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Online Games
Q.:
What digital marketing strategy have you utilized recently for a client that our readers may find interesting?
MJN:
I have been having some serious fun lately helping some of our clients develop interactive online games. Games are, by nature, fun and interactive. As a former teacher, I can attest to the fact that games are great for sneaking in some learning – kind of like wrapping bacon around your dog’s medicine. In addition, if a game involves a challenge or competition against others, it can be addictive. All this makes the online game a ripe platform for branding and marketing. Games are simply a great medium for introducing and educating people about your products, mission, or services.
Recently there has been an amazing growth of social networking sites of all kinds — profile sites (i.e. MySpace), blogs, photo/video sharing (i.e. YouTube), etc. Marketers get a free multiplier when they launch a fun game online IF they use these types of sites to market their game. There are several sites, known as “Gamer Communities,” where online gamers review games from around the Internet and post reviews about them. Introducing your game to these avid gamers through one of the gamer communities can reach a diverse audience. The more entertaining the game, the more places it will be favorably reviewed by gamers. The more people who read the positive reviews, the more they will play it.
If the game is popular, it can drive valuable traffic to your site and can educate people on your destination, product, mission or service. A simple online game can create “word of mouth” marketing that will rapidly spread news of your game and website. Furthermore, since a game can have an almost endless life cycle (i.e. tic-tac-toe), it can mean you see a return on your investment for many years to come. Because of the new digital technologies available today, online games are becoming an Internet megaphone for many clever marketers.
Q.:
What is a good example of online game marketing?
MJN:
Let me give you several examples. What the game is designed to do and the audiences it will target are critical aspects of how the game should be promoted. The following examples are listed according to the primary goals of the marketing campaign.
- Generate Links and Drive Traffic Directly to a Specific Website
A great example of this is located at travelsouthusa.com/game. After developing the game, Aristotle placed links on several sites including some that promoted free online games to game lovers. The result was an increase of new traffic to the site. Furthermore, since the game is funny, very “tongue in cheek,” the comments on social network sites have been favorable.
- Educate About Your Brand
Several games come to mind as an example of this marketing goal. The Christmas trivia games for Elvis Presley, for instance. elvis.com/graceland/calendar/christmas/christmas_trivia.asp. If your brand is already well recognized, the trivia games are especially great for re-engaging people who pride themselves on knowing a lot about your topic. Those individuals will also seek out others to play the trivia game, so that they can compete against each other.
If you are trying to educate people about the historical and cultural aspects of a geographical region, then a good example can be found at arkansasheritage.com/interactive_fun/heritagequiz.asp.
- Viral Marketing -- Give a Reason to Share Your Site
The Dress a She-Crab Game at dining.discoversouthcarolina.com/kids/shecrab.aspx offers a way to share the unique picture you create. Recently, I showed this game to a group of kids in the computer lab at a homeless shelter. They loved it and zoomed through it with very limited instruction. Every child was proud of the She-Crab they personally designed. Of course, any child will forward their creations to all the email addresses they know, even if mom has to help them.
A viral marketing game targeting a more mature audience is the “U-Pack A Cube Game.” This fast and fun game pits men and women against one another to ultimately determine which gender really packs the best. When playing this game, one must fit random objects into a moving cube within a limited amount of time. I didn’t do very well, so I sent my results directly from the U-Pack site to my husband. I added a message about my low score and let him know that he could be the official packer of the family! You can check that one out at www.upack.com/play.
- Build Your Email List
If you register your score on the U-Pack game mentioned in the previous example, you are entered into a drawing to win a $100 American Express gift card. Using incentive giveaways is a great way to build your email database for future communications. The Travel South USA game, TravelSouthUSA.com/game has also been successful in growing the eNewsletter database. Since the top three scores get a special gift each month, it keeps people coming back. Furthermore, since you can see the top three scores for the current month, you have a big incentive to “play again” when you know that you are not yet in the top three.
- Reach Kids
Kids are a VERY important audience for many of you, and if you need to reach or teach kids, games are great way to do it. My greatest labor of love has been the work Aristotle did at readtofeed.org/for_kids/fun_and_games. These games vary somewhat in terms of age appeal, but by playing the games, you can learn a lot about sustainability and other issues related to feeding the hungry around the world. Teachers love the Read-to-Feed program and the game associated with it. The games teach children about disadvantaged families in the world in a positive way. The kids love it because they get to personally help other people around the world. You can also learn about the mission of Heifer International from the website where the games are posted. All great stuff!
A great game website that is used to educate kids about Arkansas is located at arkansaskids.com/games.
In addition, kids can get acquainted with Elvis by “Surfing with the King” at www.elvis.com/kids.
Q.:
I’ve heard a lot of “buzz” recently about a game called, “Second Life.” Can you tell me more about the game and the related marketing opportunities?
MJN:
Sure. Second Life (SL) is an online game that is unique to any of the examples we discussed earlier. It uses a very different marketing approach. It may be more appropriate to call SL a “virtual world” than an “online game.”
Second Life takes the “sandbox” approach to entertaining – which means the developers provide the location, the medium and the tools, while the visitors get to decide how they want to use them. In other words, there is no focused goal or completion, but rather an endless number of possibilities limited only by one’s imagination.
Anyone can play SL online for free. People who download and sign up for the game create a custom avatar -- a custom 3-D character image -- that will represent them in the SL virtual world. Everything in SL takes place in the Second Life “universe.” There are no limits on how big it can grow, or what you can graphically design and use in the game. They even have real musicians perform exclusive concerts within the game that can only be viewed by people logged into the game. Also, one gentleman became the first SL millionaire after he made over one million dollars designing properties in the Second Life universe and selling them to other players for real world cash.
I recently heard a presentation from a marketer who had met with a major department store about building a version of their store in the SL universe. The large department store knew this would be an inexpensive and cool marketing medium, but because they could not control the activity of the SL players while in their virtual store, they decided not to do it. In the end, they did not want nude avatars running around in their virtual SL store, and since they could not yet easily control that, they tabled the project.
Second Life has received a lot of media attention recently and a lot of people have signed up and logged into the game. Unfortunately, it is still not evident if this will become a quality marketing medium, or if it is just a “flavor of the month” that will soon lose momentum.
Please understand there are things that are being introduced today in SL that will influence how we all communicate in the future – but SL may not be the name brand that capitalizes on it. The original innovators rarely are. Just as the first email system you used ten years ago is not the same system you use now. The technology was a solid solution, but the true potential was not realized until services like Microsoft’s Hotmail advanced it to the next level.
At this time, I would not recommend a client invest heavily in this marketing strategy until it has proven itself as a legitimate marketing tool. On the other hand, I would definitely recommend you keep an eye on Second Life because it is generating new ideas that will produce significant innovations in global marketing.
Q.:
Considering the quickly evolving digital marketing landscape, what should our readers do in order to evaluate the benefits of marketing via an online game?
MJN:
As we step back and take a look at today’s marketing landscape, we are deeply aware of how precious it is to get a person’s time and attention. Games reach people where TV commercials don’t, and interactive games connect with people in ways that TV simply can’t. That’s why you need to explore the possibility of a game as part of your overall marketing strategy. With a branded online game you can reach a lot of people. They can spend significant time engaged with your brand, and you can easily bring a smile to their face -- and that’s a good beginning to any relationship.
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