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Gaming Advertising

by Steve Gibson, Jul 26, 2001 7:28am PDT

We've been seeing hints of this for years now... corporations are slowly moving in to the gaming market to do advertising of their products. There is a market of 145 million people who play video games. There are a couple of examples of companies having games created specifically to promote their products.

Companies are struggling to find online marketing tools that are more effective than banner ads. Ford Motor's Ford Motor Canada unit, for example, developed an online game to promote its Escape small sport-utility vehicle. Torrey Galida, vice president of marketing at Ford, says the car maker invested in the game because banner ads are no longer "a great investment of our advertising resources."
Any developers out there feel like coming forward about discussions with advertisers? I would think it's almost a certainty that advertisers would approach developers hoping for some product placement. Max Payne killing thugs at McDonalds, or Gordon Freeman wearing his trusty Nike shoes... Would anyone object to this? I wonder if we could get pop-ups in videogames! heh I cant recall the specific movie, but the earliest significant instance I can remember is a Quake level contracted to promote a movie back in the late 90s.


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  • #76
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    By: jaga x
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    Many companies (as was stated in the article) are coming forward to create video games to promote their products and branding, but the distinction between these video games and advertisement placements inside of other, more successful video games must be made clear. Branding is a very important issue for most companies, and if you've ever worked for a company to make a video game for them you are familiar with the restrictions they demand in a video game associated with their name and their branding. McDonalds for example, is promoting a healthy, smile-creating family food/entertainment brand. Having a McDonalds in a 3D-FPS might be construed as a sanctioning of such violent media by McDonalds, and therefore would be frowned upon. I'm willing to bet that even the NRA wouldn't touch banner ads in FPS games. The only people who would will be companies that are associated with the genre and atmostphere already, mostly game developers or websites/magazines dedicated to covering said genres.

    Advertising doesn't change that quickly, many companies may show interest in advertising inside of other video games, but its cheaper and they have more control if they simply hire someone to make a cheap one themselves. This is the safer route, and for a while it will stay this way. Once we have more immersive games, where not everyone is given a gun, and there are peaceful activities that can take place, then I can see advertisers being much more interested. Alot of people think video games and their violence lead to disfunction and violence in general; Even if they are blatently wrong (I will hold opinions) others percieve it that way, and therefore it is dangerous to advertise in that area.
    Jul 26, 2001 8:55am PDT