Advergames: How can you help improve ROI?

Advergaming is a marketing technique or an advertisement strategy where video games are used as means of promoting a product, service, or brand. It’s not just a product placement or a ban inside a game, advergaming marketing is specifically designed around the brand advertised, and is generally distributed freely online in all the range of devices.

But, can making advergames help your business connect with your audience and at the same time improve your ROI? Is that even possible? In this article, we will reveal and explore the many possibilities of Advergames as leverage for your brand. I know, first of all you must be thinking about what difficult task it will be to develop a branded video game, how can you make the vision you have a reality? And how to boost your ROI?

What is Advergames?

Advergaming is an old advertising strategy, however, it has been increasingly implemented after the rise of video games, immersive environments and interactive strategies. In this sense, it is about giving visibility to a product, company or simply sending a message through games, but its implementation is currently more notorious in video games.

The intention? To embed that brand message in the game so that the player can access a new level of interaction, improving the relationship between the company and its audience or simply reach a larger audience. The channel through which this dynamic is usually established are digital platforms or through company applications.

Another characteristic of advergaming is that they are strategies designed for free access, distributed in digital environments and should be compatible as far as possible with as many devices as possible (mobile and desktop).

The way in which each advergame is executed is directly related to the needs of advertisers, hardly one strategy will resemble the other. However, some factors remain the same, for example, the protagonist is always the brand or product to be promoted.

The great differential attraction of this type of strategies is that they require the audience to be actively involved with the content, in ways that are difficult to achieve with a video, an image, among others. In this way, they are positioned as an alternative to bore the consumer with the usual advertising.

How does Advergames help us?

The execution of marketing strategies through games allows brands to relate with their customers in a fun and relaxing environment, improving the relationship between both parties considerably. 

The games can even be educational, with the intention of transmitting valuable information on topics related to the area in which they operate, such as health, finances, among others. 

For advergaming to be effective, brand engagement is crucial to obtain the desired results, which can be impressions, participation, clicks, among other types of interaction. And how does this help brands? Very simple, by developing video games for digital platforms it is possible to reach a wider audience and achieve a greater impact.

In this way, today’s mobile and interconnected world offers companies the opportunity to develop unique advergame experiences. It also allows the creation of more informed and interrelated communities through multiplayer functions, thus keeping players engaged for much longer. Some of the other benefits found with this strategy are:

• It is less intrusive to the user compared to traditional ads.
• It allows for better recall over time due to the level of feedback from video games.
• Games are not limited by geographic location, social context or age.

Advergaming Marketing: How to create your video games

First of all, investigate online for examples of advergaming to get you inspired, then you must find a tech-savvy team that can help you with the development of the brand’s video game, but in order to pick the right one, you will need very clear objectives of what is it that you expect from this. 

Keep in mind that Advergames can make up for a whole lot of different objectives. And it will depend on whether you want an app or an HTML5 game since this decision will rely upon the production and a variation of your budget. To make up your decision you will also have to take into account the objectives of your company. Are you looking to educate clients on a new product or service? Or perhaps you are wishing to get the hype around your brand? Selling more? Creating awareness about your brand? Knowing all the answers to these types of questions will set you up with the priorities necessary to get your campaign in the right direction.

What is the function of Advergames?

The way of consuming content has changed substantially in recent years, the public is more demanding, but above all it is less willing to get involved in advertising campaigns that do not offer an added value, a final benefit. A challenge that is largely solved with advergames, which work differently from conventional marketing strategies:

• It is customizable. You can design an advergame from scratch or take part in another immersive platform to create a digital environment that relates to the values and characteristics of the brand.
• They go viral very easily. Games have a great addictive potential in those who use them, which is why they also go viral quickly.
• Their results can be easily measured. All player interactions can be recorded, such as time spent, number of times they play and more.

What are the Advergames advantages?

A great tip that we can give you is to have low barriers to entry, this means that you shouldn’t give your potential customers the burden of downloading apps or filling complicated registrations. The ideal scenario is that they only click to start the game, this will give everyone access to engage with your brand more easily. Then, after the players finished the game, is when you can ask them to sign up to register their scores and view their rankings. This works to your advantage since it is a great strategy to convert players into leads for your brand.

Another great piece of advice that must follow is to provide incentives to the players for sign-ups and replays of the game. For example, creating competition will definitely help boost the number of replays and sign-ups and therefore the conversion rates. The bigger the incentive the more replays the players will make. And the more the game repeats the more promotion your brand gets.

Don’t forget to integrate your game into all the social media apps, this way you will make the game sharable, which translates into a boost in brand engagement by making your video game viral.

And last but not least, make your game mobile-friendly. Remember that is a big gap channel for consumers that access social media and the internet. And also turns out that games are one of the main uses of mobile devices, so make your advergame optimized for mobile use, but of course don’t forget to cater to desktop game players.

Advergame marketing can carry out many positive aspects that add value to your product or service. When advergaming is done well and creatively, people can identify easily who is behind that marketing campaign and associate it with your brand in a fun way. 

Choosing the right partner, identifying your main objectives, and deciding the platforms you want to target will make up a strong structure to build upon, and in the end, the results you expect from the promotion and the communication of your brand’s message through the video game will ensure to improve your ROI, maximize leads and social engagement.

Remember that success in the the advergaming field depends on various factors, which include how creative your concept is, your target audience, and the competition from other companies. In any case, we believe in the power of the message that an advergame conveys. Advergame marketing is strategy worth pondering upon. 

We can help you if you need a team to build your own advergaming strategy

At Stringnet we have an expert team in hybrid experiences that include gamification focused in marketing and BTL. If you want your company walk into this innovative strategy, contact us. We can create an experience tailored to your audience.

Let’s go to the next level of marketing. Contact us here. We’re here to help you make your dreams come alive.