Gatorade Thirst Meter - NBA Live
Thanks to internet and the new technology, we are facing different kind of advertising mediums besides classical ones like TV, radio and newspaper. In-game advertising is one of the new advertising mediums. We often see common types of in-game advertising as jersey and billboard advertisements in sports games like FIFA, NBA Live and NASCAR.
Although in-game advertising is not a new concept, the rise of the platform occurred in last years. In new games there are very attractive and successful applications of in-game advertising. The first example of the in-game advertising has seen in 1978 in “Advertureland”. The ad in the game wasn’t a brand advertisement but it was a advertisement for the next game of the creator Scott Adams. Scott Adams made a breakthrough by placing an ad in his game. The first brand which advertised to a video game is the lollipop brand Chupa Chups which advertised to the game called Zool. The first examples of in-game advertising in sports games are Adidas and Panasonic ads in 94’s FIFA International. These all are the examples of static in game advertising which refer static and fixed display banner ad that shown in some scenes of the game. For example in FIFA International, the Adidas ad has been added to the game displayed in billboards in the sides of the field and the Panasonic ad can be seen in the scoreboard.
More the in-game advertising market grows more the types of advertising increase. The newest type of the in-game advertising is “Dynamic advertising” which enables brands to show special ads to different target groups according to location and time, allowing for the delivery of time-critical advertising campaigns. These types of advertisements are created and added to the game by the advertising agencies instead of game developers. Dynamic ads can be programmed according to the geographical location and the gaming habits of the user and send in scheduled time. For example available theaters in Los Angeles which shows the Terminator Salvation can be shown to a user who lives in LA and plays action games. Advertising agencies like IGA, EnterMedia, NeoEdge Networks ve Massive Incorporated are worldwide agencies which dedicated to the delivery of in-game advertising. The games industry sees in-game advertising as a promising new revenue stream. Game publishers like Microsoft and EA Games are in close contact with these advertising agencies. For the following years game publishers are planning to finance the games fully with the advertisements. Microsoft has taken the first step for the fully ad supported games by buying Massive Incorporated in 2006.
In-game advertising has a high potential for advertising industry as well thanks to the special and dedicated target group and the information available about the target group. Video games target the age group between 18-34 and mostly males. According the Yankee Group researches this target group plays games 10-12 hours per week. Nielsen’s research also shows 75 percent of households with males between ages 18 and 34 had a game system, which includes both PCs and video-game consoles; it’s a very big penetration. Thanks to the games played, advertisers have the change to know more about the users like their interests and habits. This aspect makes in-game advertising an appealing and ideal platform for advertisement.
One of the most successful in game advertising example is Gatorade’s creative advertisement in NBA Live. Gatorade along with Omnicom has created the “Gatorade Thirst Meter” for the NBA 2K9. With the thirst meter feature dehydration level of the player is affecting the game. It alerts users that a player is becoming dehydrated and is in need of a substitution and a Gatorade refill. With this application, the brand is replaced into the game with a strategy similar to product placement. The thirst meter enrich the games reality of the game and ads another realistic dimension to the player’s experience. In addition to that, the message which implies that Gatorade is a crucial element for sports activity and help to win is conveyed to the audience very successfully.
Gatorade spent less than 1 million dollar for this campaign and had a very successful return. According to the market research conducted by the company; %82 of the gamers who recalled Gatorade in the game were able to attribute it to a specific location in which the brand appeared and nearly three-quarters (70%) of those who recalled it appearing in the game said they liked it as part of the experience. Most important of all, majority of the gamers has stated that they would recommend the brand to their friends and relatives. This advertisement of the Gatorade is a very good example of reaching to the right target with right medium and right message along with a good customer experience.
For more :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-game_advertising
http://www.vedrashko.com/advertising/2006/04/ads-in-ea-sports-games-1994-1998.html
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/07/25/BUGVRDREUT1.DTL
http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=136640
