Advertisers are increasingly reaching customers through in-game placements, such as on banners or billboards inside the game or with limited-time deals that are offered to customers when starting a game. These placements can deliver a huge bang for your buck. At my company, we've observed that during a live campaign, as many as one out of every three players will view in-game promotions. More importantly, because there is consumer benefit to interacting with the promotion (or purchasing from a retailer), we've also seen conversion rates can be hundreds of times higher than for typical search or display advertisements.
Instead of being just one of many advertisers on an offer wall, in-game placements highlight a single advertiser and provide more real estate for brand messaging. Plus, these placements can give advertisers up to five times more exposure to customers than with Offer Wall placements.
When creating in-game placements, be sure to highlight the value your offer provides to players. For example, restaurant.com provides discounts at popular restaurants, so it recently featured an ad with the headline "Dine For Less" in Playfish's Restaurant City game. Players who clicked on the billboard saw an overlay branded by restaurant.com.
Disclosure: This campaign used the TrialPay platform.
Put Your Name on Branded Virtual Goods
The pinnacle of in-game brand building would be to create and launch your own branded game. This strategy not only gives consumers a fun and memorable way to engage with your brand, but it also enables you to create and sell your own branded virtual goods.
For example, the New York Jets recently launched a Facebook game called Ultimate Fan that lets football fans predict game scores, take quizzes on their knowledge of various NFL teams, allot points to their favorite teams and hold virtual tailgate parties with other fans. The Jets anticipate generating revenue through product placement sponsorships and fans purchasing virtual tailgate items.
You don't have to be a sports or entertainment company to create your own social game. Reckitt Benckiser, the company behind brands such as Lysol, Clearasil and Woolite, developed its own branded game to allow people to learn more about the company, its brands and its work environment. The game, called poweRBrands, presents players with marketing challenges for various products. As players complete the tasks, they are awarded points to exchange for promotions, different job locations and office upgrades.
If you don't have the in-house expertise to develop a game yourself, there are multiple agencies that can develop the game for you, such as Arkadium and Avenue Social.
There are so many avenues you can take with advertising when it comes to social gaming. Let us know what brands you think have done a great job of using social games as an advertising opportunity.
More Business Resources from Mashable:
- Why the Social Gaming Biz is Just Heating Up
- Why Games Are the Killer App for Social Networks
- How Online Retailers Can Leverage Facebook’s Open Graph
- 15 Twitter Lists for C-Suite Execs to Follow