Bringing Advertising To Social Gaming

In the late 1800's, Jules Verne was approached by shipping operators to include references of their companies in his 1874 classic Around the World In Eighty Days. With these simple requests the age of product placement was born, and is a tool that still permeates our cinema, television, sporting and radio experiences.

136 years later, the new battlefield for brands is in the social media spaces, and no area is more ready to pop than social gaming.

In a report from Nielson analysing online habits of Americans between July 2009 and June 2010, it was shown that social gaming had surpassed personal email as the second most popular activity on the web (over 56 million Americans play online social games).

This (no doubt) will come as a shock to a lot of brands and businesses that still think the world of gaming is restricted to a youth/teen market. The ubiquitous assimilation of smartphones and social networking has presented society with a way to connect beyond the realm of status updates and political-career-ending party photos.

Our leisure time is now under assault from advertisers keen to find new markets and engage consumers in unique and interesting ways.

I think it's important to note here that brands must be willing to bend their brand image to suit the narrative of the social games they seek to interact with. Much like putting a video on YouTube and expecting it to go "viral" is a fallacy, expecting to stick your brand name in any social game will also miss the mark. Being creative in integration is just as important as being integrated when it comes to social gaming.

Personal case study: I always remember playing GoldenEye 64 in the late 1990's, and one of the tasks for me (AKA James Bond) was to recover a top secret video recording from a Russian bunker. When I discovered that recording was actually a VHS of the GoldenEye movie (complete with cover art) I literally got a little excited. I can only thank the lord in-app purchasing wasn't available in those days or I would have spent a lot of money.

So how can we integrate? How can brands get on board this social gaming wagon?

Currently the social gaming experience is dominated by brands and businesses offering retail goods, subscription services, surveys and branded videos. Engaging with these businesses online usually results in some form of virtual credit or currency.

Personally I like the idea of branded goods within the game as an easy first-step for brands. I find it has wider scope for creativity than the Hit Wall and less costly than building your own branded game. Have a look around the online space at some of the more popular games out there, and think about what virtual rewards or goods you might be able to offer players (read: "your consumers").

As always, think outside the box and keep it creative/radical. We play games to escape reality, so don't try and drag what you do in other media campaigns back through the digital door unchanged and expect results.