Challengein

For sure you’ve seen some big brands create an advergame (a game for advertising, with their own brand). You can have played or not, but probably you’ve wondered “What’s their goal? Why they do so? Is it just a sort-of gadget or there’s something else?”.
Well, as a young entrepreneur in the advergame market I’ve faced the question too, so I’ve dig a bit, talked with some expert and at the end I’ve found what is the real reason.

In reality is that there’re two schools of thinking:
a) the old-style-marketer way: I create a game with my products and with all the information to convince the user why he/she has to by my product

b) the “psychiatrist” way: The goal is just to create a great gaming experience. No need to continually show the products or the brand. It’s enough that the brand is in the first screen or in the background. Our subconsciousness will automatically associate the good experience with the brand.

Both the schools of thinking have their pros. The first, has the pro that’s easier to sell, while the second has the pro of being more effective.

That adgames have positive effects on the brand, the loyalty and on consumption relevant behavior could be supported by studies conducted by Celina Steffen (Ph. D. Student at the Chair of Marketing, University of Siegen), who is writing her doctoral thesis about the effectiveness of adgames.

My suggestion, is doing a mix. Probably you have to sell the project to a customer, so just give the satisfaction of seeing their brand in a good position, but focus on create a really cool game.

Oh, obviously “the psychiatrist way” is not a scientific term. I just liked it :D