This week, Advertising Lab is pleased to offer highlights from a book that just came out, Changing the Game: How Video Games Are Transforming the Future of Business, co-authored (together with Ethan Mollick) by an old friend and former MIT colleague David Edery, who now works as Worldwide Games Portfolio Planner for Xbox Live Arcade.
You will find a review in Economist, and Cliff Notes in Inc. Here, with authors' permission, I'm publishing their findings and insights about Burger King's set of blockbuster advergames that are at least in part credited for the 41% jump in company's quarterly profits.
Changing the Game: How Video Games Are Transforming the Future of Business
by David Edery and Ethan Mollick
An advergame worthy of purchase must be a cut above the usual advergaming fare. Creating such a game requires close cooperation between an advertiser and a game developer. That can be a challenge for companies not accustomed to game development, but the end result is worth the effort. The Burger King promotion illustrates both the benefits and the risks of undertaking such a complex project.
In late 2006, Burger King began selling three games: a multiplayer racing game called Pocketbike Racer, a bumper-car game called Big Bumpin’, and an oddly compelling game called Sneak King, in which players must sneak up on hungry strangers and surprise them with a burger.
The games were playable on both the original Xbox and the Xbox 360, with upgraded graphics on the latter console, and were all developed in just eight months. By all accounts, it’s a miracle that the games were even finished on time, much less at any reasonable level of quality.
Philip Oliver, the CEO of Blitz Games and a longtime industry veteran, doesn’t pull any punches when describing the entire project, which was awarded to Blitz by Microsoft and Burger King earlier that year: “Burger King’s ambitions for the games evolved substantially over the life of the project. If someone had told me ‘You have eight months to write three Xbox games, which also must run on the Xbox 360, and can’t simply be a port to the 360 but must actually look better, even though the 360 hardware isn’t fully finished yet,’ I simply wouldn’t have signed up for it. That being said, I’m delighted with how it all turned out!” As well he should have been, given the 40% increase in Burger King’s profits during the quarter in which the games were released.
Many factors drove the success of the Burger King games.
Chief among these was the recognition by all parties involved that the games needed to be fun first, and serve as advertisements second. In Oliver’s words, “Burger King wanted nothing more than to provide players with a great deal of fun and a lot of laughs—it would be pure coincidence that the games took place in the Burger King universe.”
Fortunately, the Burger King universe happens to be a rather bizarre and interesting place, thanks in no small part to the energy the company has invested into characters such as the King and the Subservient Chicken. Dr. Stacy Wood, Professor of Marketing for the Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina, summed up Burger King’s approach: “There wasn’t a heavy sell with these games. Consumers thought they were getting a fun experience—not a sales pitch. For brands that have some kitsch value—some cultural capital—this is a great way to connect with consumers. When turning off the highway, their instinct to eat at Burger King, instead of another fast-food restaurant across the street, is going to be driven by a very fast decision that is influenced,in large part, by warm feelings like ‘Burger King is fun.’”
To be continued.
Facebook: Group or Fan Page?
Useful:
- "Pages are generally better for a long-term relationships with your fans, readers or customers;"
- "Groups are generally better for hosting a (quick) active discussion and attracting quick attention."
- "Pages are generally better for a long-term relationships with your fans, readers or customers;"
- "Groups are generally better for hosting a (quick) active discussion and attracting quick attention."
Another Rant About Stupid Company Names
Here.
And if you read the classic 1999 Salon article about naming and wonder if there is a company called Jamcracker, there is.
Earlier:
Lorem Ipsum Generator for Web 2.0
And if you read the classic 1999 Salon article about naming and wonder if there is a company called Jamcracker, there is.
Earlier:
Lorem Ipsum Generator for Web 2.0
iPhone Web Surfers Click On Ads Not?
Here's a press release from Keynote Systems that got 75 people to complete assorted web-based tasks on their iPhones -- a fairly typical usability set-up. One of the top bullet points in the press release: "advertising on the mobile web not compelling for users to click through." But if you look further down, one of the company's findings is that "only four percent of users tapped into advertising; nearly a quarter noticed advertising but did not click through."
What do they mean by "tapped"? A 4-percent click-through? How much of it can be attributed to mis-clicks?
An earlier press-release by the ad network AdMob: "Ads on the iPhone deliver strong engagement for advertisers with triple, on average, the already high click-through-rates seen on mobile."
In related news, Google preps a new iPhone-specific ad format.
What do they mean by "tapped"? A 4-percent click-through? How much of it can be attributed to mis-clicks?
An earlier press-release by the ad network AdMob: "Ads on the iPhone deliver strong engagement for advertisers with triple, on average, the already high click-through-rates seen on mobile."
In related news, Google preps a new iPhone-specific ad format.
National Debt Clock Billboard Runs Out of Digits
Somewhere in there you'll find a lesson about making dynamic signage flexible enough to accommodate for contingencies. But yes, the National Debt Clock has run out of digits.
YouTube Enters Affiliate Business
YouTube blog: "Today [Oct.7], we're taking our first steps to providing YouTube users with this kind of instant gratification, by adding "click-to-buy" links to the watch pages of thousands of YouTube partner videos. Click-to-buy links are non-obtrusive retail links, placed on the watch page beneath the video with the other community features."
Apparently, not all of the wrinkles have been ironed out yet. The Sims 2 trailer above has an Amazon link to Spore (both games are by EA that is among YouTube's new partners). YouTube's aff id with Amazon is you09f-20 (probably one of many).
Incidentally, a similar affiliate model could work for Facebook, if the virtual gifts stats are any indication. See how Birthday Calendar app inserts a Send Flowers affiliate link to 1-800-Flowers.
Google In-Game Advertising a Misnomer
Google In-Game Advertising is not really in-game, it's more like those pre-rolls they are trying with YouTube. Hope it's not what the Adscape deal and all those cool patents for targeting players based on their in-game behavior are for.
Below is a video demo from the AdSense blog:
Below is a video demo from the AdSense blog:
Behind Obama's Campaign Logo
An article from last February in Chicago Business News with some details about Obama's campaign logo, created by Sender: "Sender LLC landed the logo project through mo/de, a Chicago design firm working with AKP Message & Media of Chicago. Political consultant David Axelrod, who is working on Obama's campaign and worked on his 2004 U.S. Senate campaign, is a partner with AKP Message & Media."
Also, check out Logobama , a fan site where you can create your very own version of the logo. Here's also a DIY tutorial .
Widely praised, but not without it's share of controversy, of course: "Kind of amusing that Barack Hussein Obama’s campaign logo can be seen to feature both a crescent and a curved Islamic scimitar:"
Earlier:
Stage Design Magic as Propaganda Tool
Should iPhone Unlocking Be Encouraged?
With 7.2% of new iPhone purchases coming from former T-Mobile subscribers (source) who have switched to AT&T, should T-Mobile covertly encourage iPhone unlocking, as this service rep did?
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