Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Wednesday, Jun 14, 2006
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Wednesday, Jun 14, 2006 |
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Brands Marketing - Advertising Info-Tech - Telecommunications Variety - Sports Advergaming: The new brand mantra Preethi J.
Branding Game Brands take to innovative branding exercise to reach youngsters Flash-based Internet games are far easier to create Advertisers are investing more in developing mobile games Advergaming to gain momentum due to the sheer reach of the mobile phones
Bangalore , June 13 You can spot them anywhere and all the time — teenagers clutching mobiles and furiously racing or scoring goals on the handsets while they wait for a train, bus or a friend. They are in fact sitting game for `prowlers' of the marketing kind. For a Coke or a Yamaha that is constantly scouring for new ways to catch the eye of 15-25-year-olds, the name of the latest game is advergaming. In an innovative branding exercise, companies are targeting teenagers through game downloads that have real brands. The brands reaching out at the youngsters could be bikes, apparel designers and even financial services. "It should be a kill for bike firms, using a racing game to build their brand. FMCG, however, will take a while to take to advergaming," said Mr C.V.S Sharma, Country Head, Tribal DDB India, a Mumbai-based ad firm.
Flash-based games
With the young segment forming a bulk of the country's 100 million cell phone users, advergaming is set to surge, Mr Salil Bhargava, Chief Marketing Officer, Paradox Studios, told Business Line. Paradox, the Reliance Infocomm-backed gaming firm based in Mumbai, recently developed a football game called Superfooter for Coca-Cola. The game is being offered free of charge to Reliance and Hutch subscribers. It is not that marketing firms are not aware that a Flash-based Internet game can be far easier to create; in fact, low-end Flash-based online games are up to 40 per cent cheaper than a mobile game. Yet, according to Mr Bhargava, the sheer reach and size of the mobile phone is pulling more and more firms towards evolving newer strategies based on it. Advertisers are digging into their pockets to invest in developing the more complicated mobile games. While some go to Indian gaming firms such as Paradox Studios, Indiagames or Dhruva Interactive, others opt for Finnish, US or other game developers for that international flavour. Advergaming, its commercial users say, is being increasingly seen as a `sticky' or high-recall application. The challenge, however, is to maintain game play and retain the interest of the easily bored gamers. For this, according to Mr Bhargava, it is important that the product push is unobtrusive. "The branding should not interfere with the game play, or it overwhelms the gamer and kills the whole experience," he said.
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