spend watching TV, and it shows why in-game ads will no doubt become more and more relevant as companies try to advertise to this demographic.
"Games are a part of a broader number of people's leisure time, as evidenced by the findings in our study. Playing video games, once considered the domain of teen boys, has evolved into a medium that is now capable of reaching expanding demographics of gamers, including females, Hispanics and older players," commented Michael Dowling, General Manager, Nielsen Interactive Entertainment. "As games continue to increase its share of entertainment leisure time, it's quite possible playing video games will assume a significant role as a common cultural experience, in the way that movies and television do today."
Patience with next-gen
Interestingly, although there is much hype for the next generation of consoles (the Xbox 360 goes on sale tonight at midnight), many gamers seem to be taking a wait and see approach, said Nielsen. Roughly 50 percent of active gamers stated that they intend to wait for both Xbox 360 and Sony's PS3 to be on the market before they make a purchase decision. That could mean that many active gamers could stick with the current-gen systems until late 2006 or early 2007.
That said, Nielsen also found that people who own and prefer the original Xbox are more likely to buy an Xbox 360 than those that own and prefer PS2 are to buy the PS3. Although it's always difficult to read clearly into these things, this finding could suggest that PlayStation diehards may be more willing to make the switch to Xbox 360 in the next generation, or may purchase both systems; either way it would seem like a positive step in brand penetration and awareness for Microsoft's Xbox business.
Mobile appeal
As for the mobile games sector, it seems that active gamers are slowly but surely warming up to playing on their cell phones. According to Nielsen, 18 percent of active gamers have downloaded a game to their cell phone and almost two-thirds said that their experience was either good or excellent. Furthermore, in terms of mobile gaming there seems to be less distinction between genders. Women and men shared the preference to play board, card and puzzle games on their cell phones.
"The inter-connection between video games and mobile devices is undeniable given consumer demand for flexibility. High technology adopters are more likely to use the Internet, use their cell phones and play video games spending greater amounts of time and money on these media. The details revealed in these reports raise actionable items for marketers and developers alike and the result is clear: 'emerging' media, they are no longer. Games and Mobile entertainment have arrived as powerful channels to consumers and influencers of our culture," concluded Andy Wing, President and CEO of Nielsen Entertainment.
For more on both studies, including purchase information, please visit the Nielsen website.
In-game ads aren't simply an option for publishers to generate additional revenue; they're fast becoming essential for offsetting escalating costs, says Massive Inc. Naturally an in-game ad company would stress the importance of these ads, but there's no denying in-game ads are taking off, and so is Massive. Having recently launched version 3.0 of its ad tech, Massive discusses with us the present and the future for the company.
With chatter regarding in-game advertising at an all-time high, industry pioneers Massive Incorporated want to make one thing clear: they're here today with a live network serving millions of game sessions across dozens of titles. GameDAILY BIZ sat down with Massive CMO Nicholas Longano to discuss the company's ad technology, what is driving Massive's growth, and what challenges still lie ahead for the company. Massive may be just over three years old, but don't call them young.
In the Here and Now
Longano stressed that the company's central message is that dynamic, in-game advertising is not a technology to be talked about in a future tense. Massive's technology is out of the testing phase and is currently serving millions of ad impressions.
"There is one company that has a live network. We've logged 17 million game sessions accounting for over 25 million game hours," Longano said. "This is not a young industry. It is only a young market for those that aren't in it."
Being the first to market in such a rapidly growing business certainly gives Massive some bragging rights, but the company believes it has significant other competitive advantages over other companies now entering the space as well. Longano specifically pointed to the company's repeat business as an indicator of Massive's leadership position, beyond their early entry.
"It varies game-to-game... but in-game ads can increase publisher revenue an additional 20-30% above the amount generated by the title's retail sales," Nicholas Longano, CMO of Massive Inc.
"We deliver what we say we will deliver, which is why we're seeing repeat business from publishers. Publishers who were previously just dipping their toes [into in-game ads] are now taking a full-blown plunge," he said. "We have an enormous infrastructure in place now -- support teams, creative support, ad ops for streamlining ad approval from all organizations necessary, and a massive ad sales infrastructure."
Publishers Require Additional Revenue Streams
The video game business is different from virtually all other major forms of media in that publishers' only source of revenue comes from retail sales. Content publishers in virtually every other medium, (music, films, TV, etc.) are able to diversify their revenue sources more than publishers in the video game industry. That, coupled with rising development costs, is what Massive believes makes a strong case for the need for in-game ads, beyond merely the desire to make more money via their implementation.
"It is simply impossible to offset a 50% rise in development costs via retail sales. It just can't be done," Longano said. "Publishers are going to HAVE to have a secondary revenue source. It varies game-to-game depending on the specific ad implementation, but in-game ads can increase publisher revenue an additional 20-30% above the amount generated by the title's retail sales."
"I was on the other end before I joined Massive -- at a publisher. I was drawn to the company because I truly believe that this is the best thing I've heard [for publishers] in a long, long time," he continued.
Gamer's Value = Publisher's Value
No one yet knows how the details of next gen's economics will shake out, so hindsight will be the only true judge of whether Longano's concerns about skyrocketing rising costs are legitimate, or just an excellent way to drum up Massive interest. What is known is that in-game advertising becoming commonplace in appropriate titles will shift the economics of the industry, and give new importance to the term "replay value."
"We balance the ad to gameplay ratio to prevent any gaming experience to be overloaded with advertising, so I'm not sure that in-game ads could entirely subsidize development costs. I do believe that in-game ads could subsidize the development of new levels, however," Longano said.
Right now, the fact that publishers are putting so much emphasis on multiplayer online play and replay ability is in some ways actually hurting their bottom line. While it's true that an excellent online portion of a title will move some additional copies, who knows how many potential future sales are lost. Whether gamers spent 100 hours with Halo 2 thanks to Xbox Live or 15 hours with Ninja Gaiden, both publishers sold their products for the same $50 MSRP.
In-game advertising, for the first time, presents publishers with a real reason to infuse their titles with replay value (beyond merely wanting to release good games, of course). If gamers keep coming back for millions of multiplayer game hours, then that will generate a significantly higher amount of ad revenue than if the endgame content is merely lackluster.
Growing the Space
For the time being, Massive's primary goal is to continue growing the space, despite the company's insistence that the business has moved out of its infancy.
"Over the short term our biggest goal is simply to build this industry; to continue the migration of advertising dollars into this medium. To that end we're always signing on more publishers, more advertisers," Longano said. "Massive was formed by [people from] publishers. We were formed to get new forms of revenue for this industry."
Drive for Life to put emphasis on safe driving and avoiding accidents
Car manufacturer Volvo is working with UK developer Climax, the studio behind the MotoGP series, to produce a new "advergame" for the current-generation Xbox.
According to the New York Times, the game is titled Volvo Drive for Life and puts the emphasis on safe driving. Players begin by taking a training course at the Volvo proving grounds in Gothenburg, where they must complete tasks such as the "moose avoidance test." Then players can head out onto the roads, where their main objective is to avoid pile-ups.
There are three cars to choose from and three roads to race on: players can take the S40 out on California's Pacific Coast Highway, cruise round the Italian Grand Prix near Monza in a S60 R, or drive the XC90 to the Ice Hotel in Jukkasjarvi, Sweden.
The game will also include a virtual tour of Volvo's Safety Center and footage of real crash tests. It's been a year in the making and is being produced by Climax together with a New York design agency. Game discs will be distributed via US Volvo dealers early next year.
This is just the start of a growing trend, according to Microsoft - there are plans to release many more "advergames" in the future, on both the current-gen Xbox and the Xbox 360.
Ellie Gibson 09:41 16/11/2005
Some 90 percent of males age 18-34 would watch a video ad in exchange for free game plays, according to a joint study by rich media firm Eyeblaster and online game site WildTangent, reports MediaPost (via MediaBuyerPlanner). Overall, 70 percent of all respondents said they wouldn't mind seeing an ad before playing WildTangent's games, but the younger crowd was better disposed to the idea: 85 percent of respondents 18-34 didn't mind seeing the ad before the game.
Video games developers, understanding the potential for branded sponsorship, are incorporating more and more examples of in-game media in their products--and media analysts, speaking at The Next Big Idea: the Future of Branded Entertainment conference in New York Wednesday, said advertisers are missing out on good opportunities.
Advertisers have started to buy billboards in racing, sports, and action games, but these aren't the only branding opportunities, said Henry Jenkins, a comparative media studies professor at MIT. He pointed out that characters in the "Grand Theft Auto" series interact with different media.
For example, fake magazines are sprinkled in offices throughout its virtual cities; players also interact with different radio stations when driving a car. In fact, Jenkins noted that a few record labels have used these radio channels to promote new artists to "Grand Theft Auto"'s predominantly male 18-34 crowd. Many games, like Tom Clancy's "Splinter Cell," have TV monitors in the backgrounds of their virtual department stores and office buildings--and Jenkins said there's no reason these couldn't be showing commercials.
"We live in a branded universe," Jenkins said, adding that gamers appreciate it when their virtual worlds feel more authentic. Anything that adds to the immersiveness of a game is welcome by gamers, but he said the responsibility is on marketers to advertise tactfully.
The downside is that no one is quite sure how much gamers will put up with. A bad example, Jenkins said, would be Best Buy--which received an award for worst product placement from a popular game site for placing a huge virtual company store with its big logo at the finish line in a racing game.
As Jenkins noted, gamers aren't always happy about product placement in their virtual worlds. In some massively multiplayer online role-playing games, Jenkins said upset gamers have been known to band together, creating their own in-game protests. They make signs or participate in "sit-ins"--blocking entrances and exits to rooms they refuse to leave, which disrupts the game and frustrates developers.
But games can also be great places for consumer-generated word of mouth. Jenkins noted that one gamer in the Sims Online recreated a whole catalogue of Ikea furniture. "Is this a case of copyright infringement? Or viral marketing?" he asks.
According to Larry Gerbrandt, senior vice president and general manager, Nielsen Analytics, "$60 billion in TV billings is up for grabs." He said that money will go to branded entertainment like video games. A recent Nielsen Media Research study shows that product placement in video games generates a 60 percent lift in awareness. "Brand integration can, in many instances, outpace the impact of its ad counterparts," Gerbrandt said.
The Yankee Group, another research firm, predicts that video game advertising will reach $800 million by 2008. Jenkins said the numbers could be even higher once the next generation of Internet-enabled Playstation and XBox consoles hits stores later this year. Real-time ad-serving, currently "a minority
practice, could potentially explode."
Media News Daily
by Ross Fadner, Thursday, Oct 20, 2005 8:15 AM EST
Very few brands are constructing seamless and successful branded entertainment integrations as well as the Chrysler Group is today. And apart from film, the Chrysler Group's innovative and forward thinking branded entertainment strategies have landed their vehicles into the storylines of television shows, DVD tie-in campaigns, video games and most recently, mobile entertainment.
If having Angela Jolie's Lara Kraft character ride through swampland to Mt. Kilamanjaro in a spotless Jeep isn't enough of a brand's dream come true, how about having the Jeep Grand Cheroke rescue Matthew Mcconaughey and Penelope Cruz from peril in the Sahara desert?
We met with Jeff Bell, VP of Chrysler and Jeep to examine his strategies for branded entertainment success, thoughts on cross-platform distribution, dealings with financial transactions and advice for getting branded entertainment efforts in gear.
Here are Highlights of Mr. Bell's Interview:
Jeff Bell's Role at the Chrysler Group
To oversee all of the future product development and to market and sell all of the Chrysler and Jeep products today, from an overall general management perspective and that includes advertising, merchandising and other promotional elements for both brands.
Why Branded Entertainment?
In 2000, the Chrysler Group began to question the appropriate response to the increasing fragmentation taking place, which includes: moving from three network channels to over 500 digital channels, available by satellite or cable, the rise of the Internet, the use of portable wireless devices, etc.
There are so many choices available, yet there is still a finite number of people the Chrysler Group is trying to reach when marketing automobiles.
Branded entertainment presented an attractive alternative to the traditional push or mass communication.
Branded Entertainment Strategy :
The Chrysler Group found that product placement is interesting and is the foundation of branded entertainment activity, but is also not enough.
The technique of "brand casting" was developed and means that content is naturally and organically integrated into films, shows or games, then used as part of overall branded marketing communications.
Breaking Into Films: Lessons and Successes :
The Chrysler Group has worked with three major motions pictures and continues to learn from its film experiences.
The first brand casting experience was with the movie "Chasing Puppy" and the Chrysler brand. The Chrysler Group integrated vehicles into the film, provided content for the web and television -- and promoted the movie and brand; however, the movie and integration was unsuccessful and didn't connect with the audience.
The Chrysler Group worked with Paramount on the last two films: "Tomb Raider, Cradle of Life" and "Sahara."
In the film "Sahara": - The Jeep Grand Cherokee and the Jeep Wrangler Unlimited played heroic roles in the film. - There was a lot of footage of characters driving in the Jeep into harms way but coming out in a heroic fashion.
- From cutting floor footage, they were able to put together a number of different content promotional elements like: web content, 30-second television spots for cable and network; photography, both in print and point of sale, in theaters and at automotive dealerships.
- Special limited edition vehicles inspired by the film were also created and sold to dealers.
- For both of "Sahara"'s promotions they saw overall market increases for the Jeep and Wrangler businesses. The special limited edition vehicle models sold much faster than normal units: In less than a hundred days in both cases.
It is beneficial to work with a partner more than once, so that a good relationship is developed.
Do Product Sales Correlate With Box Office Sales ?
Levels of successes can be different for brands and the motion picture industry.
There was some feeling that "Sahara" wasn't a blockbuster film, but it did 100 million dollars in the domestic market and at least that much if not more in the International market, and subsequent DVD release. Therefore, it was still a very successful film.
Both movies ("Tomb" Raider and "Sahara") had tremendous amounts of promotion, and both vehicle brands were a part of that promotion.
Sales for the Jeep and Wrangler brands were very strong, and The Chrysler Group was happy with both movie partnerships.
Developing the Creatives :
Scripts are looked at early on, sometimes before they have a director or specific cast.
Storylines are identified where the automobile is naturally present and can have a special role to play in a film.
The Chrysler Group thought it was key to not be "control freaks" with the motion picture industry but lay out their brand's tenor, what it stood for overall and asked to make their content look like the film's content. This proved to be a trust builder as well as a very successful formula in terms of leveraging their media plans and overall promotions.
Although BBDO Detroit was involved in the promotional efforts, no advertising agency made any pitches.
How Involved Do You Get On the Set ?
There was consistent dialogue with the film production professionals, not onsite, but through the daily's.
For those scenes of the film where the Chrysler Group's brands were involved, they were able to review the footage fairly quickly and give a go ahead. However, they did not massage or influence the film to a great degree.
There are some instances where brands rewrite scripts, but in The Chrysler Group's case, there were many upfront talks so that they would not get into other peoples' businesses, which is to make a great motion picture.
Financial Models :
The concept of two great brands coming together means that it's not much of transaction based situation but a relation based situation.
In the past, to the great discredit of great brands, people were cutting big checks to get into a film as if it were an endorsement, which is fundamentally not the appropriate model according to the Chrysler Group.
The movie industry makes most of its money from selling tickets and DVDs, not from sponsorship checks.
"Cat in the Hat," "Matrix" and "Terminator 3" were final straws of the model where brands wrote big checks and didn't get a return on that investment. This old model has been put to rest.
What is most appropriate is that brands and movies create content, distribute it and co-promote it together.
TV Integrations :
In the past, a more traditional product placement role has been taken on television because the Chrysler Group's products weren't as interesting as they are now.
With new "cool, hip and desired" vehicles like Chrysler 300, 300C or PT Convertible and the Jeep Commander, television writers are a lot more interested in bringing these products into scripts.
There were great integrations into the TV show "ER" with the Chrysler 300. Vehicles also appeared in the first "The Apprentice."
Most recently, to forward the Jeep Commander launch, the Chrysler Group integrated the vehicle on BET's new reality series, "Dame Dashes Ultimate Hustler." In the show, new, young talent will be taking on challenges with a Jeep Commander.
"Dame Dashes Ultimate Hustler" just debuted last week but has had very positive and critical ratings, however; they will have to see how it plays out overall.
DVD Strategies :
One big challenge is that the DVD/home entertainment business is generally run separately from the major motion picture or the television side of business.
The Chrysler Group has never done a DVD deal that was part of a whole branded entertainment strategy, but they have done one-off DVD promotions.
There have been two DVD promotions that have worked well with Disney: One involved putting the characters from "Monsters Inc." into a Dodge Mini Van commercial, where they introduced the monsters Inc DVD. The second involved putting Timba and Pumba from the "The Lion King" into a commercial promoting the mini van and DVD release of the "The Lion King".
According to Mr. Bell, Pepsi did a fantastic commercial and natural integration with the Top Gun VHS, and such home video/DVD integrations have never been done as well.
Advertising in Video Games :
Since 2000, The Chrysler Group has been very active in video games.
They have over 42 video games titles related to Dodge Chrysler and Jeep with over 3 1/2 million registered users.
Most of their video game activity is online or in downloadable format. They also have some retail games.
Games like "Gran Turismo" or other driving games use a traditional product placement model.
Currently, The Chrysler Group receives revenue from firms to license the likeness and activity of their products.
They have expanded from driving games into Tony Hawk franchises, where products are inside the games so a gamer can skateboard or do handstands over a Jeep, etc.
With "Tony Hawk Underground II", a unique area in the game where an individual user can create a rail park and a Jeep is integrated into this area on a branded basis.
They also did a special Nielsen test with "Tony Hawk Underground II", where games were watermarked and in certain houses, game exposure was measured. They are awaiting results of this measurement data.
Most of the work they do is focused on lifestyle. For example, clearly a game like "Rockstar Dub City" will feature a Chrysler 300C because it is a hot street rod and adds legitimacy to the game.
A question that always comes up is, "Are you crossing the line of he gamer?" They have received information that indicates that gamers want to see real products in games, and there are appropriate integrations that are based on reality and not fantasy.
Chrylser is involved in golf games.
Jeep is involved in most action sports whether it's snow boarding or skateboarding.
Dodge has been involved in the hockey games.
They have developed puzzle games personality tests which are geared more toward women.
Mobile Entertainment
The Chrylser Group has just started to experiment with mobile from a gaming and content standpoint.
They are talking about promoting content from the show they created, "Jeep King of the Mountain" airing on CBS, which deals with snowboarding, ski racing and mountain biking, into mobile or wireless units in short bursts.
They are starting to do some work with ESPN to provide sports content on wireless products that are sponsored by Dodge, Chrysler and Jeep.
Budget Basics
Mr. Bell advises that brands have to take some financial risks.
What the Chrylser Group found was when they invested in branded entertainment, they got a very positive and measurable return.
In the past five years, the amount of time and money that they have put forward in branded entertainment has grown and it will continue to grow even further in all of the areas discussed.
This is represented by a new program called, "We Are the Muds", which involves an online family that are the proud owners of a Jeep Commander. This campaign includes webisodes, purposed through mobile wireless devises. On the web there are sweepstakes, games, go-cashing through google maps and in the future, blogging activity for the characters.
Advice for Brands Getting Started
Just get started, even in a small way. Do something so you can learn and hopefully succeed and grow.
Make sure you can take advantage of measurement. Being able to capture response is critical.
Make sure that whatever you do is natural and that you have an alignment between the values of your brand and your partner so that your jointly created content doesn't seem awkward, forced or unnatural.
The Future of Branded Entertainment
In 2006, there will be a lot of movement into blogging, RSS, movies and brandcasting.
Content will be created and distributed in means other than the 30-second commercial. Other types of entertainment content that showcase brands will continue to grow.
Xbox and Adidas announced a long-term strategic alliance at X05, the Microsoft Xbox brand experience for the games and entertainment industry.
The worlds of sports and entertainment merge as both companies enter into a series of planned activities and initiatives:
Xbox 360 kiosks will be placed in retail locations across the US, Europe, Japan, Canada, Asia, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand for a variety of activities leading up to the FIFA '06 World Cup.
Xbox will join Adidas in supporting the MTV series "MTV Goal-Germany '06," which follows the progress of 10 of the globe's most promising young football talents as they bid to make it into their national squads in time for '06. The show will be screened beginning mid-November '05.
Adidas will install content on Xbox 360 consoles, while Xbox will enjoy presence on Adidas' planned World Cup mobile portal.
Xbox is supporting "Goal: The Movie" with a series of cross-promotional exercises with Adidas. Early reviews of the flick say it is a big product placement.
Xbox will have kiosks at all Adidas grassroots football events in the lead up to the World Cup.
"The alliance between Adidas and Xbox reflects the fact that sports, lifestyle and video games are inextricably linked," said Peter Moore, VP/ worldwide marketing and publishing for Xbox at Microsoft Corp. "Xbox 360 is a place where all three of these elements come together to truly amplify the sport experience. We look forward to working with Adidas on this exciting program." Incidentally, Moore was SVP/marketing at Reebok. Earlier in his career, Moore was president of Patrick USA.
October 05, 2005
Sporting Goods Business
NEW YORK -- Video games continue to fast emerge as a new advertising platform and their prevalence will only grow in coming years, gaming executives said here Wednesday at the Forrester Research Consumer Forum.
"Video games are poised to become the next big ad medium," said Katherine Hays, chief operating officer of Massive Inc., which provides in-game advertising.
Hays projected $2.5 billion in video game advertising revenue by the year 2010 and noted that ads placed by Massive average $2.04 per unit sold.
Paul Jackson, principal analyst for Forrester said males aged 12-17 are an easy target. He said 55% of those who go online regularly would rather play video games than watch TV, according to studies.
David Fleck, vp of marketing for game programr Linden Lab, detailed some advertising experiences from his company's "Second Life," a user-created virtual 125-square mile reality world with 55,000 users who interact socially and buy and sell products at the rate of $2 million per month.
Fleck displayed "Second Life," which features "avatars" that take the form of people or animals. The avatars can move throughout the virtual world contacting others and participating in an endless amount of activities.
"There is a place for anybody to participate," said Fleck, "including big corporations."
Currently, Second Life has a program developed by Wells Fargo called Stagecoach Island, which features Wells Fargo ATM machines that give out "Linden Dollars" that can be used to buy products in "Second Life." The goal is to promote fiscal responsibility among people aged 18 to 24.
Fleck said he is currently in discussions with other brands about advertising in Second Life and is hopeful that additional deals could be reached by year's end. He mentioned he would even be open to the idea of using avatars as advertisements.
Meanwhile, Hays once again rejected the notion that commercial messages would interfere with the gaming experience. "For the gamer, advertising actually adds to the realism," she said. "They respond positively."
She used the example of the game "Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory," which features a vending machine emblazoned with the Sprite logo. She said that 80% of gamers surveyed responded favorably to these types of ads.
Furthermore, she said there was usually a 15 second impression time and 30%-40% brand recall for ads that appear on billboards, vending machines, cars or skateboards in video games.
"Part of the reason for these numbers is that the audience is actively engaged with the ads," she said.
By Alex Woodson
September 29, 2005
The Hollywood Reporter
As young eyeballs vanish from television, marketers put on their game face
According to analysts at the Yankee Group, marketers spent $117 million last year on "advergaming" — a term that describes the integration of advertisements with online and console video games — and that figure is expected to jump to $874 million by 2009. That's small potatoes compared with the $3.5 billion that marketers are estimated to have spent on all product placement last year, but advergaming dollars reach a highly targeted market.
Gaming is still associated most strongly with first-person shooters and fantasy role-playing. But savvy marketers — spurred by a rapid rise in the amount of time the average U.S. teen devotes daily to online or console video games — are quickly adapting the most unlikely of products to what has become the most popular form of interactive activity.
Meanwhile, TV viewership among teens and twentysomethings also fell nearly 3% from 1999-2004, according to Nielsen Media Research. That drop is attributed largely to a shift in attention by those demographics: The average U.S. teen spent 12 hours a week gaming during that span but only nine hours a week watching television.
"It's becoming harder and harder to reach consumers through usual media," Yankee Group analyst Michael Goodman says. "You need to go where the audience is."
In the realm of online games, Kotex maxi-pad/tampon maker Kimberly-Clark recently created "Closet Chaos," which offers free personal advice to preteen girls, and in June, male-deodorant manufacturer Axe and game publisher WildTangent launched "Mojo Master" — the goal of which is to "conquer" 100 virtual babes. Among console games, Electronic Arts' "NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup" features a Mr. Clean-logoed pit crew, while the hero of Ubisoft's "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory" confronts a Coke machine, among other obstacles, while attempting to save the world.
It's a win-win situation for marketers and game developers, industry watchers believe, because in-game advertising will grow in amount and relevance once upcoming consoles such as Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 can link to the Internet. At that point, dynamic ads can change every day to hawk movies and promotions.
Game publishers could use such a cash infusion because development costs jump by about 50% during each industrywide console upgrade, according to the Yankee Group. The average game title costs $5 million-$15 million to develop during the current console cycle, but Goodman says those numbers will jump to $7.5 million- $22.5 million for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
The rub, though, is that players who pay as much as $60 for a game are not interested in traditional ads, pop-ups or overt product placement. In response, the industry is working to incorporate ads into game action.
"Gamers don't like fake advertising; they like real ads," says Mitch Davis, CEO of online-gaming network Massive. "If it's a racing game or a cityscape, you expect to see billboards or posters."
On the flip side, advertisers want more than billboards — so Massive is experimenting with video to accommodate them. One of the network's games, Funcom's "Anarchy Online," features a character who walks up to a Panasonic billboard; if the character stays in place, then a 15-second ad plays on the billboard.
That type of placement works, says Davis, because it does not interrupt game action. "You can't do interstitials or pop-ups or anything," he says. "That interferes too much with game play."
September 27, 2005
The Hollywood Reporter
Hoping the next hot phrase will be "I want my MTV Games," youth-oriented media company MTV has formed a new division and struck a partnership with game publisher Midway Games. The two will jointly sell in-game advertising in three titles they develop together.
The deal with Midway, with which MTV shares investor Sumner Redstone, is the first of what MTV expects to be multiple partnerships with game publishers. The new unit handling the alliances, called MTV Games, will incubate original game franchises and help publishers market their games to the MTV audience.
The games and in-game marketing opportunities will be aimed at males ages 16 to 24. MTV ad sales team will sell the inventory, which will include product placement, banners, and signage. Yet undetermined is whether the company's digital salespeople or its TV team will be primarily responsible for the sales efforts.
"I can see certain advertisers that populate our Web site finding it attractive," said Tony Calandra, director of MTV interactive products, who will manage the new division. "But, then again, I can see the top advertisers that we have on air thinking that this will be a lucrative opportunity."
Calandra said the team will look for brands whose products fit well with the settings and themes of the games themselves.
"We want to mix it up where it blends in with the environment," he told ClickZ News.
Calandra couldn't elaborate on whether the placements would be static or dynamically served. It's not yet clear whether advertisers would receive reports on game players interactions with or exposure to their brands.
The first title to come of the Midway partnership is an arcade racing video game called L.A. Rush. It will feature prominent MTV branding and the crew from the hit MTV show, Pimp My Ride. Two more titles will follow.
Jeff Yapp, EVP of MTV Networks and Logo Enterprise Group will head up the MTV Games division. He will report to Rich Eigendorff, COO of MTV Networks Music and Logo Group.
› › › ClickZ News
By Pamela Parker | June 28, 2005
A fleet new class of corporate entrepreneurs invents the future.
IN 2015, today's media and entertainment conglomerates will still be purveyors of branded content and services, but their business models, revenue streams, creative dynamics and key relations with global advertisers, consumers and competitors will be dramatically different — and they will no longer own the space.
The likes of News Corp., Viacom, Time Warner, the Walt Disney Co., NBC Universal and Sony will compete alongside blog-bred consumers and electronic entrepreneurs who are providing a new generation of content, products and services on a playing field leveled by a super-race of digital broadband interactive devices.
The bottom line: There will be an unprecedented amount of global wealth, innovation and sharing of old and new media and entertainment going on in more places, among more people than ever before. Given the growth curves of international markets, major media players are likely to generate at least half of their revenue outside of the United States.
Content still will rule, especially if it is branded and distinguished by integrity and unique creativity, but pervasive portable interactivity will require a new strain of aggregators specializing in searching, managing and customizing all media, entertainment, communications and advertising. In fact, the ability to access, locate, store, manipulate and manage content will be as important as the content itself.
Digital broadband interactivity will be the industry standard — not a business phenomenon — that will permeate every level of media and entertainment company operations, rather than being relegated to separate divisions. That standard will go into hyperdrive when it takes up with the likes of 3G, surround-sensor and other advanced technology. Increased bandwidth, digital compression, infinite cheap storage and power packs, high-definition, WiFi, WiMax and broadband interoperability will be the new status quo.
Ten years from now, today's blogging, Google-type Internet searches, home video rental and other content packaging and distribution methods will seem archaic. There will be no going back for interactive broadband consumers, whose impulsive on-demand spending and user habits will drive everything about media and entertainment to previously unfathomable levels.
Annual consumer spending on all forms of U.S. media and entertainment — from television, home video, print and boxoffice movies to music and the Internet — will approach $253 billion by 2009. By that time, consumers, advertisers, service providers and institutional end-users will spend more than $1.1 trillion on all U.S. communications, according to Veronis Suhler Stevenson's recently released five-year industry forecast. Consumers will media-multitask an average of 11 hours daily and 78 hours weekly by then, the New York-based media-merchant bank adds.
Globally, PricewaterhouseCoopers forecasts that consumer and end-user spending on all media and entertainment will grow 7.8% annually to more than $1.3 trillion in 2009. PWC predicts that U.S. consumer spending on media and entertainment will grow at an average annual rate of 5.8% to $475 billion in 2009, with domestic advertiser spending projected to grow 5.3% annually to $216 billion during that span.
PWC says the biggest growth driver will be new spending streams, including wireless and online options, that will account for 12% of the global media and entertainment spending increase during the next five years ($73 billion by 2009) and which will offset a decline of at least $5 billion in traditional media sales during that period.
The big unknown, though, is how quickly out-of-home use of portable interactive devices will overshadow long-dominant in-home use.
The rapidly evolving digital home is expected to generate more than $225 billion in worldwide revenue during the next six years but is likely to be outpaced eventually by out-of-home digital media, according to Bernstein Research.
In order to embrace that shift, the six media giants now responsible for more than 90% of film and TV product in the U.S. will have to extend their tentacles worldwide into hybrid companies, partnerships and entrepreneurial ventures that be equally important in stoking creative fires and profits. These giants will focus intensely on personalization, customization, community and catering to individual interests and needs — following decades of empire-building on force-fed mass consumption — and universal one-click connections and 90-second attention spans will force the reinvention of content production, distribution and marketing, advertising and commerce, and personal communications as we now know them.
Consumers' ability to access, download and store full-length entertainment, snippets (or, as video cell-phone wonks call it, "snack TV") or tailored data and marketing messages, or to alter and interact with content and engage in real-time three-dimensional communications and transactions, will result in the explosion of a bundled-media market already forecast to be worth $120 billion by decade's end. Cable and telephone companies will be only two of many multichannel players involved.
Download-storage devices and servers with infinite capacity will replace physical storage devices such as DVDs and CDs, prompting major shifts in global industry economics, copyright protection and piracy. Content will carry links and samples of related content, products and services, à la Amazon.com, and marketing and distribution will be reinvented as an electronic function of on-demand supply.
The targeted, connected consumer will find the content or service they want, when they want it, and will be click-billed automatically using an electronic signature. Whether through isolated or renewable cycles, entertainment and media subscription revenue will be boosted far past current levels; for example, Bernstein forecasts that today's $4 billion in annual domestic TV subscriber revenue will quadruple by 2015, when global subscription TV fees will reach $50 billion.
But those who rely on ad revenue to support their media models need not lose hope: Ad revenue will grow impressively as advertising takes on new forms. Forrester Research forecasts that $26 billion will be spent annually on online display ads, e-mail, search and broadband classified ads in only five years, accounting for 8% of all domestic advertising spending and rivaling the combined ad revenue of cable and satellite TV and radio.
That compares with traditional-media U.S. advertiser spending, which will appreciate at an average annual rate of 4.3% to $161 billion through 2008, according to Morgan Stanley. That figure does not include Internet advertising, which is projected to grow at four times that rate and top $22 billion during that span.
Internet-connected advertising should be a gold mine for all media and entertainment providers because it will facilitate targeted connections with consumers, who will be able to drill down into products and services and complete electronic transactions. It also will be the ultimate pitch, hit and sinker for advertisers and marketers.
Early attempts to estimate the changing economics of entertainment are eye-opening. Bernstein suggests that attracting a mere 6% of the 20 million U.S. female consumers ages 18-49 with targeted content like streaming daytime soap operas could generate $230 million in revenue at current broadcast TV cost-per-thousand ad units, or $700 million at three-times-higher Web CPMs. That would make individual broadcast-network profits averaging $100 million-$200 million look like child's play.
Clearly, media users, producers, marketers and distributors will become a "virtual one" as TV sets, radios, computers, video players, cameras, MP3 players, digital cell phones and other online devices blend into universal screens and consoles of personal communications devices. Bernstein forecasts that annual consumer media spending will approach $350 billion by 2010, of which only $151 billion will be concentrated in traditional media forms.
During the next decade, as conventional TV sets, radios and the like are replaced through attrition, entertainment firms will cater to a new wave of powerful and portable personal communicators. These devices will boast more memory than an iPod Mini, wireless Web-browsing and connectivity on par with laptop computers, high-definition video and audio (even for phones), 3-D sound, sync capability, instant-messaging and even new ways to time the popcorn and coffee that consumers still will have to make themselves. It will be convergence fulfilled.
It also is likely that during the next decade, media giants will be streamlined to include clusters of smaller companies whose pure-play balance sheets and businesses will be easier for investors to understand and support. Whatever synergy these conglomerates hoped to achieve by gathering assets during the 1990s will be achieved across sister companies and outside partnerships. None of these companies can afford to reinvent the wheel, but neither can they afford every asset needed to do business in the media's brave new world.
The lines separating content forms, distribution platforms, producers, consumers, companies and nations also will be blurred and even shattered, and the fortunes and existences of traditional and new-media companies will become intertwined as their content, marketing and technology savvy are fused to define an interactive media era under the leadership of entrepreneurial executives. Google, eBay and Yahoo! are sure to teach News Corp., Viacom, Time Warner and Disney a thing or two, but they all will need one another in the end.
The same will be true of distribution gatekeepers such as Comcast, Time Warner Cable and DirecTV and of the prevailing broadcast and cable TV networks, which even now are being reenergized as stables of branded niche-content channels. Even local broadcast TV and radio stations will capitalize on their unique connections to local consumers and advertisers and will become lucrative digital interactive players.
During an era in which three-year plans have replaced conventional five-year plans, which have been deemed too risky, even the most savvy and powerful media players are reluctant to forecast much beyond the immediate future. Things are moving way too fast and into uncharted waters, they say, and there are no historical data to serve as a guide.
Never before have the balance sheets, strategies, constituent relationships and very existence of media conglomerates been shaped so radically by technology and changing consumer habits. Never before has so much revenue been put on the line, and never before has there existed the potential for so much content, distribution, packaging and pricing to be placed beyond the reach of the media giants.
The technological evolution of radio to television, black-and-white to color TV, live to taped to live-event content and broadcasting to cable has been dynamic during the past 50 years. Pure-play media concerns founded by early industry moguls such as Walt Disney and William Paley made leaps by remaining agile and innovative, then the takeover of media and entertainment by opportunistic investors like former CBS chairman Laurence Tisch changed the marching orders as massive consolidation concentrated content production and distribution power in hot pursuit of consumers at home, in stores and in theaters.
But media and entertainment's battle to control the living room has come to a grinding halt recently as consumers increasingly take their video games, movies, TV programs, news, sports, music, reading and favorite Web sites "to go." Ideologically, things have come full-circle.
"Bulk will not assure us success; agility and innovation will separate the winners from the losers," Viacom chairman and CEO Sumner Redstone said recently when explaining his decision to split his company into two distinct public entities.
In a similar vein, citing the need to alter exhibition windows, marketing and production costs for TV shows and films, Disney CEO-elect Robert Iger conceded recently that, "I think that all the old rules should be called into question because the rules in terms of consumption have changed so dramatically."
Those comments are but general acknowledgment of a tidal wave of change that is about to break, and those standing closest to the shoreline already can feel it lapping at their feet.
Nothing has had as cataclysmic an impact on industries so inbred in our culture, economy and sense of self as the Internet and the digital broadband technology it has ushered into the world in less than a decade.
Forrester's recent five-year benchmark forecast projects that broadband access to the Internet will more than double during this decade to more than 71 million U.S. households. Of the 115 million U.S. households projected to exist in 2010, 85% will own mobile phones, 53% will own laptop computers, and 35% will use MP3 player-like devices — all of which will be programmed to transport content anywhere for access anytime. Such personalized use of digital broadband technology will dictate the ways of media and entertainment 10 and 20 years from now.
Primetime has become anytime consumers want content of their choice. When circulation is ubiquitous and user accountability comes in the form of an immediate click, it will be difficult for media and entertainment companies to fail, as long as they can provide content and services that capture consumers' interest and attention.
If the bounty of a digital broadband era can be tapped with enterprise and intelligence, then those companies also should be able to devise solutions to their other daunting problems. For example, technology used to create electronic fingerprints as unique as real ones also can provide new means of instantaneous payment and anti-piracy protection.
There will be a stiff penalty for resisting the digital broadband transformation. Bernstein projects that by 2010, big media companies that own broadcast and cable networks and TV stations could lose $160 billion in equity value to unchecked ad-skipping and content piracy. Television is especially vulnerable and must identify new technology-based business models to avoid the loss of an estimated $12.5 billion, or 8%, of all TV ad-related revenue during the next five years to the combined threat of ad-skipping and piracy, the research firm says.
But all that media and entertainment players must do is think outside the box, literally. If companies can sell their repackaged content everywhere, then the return on investment can be mind-boggling — and that practice will give new meaning to the term "syndication," a once-lucrative revenue stream heretofore given its last rites.
Moreover, "everywhere" means not only all types of devices but also nearly every part of the globe. Mass proliferation of digital dynamics will alter the worldwide competitive, economic, cultural and social landscape radically, and because the U.K., India and other nations in Europe, Asia and elsewhere have learned everything they know about the industry from U.S. media companies, they will try to do us one better — and often succeed.
Indeed, the expectation that non-U.S. markets will account for more than 50% of business for domestic media-related companies within a decade, while reasonable based on the latest wave of expansion, could be stunted by the ability of foreign counterparts to produce content and services molded more precisely for their own constituents, cultures and economies. The recent wild success of Baidu, China's now-publicly traded equivalent of Google, should serve as an early reminder to U.S. media giants that the colonization of territories hungry for digital magic is no sure path to riches.
September 13, 2005
The Hollywood Reporter
Ad spending will shift from broadcast television to other media channels in 2006, according to a forecast by media guru Jack Myers. Video games will experience the largest growth, seconded by online advertising, the report concludes.
According to the Jack Myers 2006 Marketing and Advertising Spending Forecast, in-game advertising is expected to grow by 40 percent in 2006, though it will still represent less than one percent of total ad spend. Online advertising will increase by 27 percent to reach a 6.4 percent market share. Movie screen advertising is expected to grow by 25 percent; branded entertainment, local and regional cable, and custom publishing will each grow less than 20 percent each.
Broadcast television will recede from an 8.6 percent market share in 2005 to an even 8 percent share in 2006. Broadcast, which excludes Hispanic TV, is forecast to be the only medium to lose revenues next year.
Over 2005, marketing communications budgets are due to increase by 6 percent, with 30 percent dedicated to advertising, Myers concludes. Next year he expects the overall marketing budget increase to come in at 5.8 percent, with 30.1 percent committed to advertising.
By Enid Burns | September 13, 2005
World of Warcraft recently launched with amazing fanfare and success in China. Partnering with Blizzard to usher in this blockbuster launch was iCoke, Coca-Cola’s name-brand presence in China. In the weeks leading up to and after the launch, iCoke led the way in promoting World of Warcraft, celebrating the game in real-life replicas of Stormwind Castle and Thunder Bluff, creating a joint World of Warcraft and Coca-Cola televised commercial featuring Chinese pop sensation SHE, and unveiling an iCoke-branded World of Warcraft site.
New technologies make it easier for ads to be integrated with games and for publishers to build in ad-related content, which can be sold on the fly and for which payments can be collected.
Microsoft said it plans to make advertising a central part of its Xbox Live service, something that was discussed several times.
Advertisers might sponsor tournaments, Microsoft suggested. Xbox Live offers a spectator mode, and the software giant is hoping game tourneys could draw hundreds of thousands of viewers, just like professional sports.
One recent innovation panelists lauded was Sony Online Entertainment's "slash-pizza" command in the multiplayer online game EverQuest II. When players enter the command, they can order a Pizza Hut pie for delivery.
Another example is a partnership between Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications and Ubisoft Entertainment in which players of Splinter Cell use a branded cell phone to get out of dangerous situations in the game.
"You use it and the phone becomes the hero," told Brandon Berger, a senior strategist for OgilvyInteractive.
Will Produce Schick Quattro's 'Best Poker Face' Segment for 'King of Vegas'
NEW YORK -- Carat Entertainment, created in February to craft branded entertainment programming for Aegis Group’s media buying and planning unit Carat, is poised to announce its first deal, according to executives familiar with the matter.
Schick Quattro, one of multiple razor brands manufactured by Schick, has signed up as a sponsor of King of Vegas, a new show on Viacom’s Spike TV cable channel.
'Ironman' of gambling
Positioned as the so-called Ironman of gambling at this year’s upfront, the show features competitions in 10 different casino games, from keno and slots to blackjack, filmed at a Las Vegas casino. One aspect of Carat Entertainment’s deal, according to a knowledgeable executive, is that Schick Quattro will sponsor a segment titled the "Best Poker Face of the Night," in which the features and mannerisms that make it most difficult for viewers and competitors to determine a player's hand are dissected and discussed.
Schick’s new four-blade Quattro Power vibrating razor will be showcased on the show.
The company’s four-bladed Quattro is Schick's top-selling men's razor but ranks a distant No. 2 to Gillette's Mach 3. The Quattro Power launch this month comes as Gillette is preparing to launch early next year its five-bladed Fusion, the company's biggest rollout and first new men's system since Mach 3 Power launched in 2003.
Schick, owned by Energizer Holdings, in 2004 spent $32 million in measured media, according to TNS Media Intelligence, to advertise Quattro. Details on the cost of this Spike TV deal were not available at press time.
TV industry veteran Michael Yudin
Media agency and TV industry veteran Michael Yudin, named as Carat Entertainment's director earlier this year and one of the deal's masterminds, has worked with Spike TV in the past. Through his independent production company, MY Entertainment, Mr. Yudin produced AutoRox, an automobile awards show that aired in January.
Spike TV is no newcomer to airing brand-backed programming.
This summer, the network launched Super Agent, a reality show that featured Reebok, General Motors Corp.’s Pontiac division, Boost Mobile and Interbrew’s Bass Ale. It’s also aired The Club, from Reveille and Omnicom Group’s Full Circle Entertainment, which featured prominent Heineken and Allied Domecq placements. The channel also embeds brands into its vignettes and interstitials. Executives said they intend to be more aggressive in that area going forward, in both reality and scripted shows.
Neither Mr. Yudin nor Schick returned calls for comment about this deal at press time. Spike TV also declined to comment on the deal.
Thrill Ride Challenge' Offers Virtual Races on Roads Around the World
DETROIT (Adage.com) -- Mitsubishi Motors North America next week will launch an online digital game to promote the introduction of its redesigned 2006 Eclipse, a Mitsubishi spokeswoman said.
Six roads
Called the "Thrill Ride Challenge," the game is a virtual timed driving race on one of six roads from around the world. It will be promoted through Aug. 15 on Yahoo and a variety of sites including ESPN.com, Yahoo Autos, Edmunds.com, KellyBlueBook.com, AOL Autos, MSN, MP3.com, Gamespot.com and iFilm.com.
The special Yahoo promotion will include a take over of the home page on June 15, during which visitors will be greeted by a Eclipse driving across the screen to promote access to the game.
The participant with the best time each week will win a Mitsubishi flat screen TV or an Apple iPod.
Mitsubishi expects the one-day Yahoo takeover to generate 20,000 leads from prospective Eclipse buyers from the 100 million impressions, the spokeswoman said.
Organic and BBDO
Omnicom Group's San Francisco interactive agency Organic worked with the automaker's creative agency, sibling BBDO North America, to develop and create the promotion, Mitsubishi said. BBDO created the tagline "Driven to Thrill" as the ad campaign's umbrella theme for the brand.
UK Online Marketing Campaign
Objective
Mediaedge:cia commissioned Skive to produce a viral game to promote the Sony Ericsson T310 mobile offering. The objective of the campaign was to raise awareness of the product amongst a young consumer demographic, as well as to drive them to the skate park themed T310 microsite. Sony Ericsson wanted to reinforce the message that they are leaders in Imaging, Gaming and Connectivity.
The execution needed to tie-in with Tony Hawks’ ProSkater 4, which was available to play on the phone. Key requirements were that the game was passed on ‘virally’, and that while the phone needed to feature in the game, the playability of the game itself should be paramount.
The campaign was aimed at a demographic defined as ‘Fun Loving Youth’, in the 16-24 age range – mainly students or first jobbers with a strong male bias; 'individuals', but also greatly influenced by their peer groups; they love the experience of the new, but often only if it has implicit approval of their friends.
Creative Execution
Given this technically adept, highly critical and extremely internet savvy target market, Skive decided to go retro and devised a deviously addictive 'old skool' platform game, played over ten extremely well though-out levels.
The idea is to collect ‘bits’ of skateboards around an urban landscape, avoiding various hazards such as razor wire, cherry bombs and rival gang members. At the end of each level, you receive a 'text' on your T310 to find out where to go next. The game featured forward-to-a-friend (to win limited edition ‘SK8’ music CDs), an online hi-score table and a great audio soundtrack.
Distribution and Results
The game was accessible on the Kerrang!, NME, Freeloader, MP3 and Virgin.net websites, and featured on many blogs and viral games websites. Overall the execution received 911,900 visits. Brand awareness research was also carried out using Dynamic Logic, the results showing a 53% increase in online advertising awareness amongst the target audience. There was also a 20% growth in users that agreed with the statement ‘Sony Ericsson offers superior gaming’.
Zenith Optimedia and Beverly Hill, Calif.- based entertainment and media company The Firm announced a new partnership Friday to pursue brand integration and entertainment-based opportunities for Zenith’s wide roster of clients.
The alliance is designed to begin with product placement on both network and cable TV shows and expand into product integration into the programming itself. The two companies will also look for client-appropriate media opportunities on the Internet as well as in music and film industries.
“Brand integration and entertainment is a top priority for our clients,” said Rich Hamilton, CEO, The Americas for Zenith Optimedia in announcing the agreement. ZenithOptimedia’s clients include General Mills, Hewlett Packcard, JP Morgan Chase, Lexus, L’Oreal, Nestle, Scion, Toyota and Verizon and Verizon Wireless. "Through an alliance with an outstanding firm based in Hollywood with an incredibly close connection to the production community, we can create we can create better branded entertainment ideas faster for our clients," Hamilton added.
Under the terms of the deal, ZenithOptimedia will tap The Firm’s expertise and contacts to develop branded entertainment ideas that will be evaluated by both partners and then pitched to clients.
“With business models changing in music, film and television, it is incumbent on brands to acknowledge the changes in viewing and listening habits and to adjust their media activity to accommodate these changes,” said Rich Frank, chairman of The Firm.
The company’s elite client list ranges from Cameron Diaz and Martin Scorsese to Snoop Dogg and Queens of the Stone Age.
By Jim Cooper
August 08, 2005
Mediaweek
Michael Dowling, General Manager of Nielsen Interactive Entertainment, sat down with us to share his insights on the burgeoning video game industry and its opportunities for advertisers and marketers.
Dowling talks about the effectiveness of product integrations into games, the different types of gaming, expanding demographics, how in-game advertising works, how brands can create an effective branded entertainment video game strategy and much more.
Highlights of Interview :
Since 1995, the entire video game business has more than doubled.
The video game industry (including software and hardware) is a 10 billion-dollar business in the United States and about a 25 billion-dollar business globally. The video game software portion in sales alone in the United States is at 7.4 billion dollars.
248 million units of video game software were sold in 2004.
It's not just 18-year-old boys sitting at home playing video games. 24% of gamers are over the age of 40 and largely dominate casual gaming online, puzzle games and card games.
Prime time television usage among 18-to-34 year-old males has declined as a result of gaming.
According to a Nielsen/Activision study, 75% of households with 18- to 34- year-old male have a video game system of some sort.
18-to-34 year-olds will spend an average of three months playing a game. Over those three months, they will play that game for a total of 40 hours.
Most games do not have advertisements in them. Out of 1300 video games that were released last year that at least sold one unit, less than 20% of them had some form of product integrated or advertisement into the game.
The video game industry goes through a relatively predictable five-year hardware cycle. Where new hardware is introduced, it takes the developers time to better understand that technology.
Gamer demographics are becoming broader. We are seeing a lot more mainstream and casual gamers coming into the mix, which will open even greater opportunities for branded entertainment companies.
There are low to high levels of integration into a video game. Low integration is considered product placement and high integration is when a brand significantly integrates into the game play itself.
If a brand advertiser wants to get their product into a video game, they should work with the publishers and the developers as early as possible so that they can be part of that creative process. They should also educate themselves more about this opportunity.
Video games and films may have some similarities in the way they look at building properties and franchises, but their development and production processes are very different.
Music is providing a great enhancement to the overall game play experience. Musicians, music labels and music publishers want to reach video gamers, because they are consuming media at the highest levels.
The furor over the "adults only" rating slapped on "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" could scare off advertisers that were eyeing the $11.5 billion video-game industry as one of the major emerging advertising media.
While 'Grand Theft' doesn't contain any advertising, the controversy it has created with its hidden sex scenes could hinder the recruitment of in-game advertisers for other titles. Following revelations that sex scenes were buried in PlayStation 2 versions of the game published by Take-Two Interactive Software, the Entertainment Software Ratings Board upped the Theft rating to “Adults Only 18 .” That prompted retailers including Wal-Mart, Circuit City, Best Buy and Target to remove the game from their shelves and members of the Entertainment Merchants Association to stop selling it. Even though "Theft," the top-selling game on the market, contains no ads, the worst damage may be to the nascent $180 million field of "advergaming." Looking to reach 'lost boys' The controversy threatens to scare off marketers that have just started exploring, and spending small slices of budgets on ads in games in a bid to reach the “lost boys” -- men 18 to 34 who are abandoning TV for Xbox and PlayStation. While advergaming spending is currently small, Yankee Group estimates it will hit $800 million by 2009.
“The advertisers who were thinking about marketing in games and looking for all the reasons to go into the medium will be much more cautious,” said Cory Treffiletti, senior vice president and managing director for Carat Interactive, San Francisco.
“Advertisers will want more guarantees,” said Mike Vorhaus, managing director of Frank Magid & Associates. But he doesn’t think they will bail out of advergaming: “If you want to reach this demographic, you’ve got to go to video games, MTV and ESPN.”
Marketers who have placed ads in games include Cingular Wireless and Burger King, in Electronic Arts’ "Need for Speed Underground 2"; Procter & Gamble Co.’s Old Spice, in EA’s "NCAA Football 2005"; and Samsung, in Atari’s "Enter the Matrix."
Scared of controversy
While desperate for ways to capture young men’s attention, most advertisers are scared by any hint of controversy, and there’s plenty around "Theft" and similar games.
Last week, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., announced she would introduce legislation to shield children from “inappropriate” video games, and called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate this particular title.
Josh Larson, director of industry products at Gamespot, an online news and information forum for video games, expects tighter government controls on the industry as a result. “The government will want to play some role in the regulation of games and that could mean stricter laws about retailers selling the game and carding of individual buyers,” he said.
Still, Dave Madden, executive vice president of sales and marketing at WildTangent, a company which pioneered advertising in online games, doesn’t agree. “This game would be controversial in any case because of the level of violence,” he said. “There’s no risk at all in advertising in a Tony Hawk or a Madden Football. It’s the same level of risk as advertising in a violent movie.”
Stickers and software patch
Take-Two has stopped manufacturing the game and will release a new version in October. It is also disseminating “Adult Only” stickers to retailers and will put out a downloadable software patch. No public relations or ad campaign is on tap, said a spokesman.
The PlayStation 2 version of "Theft" has sold 5.7 million units since it was released during the fourth quarter of 2004, making it the top-selling video game on the market, according to NPD Group. Data are not yet in for the PC and Xbox versions, released in June.
Take-Two lowered its guidance for the fiscal year ending Oct. 31 to $1.26 billion in net sales from $1.31 billion. But events probably won’t affect sales of the game, analysts said. “You sell 80% of your games in the first six weeks,” Mr. Vorhaus said. “For every game they are not selling [due to the controversy], they are selling at least one game due to press attention.”
By Kris Oser NEW YORK (Adage.com)
Crossvalue has created an advergame for Totalgaz with the aim of explaining the advantages of its ecological GPL Premier. The game challenges players at saving the city from pollution by discovering the GPL Premier logos around the streets.
The initiative also gives away prizes: one year of Total fuel for free, a vacation for two and a bunch of 20€ fuel vouchers.
Marketing firm Ignited Minds has created an addictive online game to promote Sony Pictures' upcoming movie The Cave. Using a game as a promotional tool has certainly been done before, but Enter the Cave is one of the more unique advergames we've come across. Ignited put its past experiences with Namco, Nintendo and others to good use.
Advergames are hardly a new concept. The thousands of Genesis or SNES Cool Spot cart owners can vouch for the long history of marrying interactive entertainment and product marketing. Simple flash games based around a product have become a staple of even the most unlikely of product homepages, increasing awareness of deodorant, candy, and everything in between. Marketing firm Ignited Minds believes they have the formula for creating effective interactive marketing, and if the website they created for Sony Picture's film The Cave is any indication, then Ad Watch agrees.
GameDAILY BIZ spoke with IM's Justin Prough, Associate Creative Director, Online, Margie Johnson, Director of Interactive Production and Paul Small, Manager, Business Development to see where the idea for Enter the Cave came from.
A Simple Perspective
Ignited Minds' website prominently displays the philosophy that has helped them create such quality pieces of interactive advertising as Enter the Cave, while avoiding the typical flash games: "It isn't interactive advertising until someone decides to click on it. Find ways to encourage people to do just that. Then make it worth their while. It's really not that complicated."
"[Enter the Cave] shows a production value and a level of depth that should cause all makers of interactive marketing to sit up and pay attention."
All right, things are a little more complicated than that. The company is able to display such a simple method of creating compelling advertising because the method focuses on the uniqueness of the initial idea, and that's something that can't be faked. Ignited Minds isn't trying to get people to pay attention to and play with the interactive ads they create by making them shocking, or titillating. They do it by presenting the viewer with something unique, that makes them want to interact with it.
Their steam-covered Nintendo DS banner ad that ran on this and many other video game related sites gave web browsers a unique reason to mouse-over the ad itself. Their World of Warcraft and KOTOR II banners featured other unique methods of encouraging reader interaction without resorting to sound or strobe-style flashing.
Enter the Cave
A compelling, interactive banner ad is certainly a valuable aspect of most of today's well-rounded campaigns, but increasingly video game and film studios are using the web to take that interactivity one step farther. Ignited Minds has worked with such publishers as Namco, Activision, and Nintendo to help build various game-specific homepages with varying levels of interactivity, but the company's crowning achievement is the web game Enter the Cave.
According to IM it is "a web game to end all web games." Whether that's the case or not, the experience does show a production value and a level of depth that should cause all makers of interactive marketing to sit up and pay attention.
"[Enter the Cave] is a massive undertaking that drew on the resources of the entire IM Interactive team, with collaboration from IM Motion+Sound... The site is an ambitious mingling of disciplines: extensive Flash development and art design, 3D rendering, GUI design, even green screen videography," Ignited Minds' Paul Small said.
"Sony initially knew they wanted a game component for The Cave's web site. In early brainstorming meetings the creative team threw around a number of ideas -- twitch game, rappelling game, underwater game, and technologies (director/shockwave/flash) -- none of which stuck until someone asked 'What if the entire site is a game?' Something completely immersive, without traditional navigation, that forces the user to rely on his wits and his gaming acumen to escape alive and in that way, mimics the tone of the movie itself. That idea resonated with both the client and our creative team and away we went," explained Prough, Johnson and Small.
Getting in contact with the brand
Gameplay unfolds in a couple of ways. Half the adventure plays out in a manner reminiscent of LucasArts' old point-and-click adventure games, with gamers collecting items and interacting with their environment with their mouse, in an attempt to escape from the cave. The other half of the experience is derived from a more action-oriented side-scrolling element.
The end result is a website that many users are spending upwards of 20 minutes with. Site cookies allow progress to be saved and resumed at a later date.
"With Enter the Cave we were looking less to innovate and more to take an existing technology and find unusual and organic ways to use it in advancing a storyline that would capture a user's attention and give him an experience worth spending multiple site sessions at up to 20 minutes a time. And ultimately, that is what advertisers are paying attention to - creative ways to provide a skeptical and jaded consumer with content that will bring him in contact with their brand, time and time again," the trio explained.
They continued, "We knew going in that the primary audience for the film was young men, 16-25 -- a demographic known for spending a great deal of time online and being web savvy. They are also known for being uninterested in traditional marketing messages, preferring to discover a brand or product on their own rather than having a marketer force a canned message down their throats. With Enter the Cave, we felt that if we could capture their imagination and attention by giving them something that they could experience on their own without being bombarded with an overt message, they in turn might feel some ownership about the experience and would be comfortable talking about it with their circle of friends."
Not every film or video game is right for the Enter the Cave treatment—it's safe to assume that other upcoming Sony Pictures films Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo or Fun With Dick and Jane wouldn't benefit. For a film like The Cave that appeals to a gaming demographic, and focuses on a dark, foreboding atmosphere, the online game should prove to be a perfect marketing fit, and one that is sure to increase in popularity in the months and years to come.
"An interactive site like Enter the Cave is not for everyone. Forgetting for a moment the dark and claustrophobic subject matter of the film, we're also speaking to the nature of pull vs. push. More often than not a traditional film web site is designed as a passive experience, structured to push screenshots, trailers and cast bios at the user with as few clicks as possible. With this site, we're asking the user to do much of the work. Enter the Cave is not a web site that you can fully explore in 15 minutes. You need to pay serious attention to what is happening or you surely will meet a cruel demise -- kind of like life itself. That said, at the end of a session, the user experience is a far more rewarding one," concluded Prough, Johnson and Small.
Game Daily
Monday, June 27, 2005
Online game publisher WildTangent has signed on as the latest company to integrate ads into its gaming network. The effort is part of a new partnership with 24/7 Real Media.
Under the agreement, the Redmond, WA-based publisher will implement 24/7 Real Media's Open AdStream ad management technology into games, which inserts in-game ads and tracks the number and duration of impression each ad generates. The technology can change or rotate ads to keep them fresh.
"This is giving [brands] access to eyeballs they are having trouble reaching in other media," said Bill Clifford, director of strategy sales and marketing for WildTangent. "There's a lot of value for advertisers having their product...in the game. People interact with a brand. It's fun and it's expected."
Snowboard Super Jam will be the first game to feature 24/7 Real Media's ad technology. The game, which will be released in June, will prominently feature product placement of the Jeep and Oakley brands, Clifford said. For example, brands will be placed on in-game billboards and game characters will be equipped with Oakley goggles.
"In-game advertising and product placements have become a powerful vehicle for marketers trying to reach the growing casual gaming segment of the market, one of the most appealing demographics for marketers today," said Robert Tas, VP-technology and media at 24/7 Real Media, in a statement. "Our Open AdStream technology will help WildTangent increase the revenue generated by its downloadable games, and deliver relevant results to its marketing partners, while enhancing the realism of its games."
The WildTangent network is made up of game portals, broadband providers, and PC manufacturers. The publisher lets gamers sample a number of online games for free, then offers consumers the chance to buy a full downloadable version for $19.99. The company reported more than 150 million game plays in 2004.
Women over the age of 35 account for the No. 1 buyers of downloadable games, Clifford said. While downloadable games are still popular among men 18-34 and teens, those groups generally won't spend the money to buy the games, he said.
Last week, Massive, Inc., a video ad game network in New York, announced a dozen brands signed with the company for in-gaming advertising, including Coca-Cola and Honda (PROMO Xtra, April 13). The technology lets the company download ads to PC games after a consumer loads the game onto the computer. As with WildTangent's ads, Massive, Inc.'s ads can also be changed when the gamer uses the Internet.
Gaming information network IGN Entertainment is also making an entrance into in-game advertising. The Brisbane, CA-based company has new software that lets developers and publishers managing online ads themselves.
By Amy Johannes
Apr 21, 2005 6:06 AM
PROMO Xtra
"America's Army" has proven a strong and popular game franchise, and this fall will move from the PC to the console market.
Quick! Name the online video game that has over 5-1/2 million registered users but has never earned a dime. And, while you're pondering, know that the wildly popular massive multiplayer online game (MMOG) "World Of Warcraft" has just half that audience -- 2-plus million subscribers -- and it is considered a mega-hit.
The answer is "America's Army," the game launched on Independence Day, 2002 as both a promotion for the Army and a recruitment tool and which has become successful beyond the wildest dreams of its creators. Because the game is free for the downloading at www.americasarmy.com its success can best be measured not by its non-existent revenues, but by the fact that the game has almost 3-1/2 million active users, attracts nearly 130,000 new users each month and has generated over 18 million downloads to date. It may be free but, as one developer observed, if it were a lousy game, would anybody play?
Perhaps the most significant indication that "America's Army" has been an effective PR device for the Army is the fact that both the Navy and the Air Force have created their own video games in hopes of attracting their fair share of the young gaming audience.
On July 15, the Navy Command will launch "Navy Training Exercise: Strike And Retrieve" as a free Internet download. The single-player game was developed by the Navy Recruiting Command and its advertising agency "to help build interest and awareness of Navy high-tech jobs." Players will need to locate top-secret documents from within a downed reconnaissance plane while battling challenging underwater terrain, deep sea creatures and an opposing force. To secure special codes to help them through the game, players will be directed to the Navy's Web site at www.navy.com.
The Air Force hired Austin-based developer Critical Mass Interactive to create the game "USAF: Air Dominance" to "raise awareness and perpetuate the high-tech image of the Air Force." But, says a CMI spokesperson, the only way to play the game at this time is at an Air Force recruiting office.
But it is the United States Army which has the most ambitious gaming battle plan: To celebrate the game's third anniversary on July 4th, a new update of "America's Army" will be posted on its Web site; this October, publisher Ubisoft will release a console version -- called "America's Army: Rise Of A Soldier" -- for Xbox and PlayStation 2; and a next-generation Version 3, utilizing the Unreal Engine 3, is in the works.
The story behind the development of "America's Army" involves its own type of skirmishes as two factions -- soldiers with a schedule to keep and a bunch of laid-back game developers -- worked together in close quarters, frequently rubbing each other the wrong way.
In 1999, "America's Army" was just a gleam in the eye of Col. Casey Wardynski who had just sold the Army on building a "strategic communications tool" to reach the video games generation. Army recruitment numbers were going south and Wardynski's solution was to sign a five-year agreement with the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., bring in civilians who knew something about building games, and go to work.
It wasn't your normal commercial game project, to say the least. According to Michael Zyda, the civilian who first headed up the project, the budget was just $2.5 million a year to deliver the game in 24 months with a development team that grew to as many as 28. Zyda is currently director of the University of Southern California's GamePipe Laboratory.
"America's Army" is a first-person shooter which starts with single-player training that includes, for example, target practice, an obstacle course, parachuting, and medical training. Once the gamer meets certain requirements, he can participate in online missions with other players.
"However, our design and release schedule was much more consistent with that of an MMOG, where you're constantly releasing patches, new content, maps, levels, new features, bug fixes, and optimizations," says Phillip Bossant, the current executive producer and art director. "We've just been in continual release since we debuted."
The greatest challenge, according to Alex Mayberry, the game's original executive producer and now a producer with a top-tier game developer, was dealing with the clash of cultures.
"Imagine all these people in uniforms and crewcuts, and in walks our little group in shorts, flip-flops, earrings, and beards," he says. "In many ways, it's a miracle that the game exists at all, considering all the obstacles we had to go through."
"Working with the Army was quite an experience," says Michael Capps, who hired the original team, was lead designer and programmer, and is now president of Raleigh, NC-based Epic Games, which makes the Unreal Engine. "They are used to dealing with people they can order around, and that didn't go over too well in what was essentially a research environment. Whenever anything went wrong, their reaction was to yell. And if that didn't work, they'd just yell louder. On the developer side, our reaction was to just scratch our heads and say, 'Well, that didn't work,' and then to try something different."
"Everybody really wanted to succeed and, as a result, we shipped the original game right on time -- to the day," says Capps. "I've never heard of any other game that's done that ... and we did it with a bunch of rookies."
But not all was copasetic between the Army and Navy where there was reportedly considerable friction over how well the game had done. And so, when its five-year agreement with the Navy ended, the Army chose to pull its development team out of the Naval Postgraduate School and move it to nearby Fort Ord. In doing so, the Army brought in new management and it wasn't long before the original team members began handing in their resignations.
"Some Army people had begun to take more of a hands-on approach, demanding that more be done at a faster pace," recalls Lt. Col. (Ret.) George Juntiff, who had acted as the liaison between the Army and the game developers. "Leadership 101 teaches you to let people who know what they're doing do what they do best. That had been one of the secrets of the game's success, but that was no longer happening."
Col. Wardynski recalls the events of Spring 2004 somewhat differently, describing the transition as "a leadership challenge" in which the team "went through some teething pains."
Phillip Bossant describes the current revised team's challenges as keeping "America's Army" timely and state-of-the-art.
"In the next week or so we'll be coming out with the latest iteration of the game," he says, "which will be called something like 'America's Army: Special Forces Direct Action.' I'm not allowed to say more, other than that we've had the time to optimize everything."
The plan is to slowly phase out development work on what is now version 2 of the game, release the "America's Army" editor to the public so that creative gamers can build their own maps, and then begin work on version 3, which will be based on Epic Games' next-generation Unreal 3 Engine, which is still in development. Bossant estimates that won't be before the end of 2006.
"This is an ongoing product," he adds, "which is one of the dissimilarities between our game and standard commercial games. For the most part, people buy a title, enjoy it for a short while, and then stop playing it. As long as the Army considers 'America's Army' a valuable tool, our intent is to keep the game fresh and leading edge."
The Army considers "America's Army" to be such a valuable tool that it wants to expand its reach beyond the PC to console platforms.
"That's always been part of our long-range plan," says Col. Wardynski.
The Army asked its marketing firm, Marina Del Rey, Calif.-based Ignited Minds, to approach the 10 top game publishers to determine which wanted to develop and publish console versions "under the Army's control." Three showed some interest and French-owned Ubisoft was selected because of its reputation for such military-style games as the Tom Clancy series developed by its Red Storm Entertainment division.
This October, Ubisoft will unveil both an Xbox and a PlayStation 2 version -- to be called "America's Army: Rise Of A Soldier" -- with subsequent games expected to be developed, including cell phone and next-gen versions for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, according to Col. Wardynski.
The MSRP of the games hasn't yet been determined but they won't be free. Critics have questioned whether the Army will profit from the agreement with Ubisoft, and Col. Wardynski cites the National Defense Authorization Act of 2005 in which the Armed Services are authorized to "recoup the cost of their trademarking activities," he explains. "We are hoping that the royalties from Ubisoft will offset the cost of our marketing efforts, the cost of patenting, and all the legal fees."
Wardynski describes the 10-year license with Ubisoft as one in which the Army retains full control over the marketing, public relations and content of the game.
"Ubisoft will have to make sure that the Army's values are present and we will review all games for their accuracy," says Wardynski.
In fact, maintaining accuracy and making certain "America's Army" doesn't trivialize the Army's role has been a priority from day one of development.
"To pump up the gameplay, the developers frequently wanted to include action that just wasn't appropriate for a game that depends on realism," explains Lt. Col. Juntiff. "It was my job to say that, no, the Army doesn't do it that way."
For example, the developers first armed the on-screen soldiers with pistols, but Juntiff had to explain that the typical infantryman carries a rifle, a bayonet, perhaps some grenades, but rarely a pistol.
"In one particular level, the mission was to maneuver your convoy to the other side of a bridge," says Juntiff. "The original plan was to first have the soldiers clear a minefield. I had to say that the Army doesn't send soldiers into the middle of a firefight to clear a minefield."
While the current team of 15 designers gets inspiration from current events in Iraq and Afghanistan, Bossant, their executive producer, says the game is never specific about the geographic locations of its missions.
"That's not because we are concerned about security, since all the information in our game is already out there," he says. "It's just not our goal to mirror the news. We are artists and we are inspired by what we see in the news, but we're not trying to reflect it."
Besides, he adds, there is sufficient opportunity for the game's military advisors to catch any security slips if the designers go too far.
"At the beginning, there were concerns that our game could be used to train terrorists," Bossant notes. "We get that question a lot. But there's nothing in 'America's Army' that isn't public knowledge already."
Without a doubt, "America's Army" has been a tremendous success with gamers. The three-year-old shooter is rarely out of the list of Top 10 online games, along with such titles as "Half-Life," "Half-Life 2," and "Unreal Tournament 2004." Meaning that at any given time, at least 4,000 gamers are online playing it. Less clear, however, is how successful it's been at boosting Army recruiting figures. Bossant admits that it's very difficult to determine how many enlistees were motivated by their video gaming experiences.
"What we need is a big red button in the game that says: 'Press here to join NOW!' jokes Bossant. "Hmmm, maybe in version 3."
By Paul Hyman
Courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
PlayStation fits Big Mac's entertainment strategy
McDonald's Corp. this week breaks an instant-win game for Big Mac, giving away Sony PlayStation Portable systems.
The system, nicknamed PSP, plays videogames, movies and music. Codes on Big Mac and fry boxes send players online to see if they win a system or one of 50,000 smaller PlayStation prizes. Arc Worldwide, Chicago, handles.
The Sony promo follows on the heels of an on-pack game for Big Mac that dangled a grand prize of 10 concerts at any House of Blues club in 10 cities. (Diners entered codes from Big Mac boxes online or via text message.) The Marketing Store Worldwide, Oak Brook, IL, handled that effort.
Meanwhile, Oak Brook, IL-based McDonald's takes Big Mac to Hot Import Night custom-auto shows in 20 markets through yearend and sponsors top tuner Jay Laub. The shows, produced by Los Angeles-based Vision Entertainment, showcase tricked-out cars in a nightclub atmosphere, with DJs, dancing and videogames. Big Mac hands out "Are you Mac enough?" stickers and hosts text-message voting for visitors' favorite cars. GMR Marketing, New Berlin, WI, handles.
All three are part of Big Mac's entertainment pitch to young adults under the tagline "Are you Mac enough?" McDonald's measures brand attitudes and affinity among its target, young adults, to gauge program success.
"It's less about sales and more about brand image and whether we're connecting with young adults in their lifestyle," said Douglas Freeland, McDonald's director of brand/entertainment strategy.
By Betsy Spethmann
Jul 5, 2005 6:06 AM
PROMO Xtra