MKT 380 Week 8

Editor's Notes

• #4: Take for instance, Adidas’s use of a branded game with augmented reality technology. Augmented reality (AR) is a form of technology that enables the overlay of digital images and information over a real (physical) environment. The phrase was first coined in 1990 to describe a digital display aircraft electricians used that blended virtual graphics with the physical elements of the aircraft. Adidas released a series of shoes (Originals AR) with a QR code built into the shoe’s tongue. A QR code is a two-dimensional bar code that can be read using a webcam or mobile device equipped with a code reader. QR is an acronym for Quick Response. The code allows the content to be decoded quickly, hence the name. The code unlocks online content that might include information, games, videos, or experiences. In the Adidas example, the code unlocks a protected area of the Adidas website. There, the customer can play games with other players while using the shoes as the game controller.
• #6: Although the stereotypes of casual versus hardcore gamers still hold some truth, social games are blurring the distinctions between these two types, and indeed they are bringing new gamers (and crossover games) into the mix.
• #7: The average gamer is 34 years old with 12 years of gaming experience. Twenty-six percent of gamers are over 50; this segment is expected to increase as seniors recognize the value of gaming as a social entertainment experience. The majority of American homes now own either a console and/or a computer used to run game software. Historically, casual gamers trend older and female whereas hardcore gamers skew younger and male. Early studies on social gamers suggest that a single profile would paint a picture that looks very similar to that of the casual gamer (and most social games share the characteristics of casual games). That said, the sheer number of people playing social games (eMarketer estimates the number at about 40 million in the United States in 2010) means that social games pull from both types of gamers (as well as recruiting a new breed of gamer who developed an interest in games within the context of social media).
• #8: Each of these will be coved on the following slides
• #9: Platforms include game consoles, computers (including both online games and those that require software installation on the player’s computer hard drive), and portable devices that may include smartphones or devices specifically for game play such as the Sony PSP or Nintendo DS.9 However, it’s important to keep in mind that social games often appear on multiple platforms: Gamers have a strong tendency to use two or more platforms so designers can reach them as they move back and forth.
• #11: • Simulation games: There are several subgenres including racing simulators, flight simulators, and “Sim” games that enable the players to simulate the development of an environment. • Action games consist of two major subgenres: first-person shooters (FPS) where you “see” the game as your avatar sees it and third-person games. • Role-playing games (RPGs), are closely tied to the milieu of fantasy. • Strategy games may involve contextualizing information available from secondary sources outside the game itself, including previous experience with game play. Puzzle games, a common variant in the realm of social games, are also a type of strategy game.
• #12: Display ads are integrated in a game’s environment as billboards, movie posters, and storefronts, or simply as ad space within the game screen. The display advertising may be static or dynamic and include text, images, or rich media. Rich media advertising can run pre-roll (before the game begins), interlevel (between stages of the game), or post-roll (at the game’s conclusion), though interlevel is the most common placement. Static ads are hard-coded into the game and ensure that all players view the advertising. Bing’s display ad in FarmVille is an example of an in-game, static display ad. Dynamic ads are variable; they change based on specified criteria. Dynamic advertising is valuable because of the high degree of control and real-time measurement it offers.
• #13: Script placements take the process one step further: They include verbal mentions of the brand’s name and attributes in the plot. For example, in Madden NFL 11, players are exposed to the Old Spice Swagger, a sponsored rating of a player’s personality. Gamers note that product placements that are realistic enhance the game’s realism and make the game more enjoyable. However, that hasn’t been the case for Madden NFL 11—online chatter criticizes the Old Spice sponsorship as product placement gone too far. Transactional advertising rewards players if they respond to a request. This technique is part product placement, part direct response advertising, part sales promotion. Players are rewarded with the virtual goods, currencies, or codes if they make a purchase, friend the brand, watch a commercial, or perhaps answer a survey. ProFlowers used transactional advertising as part of a Valentine’s Day promotion in Playfish’s Pet Society game. Players who sent real flowers from within the game were rewarded with Playfish Cash. Netflix offered Farm Cash to FarmVille players who registered for a free trial.
• #14: In the film industry this is known as a plot placement. Plot placements involve situations in which the brand is actually incorporated into the story itself in a substantive manner. Whether a plot placement or some other form of integration, the result is enhanced brand attitudes, recall and recognition, and purchase.
• #15: Advergames are almost exclusively available online rather than in hard media because of the desire to have a cost-effective method of distributing the game to a large audience. Perhaps because advergames are not intended to make money, but rather to serve as a promotion vehicle that builds awareness for the sponsoring brand, many have lagged behind in terms of their technical sophistication compared to social games.
• #16: Brands benefit when they associate with a successful game. When players love a game, some of these positive feelings rub off on the brands they encounter within it; this spillover is called a transference effect. This is the same thing that tends to happen with event sponsorships. Brands often try to link to sports and music events like the Olympics or a Rihanna concert to gain residual benefits from the brand-event association. The meaning transfer model states that consumers associate meaning with the endorser and then transfer the meaning to the brand in question.
• #18: ARGs are ideally suited to social media because it would be impossible to solve the puzzle alone. Among players, the term “collective detective” acknowledges the need for a team approach to solve the mystery.
• #19: ARGs have their own vernacular—understanding the lingo is the first step to understanding the culture of alternate reality gaming.
• #20: Instead, players play until the mystery is solved (or the sponsorship is inadvertently discovered and leaked to the community) and the brand sponsor is revealed. This type of branded ARG is known as a dark play ARG; it’s one of the ways that brands can use dark marketing, which refers to a promotion that disguises the sponsoring brand.