Advergaming: the new playground for communicators?

Advertising is everywhere. It is in our daily routines, written in the cereal box we take every morning, on the top of a building that we see in our way to work, playing in our headphones, making part of our clothes, or behind our phone... We live in a constant call for attention and hence it is understandable that many consumers feel tired of being bombarded with sales messages.

For a long time, marketers’ communications have been based in a one-way process, in which brands were merely informational and persuasive, and no feedback was shared by consumers. However, many companies are realizing that communicating effectively with customers and other stakeholders involve more than just the tactical use of the traditional marketing communication tools.

Due to the rapid growth of the Internet, the emergence of new digital media and global markets, the changing lifestyles of consumers, and the fragmentation of mass markets, it is becoming increasingly difficult for marketers to reach their target audiences only through traditional advertising. As a result, integrated marketing communications are proposed as an alternative to help achieve a company's objectives, which involves coordinating the various marketing activities and promotional elements that communicate with customers.

Today there is a large number of methods and opportunities for contacting prospective and current customers. Due to technological development, Interactive or Internet Marketing has appeared as a strong one. This new type of marketing allows user’s participation, that is, users can ask and respond questions, alter images and information, and make purchases. Therefore, users can modify the information form and content, completely changing the way of communicating from traditional advertising media.

In addition, interactive media is not only composed of Web 2.0 but also of new industries within the Internet such as the video game one, which allows to develop some marketing strategies and is to be one of the most influential in digital media. In contrast with other more traditional that allows multitasking, video games require more attention. That means someone that might be playing, cannot be paying attention to any other media simultaneously because of game intensity and inmersion. There is a strong direct relationship between users and entertainment, and therefore, with the brands promoted inside.

Having said that, brand exposure and interrupting messages take more risks in this kind of advertising. Video games are very sensitive and if they include a large amount of publicity, the marketing communication could be damaged. That is why brands have to be cautious, because entertainment should not be interrupted as it is the most valuable thing in this sector by users’ perceptions.

As a result, Advergaming proposes two ways of promotion. The first one just tries to introduce the brand into the game, while the second one is a custom-made game where brand or product are directly linked to the player’s experience. It is true that the last method is more elaborate, but it allows the target audience to perceive the publicity without feeling overwhelmed. According to Marolf (2007), the main objective of in-game advertising should be not to interrupt the course of the game that could damage the dive. Hence, it is better to advertise in titles where it is possible to increase the realism factor of the game (Martín Ibáñez, E.).

Case study

“The Blue Child joins forces with Fornite to fight against child violence”

L'Enfant Bleu (The Child Blue), an association fighting against child abuse, saw the rate of action increase (+89%) and decided to react. In relation with Havas Sports & Entertainment, they came up with the idea of creating a character on Fortnite called “ChildBlue” as a secret project during coronavirus lockdown. The concept behind was to help victims of violence to tell about their situation in complete discretion (Dumonteil, A).

The fact that children, as everyone, were forced to stay at home during the COVID-19 outbreak, put them in risk as most of physical, psychological or sexual acts of abuse are commited by a member of a child’s close family. It seems this campaign emerged in the right moment for the right direction to better approach their target audience.

The creative strategy consisted on using a videogame as a vehicle, where children would be able to ask for help without the risk of abusers being around suspecting that an online game could become such a support. Results have shown that some 1,200 children and teenagers aged 10 to 17 spoke with the avatar during the month-long operation. Most of them clicked merely out of curiosity but around a third described “personal problems”, including some who said they were in “urgent danger”.

Laura Morin, Child’s director, explained that young children do not use the same media that we do as adults, therefore, advertisers have to adapt and find new ways of establishing contact with them. If we understand consumer behaviour, we understand how to approach them. Indeed, the ideal is to find young people where they usually are, in their universe, to allow them to ask for help within their comfort zone, in a confidence level, outside the adult world (Bouvier, A.).

Likewise, the decision to collaborate with Fortnite was not casual. It has become the most popular video game brand and the most influential of our time. Its rise is driven by the unique expectations of members of Generation Z, who seek out brands they can call “their own”, brands that listen to them and grow with them, and it seems Fortnite does with its audience. Moreover, Fortnite is already known for its partnerships, including the one with rapper Travis Scott who performed a virtual concert there. Other games like Animal Crossing have also done a few collaborations so it is becoming a trend about to increase in the coming years (Selva Ruiz, D.).

What is fundamental here is the role media plays in this advertising campaign, how the message is carried out from the advertiser to the audience through the video game as an alternative of marketing communication over traditional ways. Thanks to telecommunication, responses from the audience come back to the advertiser, which is key for developing a true interaction, especially for this aid association.

Additionally, it is worth noting that understanding the sphere in which our target audience lives, and being where they are able to access is essential to start building strong communications. The Child Blue understood the situation that those most vulnerable ones were possibly passing through and tried to be positioned exactly where they needed to be in order to help consumers tell their own stories.

In conclusion, this campaign proves that advergaming could be proposed as a solution to the crisis that some marketers deal with due to that lack of responsiveness to traditional media. Not only it works as a starting point to introduce similar initiatives in order to help the more vulnerable ones (which is something they aspire to), but also it awakes the range of possibilities advertising can find in the video game industry, which is raising its popularity in leaps and bounds.