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Tarana Khan | afaqs! | New Delhi, July 07, 2008
As brands
continue to evolve their campaigns on the Internet, an interesting
platform that is becoming popular with marketers is online gaming.
Advertisers have realised that consumers may overlook brands in display
and search ads. However, it’s hard to do so when they are actively
involved in playing a game that has the brand as its central theme or
character.
According to the Internet and Mobile Association of
India (IAMAI), the size of the online gaming market in India (as in
January 2007) is Rs 21 crore, of which advertising – advergames,
in-game placements and display ads – contribute 11 per cent, or Rs 2.3
crore. Of course, these figures are over a year old and industry
professionals estimate the industry to be valued much higher.
Why play around?
Why
are marketers experimenting with gaming? One of the key drivers is
engagement with the brand. Raj Menon, chief operating officer,
Contests2win, says, “In advergames, consumers can virtually touch or
experience the brand. On an average, consumers spend between three and
five minutes on a game. All this while, they are immersed in the brand.
By the time they’re through with the game, the brand message is
completely communicated.” Contests2win has created games for brands
such as Airtel, Pepsi, Bajaj Allianz, Intel, Maybelline and Bingo.
For
instance, the Bingo game
(http://www.contests2win.com/quizzes/15456/Bingo-Mad-Angles-Achaari-Masti-Attack)
was for Bingo’s Mad Angles Achari Masti, which was based on the TV
commercial featuring a mad scientist. In the game, the old man is
placed in a maternity ward, where he has to save a packet of chips from
the pregnant women. Ravi Desai, senior brand manager, Bingo, ITC, says
the game was a natural fit with the overall campaign for the product.
“The thought around the brand should be embedded in the game. There’s
no point in just placing your logo in the game. It will not impact
gamers until the brand is integrated well into the game,” says Desai.
He
adds, “The idea is to try and use another touch point to leave an
impression on the target audience, that is, the youth. The more you
penetrate into a medium they are comfortable with, the more it works to
your benefit.” Bingo has already experimented with an interactive
website, a mobile game and a viral video.
But not any or every
brand can be used in these games. Amar Deep Singh, vice-president,
Interactive Avenues, says, “The natural fit between the game and the
brand is very important. However, it can be an important part of a
campaign if the target group matches the gaming audience, and also if
it is able to create an interesting way to convey the brand
proposition. For example, the Intel Centrino campaign used Need More
Horsepower? within racing games as a strategic placement.” Interactive
Avenues has developed advergames for brands such as Colgate Max Fresh,
John Players, Cinthol and ESPN.
While
advergames are specially created with a brand in mind, brand placements
in games display the brand within a relevant game. Rohit Sharma, chief
operating officer, Zapak.com, says, “When games are made based on
brands, or simply include brands plugged in as a means of in-game
advertising, the brands gain top of the mind recall and even brand
loyalty. During game-play, the brand has a captive audience as gamers
log in and spend time on the game.”
Zapak has developed
advergames for brands such as Adidas, Bru, Apollo, Perk, Gillette, HSBC
and LIC. Sharma claims that advergaming contributes 25-30 per cent of
the company’s revenues and this is expected to grow to 50 per cent by
the end of 2008.
Zapak created Perky Island
(http://www.zapak.com/gameplayint.zpk?gid=916&gameid=916&gnrid=5&gname=Perky%20Island&srcsearch=gname)
for the brand, Perk. The game was based on the product’s tagline, ‘Take
It Lightly’, and involved thwarting pirate ships by shooting Perk bars
at them. Chella Pandyan, category manager, Perk, Cadbury India, says,
“The youth is spending more time on non-television activities such as
gaming. The game was an opportunity to take the brand proposition to
the consumer in a way with which they are comfortable.” Pandyan is
happy with the response the game received and the company is planning
to launch another game soon for the brand.
Building brand connect
The
concept of a game developed for a brand has to be carefully chosen to
match with the brand’s values and message. Suhail Baghdadi, general
manager, marketing, Indiagames, says, “Most branded games are usually
developed in agreement with the licensor (owner of the brand). They aim
to capture the essence of the brand and add certain elements that are
unique to the game version. Each one of these elements is integrated
keeping the brand values in mind and aimed at defining what the brand
would like to communicate through the game.”
Indiagames is
based on a subscription model, but it also creates promotional games
for movies and TV shows. Recently, it created a game for STAR TV’s Kya
Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain?
Therefore,
the more brand elements in the game, the more it adds to brand recall.
Media2win, a digital agency, created a game for Garnier’s Sun Control
Daily Moisturiser
(http://www.media2win.com/contests/garnier/sun_control/), where the
female character has to complete a number of tasks before getting
tanned in the sun. Namrata Balwani, national business head, Media2win,
says, “The consumer spends more time (in a game) in terms of
interaction than he would on a simple page with product info. While the
consumer knows it’s a branded game, there is more openness to receiving
brand information since it is woven into an entertaining format. For
Garnier, the branded game had to provide a lot of information about the
brand as well as the product within a few minutes of interaction.”
Media2win
also developed a game for Max New York Life to promote an insurance
plan called Smart Steps, meant for children. Interestingly, the game
was targeted at parents and was part of a microsite developed for the
product, www.super-parents.com. The game required parents to cross
three levels, indicating the growth phases of children.
Describing
why the company chose a game format, Anisha Motwani, senior
vice-president, marketing, Max New York Life, says, “Insurance can be
an extremely educative, albeit boring subject. To make it interesting,
we built it into the game, where parents learnt about the pitfalls in
bringing up a child and about planning for the child’s future.” She
adds that the company is planning to launch another game.
Costs and payoff
While
the brand connect is important, there is also the cost factor to be
considered. More gaming elements naturally mean higher cost. The cost
can vary between Rs 50,000 and Rs 5,00,000. The average cost of an
advergame, according to industry sources, is Rs 3.5-4 lakh.
Commenting
on the factors that affect cost, Baghdadi says, “The cost of the game
depends on factors such as the platform for which it is being
developed, licensing costs, and marketing and distribution costs. The
complexity of the game, the level of graphics and programming efforts
involved also add to the costs. Licensing costs can run from a few
thousands to millions of dollars.”
The pickup of a game can be
measured in many ways. The common parameters are the number of people
who played the game, the average time they spent on it, and the number
of times they came back to play (game-play). It can also be measured in
terms of the number of downloads.
According to Sharma, the
average response rate per month in terms of unique players at Zapak.com
is three lakh, the number of game-plays is five million and the average
time spent is more than three minutes.
Certainly, advergaming
is a growing phenomena and big brands are making it part of their
digital campaigns. This only goes on to show that branded gaming is
here to stay.
© 2008 afaqs!
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