The Hindu Business Line : Brands take to mobile advergaming

Chennai, Jan. 2 It’s always a challenge for advertisers to get consumers not to ignore their advertising but for some, that’s taking a turn for the better with advergaming. Games built around brands have been around for a while now but according to Mr Salil Bhargava, CEO, Jump Games, mobile advergaming is gathering pace with more advertisers opting to include it in their brand campaigns.

Speaking to Business Line, Mr Bhargava said the genre has begun to see some traction now, after about one-and-a-half years of existence. Jump Games, a Reliance Entertainment venture, has in its latest ventures, developed games for ITC-Foods Division’s Bingo Chips and Minto Fresh. Earlier, it made games for Coca-Cola.

Its first venture, Thums Up Everest Challenge, was the first mobile advergame to be used as part of a brand promotion campaign.

For advertisers, the attraction lies in the mobile advergames’ interactivity and stickiness.

Through registration and gameplay, the games are also used to collect consumer information. The consumers are also interacting with the brand for a longer time. Unlike mass marketing where the brand is pushed towards the consumer, this mode of advertising operates on pull – the consumer requests a download of the game.

Usually an advertiser tries to integrate it into a larger brand campaign that notifies consumers of its existence, Mr Bhargava explained.

The number of people using the game and repeat usage statistics are the test.

The attempt is to present the brand as unobtrusively as possible to ensure stickiness — it is vital that the gamers are not put off, as in the case of TV ads which interrupt a programme or a pop-up on the Internet.

For instance, in a game built around Thums Up, a full or depleting bottle of the drink will act as a measure of the gamer’s power or life; the game for Bingo is set in the chips factory where the gamer has to collect all the ingredients necessary to make a pack of chips as fast as possible.

Addictiveness

The addictiveness of the game is key as the amount of time spent on playing the game is perceived as aiding higher brand recall and cuts through clutter in delivering the brand message.

Quoting Nokia, Jump Games says that while an average mobile gaming session is 28 minutes, the vast majority of Indian respondents play a game for an average of 38.9 minutes.

Jump Games has released these games for Reliance mobile users but it will work with other operators as well, Mr Bhargava said.

Partners

Its premium partners include Virgin Comics, Honest Entertainment and 2 Thumbs and it has global distribution in over 40 countries.

There are other game developers but Jump is the only company to have actually put it on a mobile telephony network, he pointed out.

Depending on the complexity of the game, it can cost anywhere between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 25 lakh to develop it, he said.

Fast growing

Information provided by Jump Games reveals that this is the fastest growing segment of the gaming industry. Worldwide, it is expected to generate $9.34 billion by the end of 2008.

The Indian industry is expected to raise revenues of $150 million by 2009.

Over $350 million of venture capital funding has gone into the mobile gaming industry, of which over $50 million has been directed to India.

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