ANALYSIS: Internet - Games try where banners failed. It's the marketing hook of choice as surfers ignore online banners and icons

<p>Tired of banner ads and floating icons? If advertisers aren't, </p><p>consumers certainly are. And they're voting with a mouse click, </p><p>prompting marketers and their agencies to look beyond conventional forms </p><p>of online advertising to pump up flagging attention span. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Which may explain the growing popularity of online games, dubbed a </p><p>killer marketing application by an industry researcher. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>As an increasing number of companies turn to games to pitch their </p><p>products and services, internet users too are flocking to game and </p><p>entertainment sites on the web. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The increased penetration of broadband in Asia, particularly in markets </p><p>such as Korea and Hong Kong, has helped boost the figures for online </p><p>gaming by 69 per cent from February to September, according to </p><p>NetValue. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The stunning jump in internet activity spells good news for </p><p>marketers. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>They are now banking on the so-called advergames to help build </p><p>interactive relationships with consumers. All this makes their job of </p><p>flogging everything - from coffee to cars - that much easier. Game </p><p>choices range from the internet version of scratch cards to mini games </p><p>on websites as well as more advanced entertainment offerings. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Research company iamasia's director of marketing and communications, </p><p>Steve Yap, said that marketers in Asia who were leveraging the potential </p><p>of online gaming as a marketing tool, fell largely into two </p><p>categories. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>They are either existing brands which use online gaming to extend the </p><p>consumer-brand relationship and permission marketers who use gaming </p><p>content as a way to build a database of individuals, which is then sold </p><p>to advertisers. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"Games are becoming a killer marketing application for the internet, as </p><p>they offer a much deeper level of interactivity unmatched by offline </p><p>media," says Yap. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Advergaming is also gaining popularity with clients in China, where </p><p>online media company Sohu.com is attracting marketing dollars with </p><p>multimedia games for international clients such as KFC, Pizza Hut and </p><p>Nestle, and for local brands C-bons, Kejian and Founder. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Charles Zhang, Sohu.com president, says: "Young urban Chinese live </p><p>fast-paced lifestyles and demand value for every minute spent on the </p><p>net. The biggest challenge facing advertisers is knowing how to </p><p>successfully drive young people into a marketing campaign when thousands </p><p>of competing ad icons are fighting for the same 'voice'." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>He believes that advergames can hold the attention of consumers longer </p><p>than television advertising, allowing companies more time to "educate" </p><p>consumers about products. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The demographics that comprise game players are the same as that which </p><p>influence broad consumer demand, according to Dentsu Hong Kong's </p><p>interactive director, Agnes Chan. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Chan helped create an online game for Nestle, with the objective of </p><p>increasing milk sales to children as young as kindergarten age. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"Reaching such young kids can be difficult," says Chan, but adds that </p><p>games can be created to appeal to internet users of all ages. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>She said the growing number of children accessing the web was also good </p><p>news for marketers. "Young people present a good target audience for </p><p>this type of marketing. We generally find young adults and kids prefer </p><p>not to read long text and are attracted more to games and chat-type </p><p>features. And these are the same age groups influencing and setting </p><p>trends for buying." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Ogilvy Interactive's regional creative director Graham Kelly said the </p><p>agency had created advergames for a more mature market, including an </p><p>online game for the women's brand Feminax in Indonesia. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"It's a fun game and uses a lot of humour. The idea was to target </p><p>younger and older women who suffer from PMS. The game is a stress </p><p>reliever when they feel irritable. Women can pick their weapons - guns, </p><p>scissors or books - and basically kill 'colleagues' who piss them off. </p><p>The great thing about it is that it's viral," says Kelly. "If a game is </p><p>good, users will forward it to their friends." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Many of the games available on brand sites are viral, with internet </p><p>users encouraged to forward games to friends via email. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>But while this could benefit corporate clients with free word-of-mouth </p><p>promotion, Chan said clients were also attracted to the cost of creating </p><p>advergames. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"The fact is that this (games) is the cheapest application tool to </p><p>create on the site when you compare with chat rooms or other features. </p><p>There is also the fear with chat rooms that users may key in topics or </p><p>statements that may hamper the brand image," comments Chan. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>However, Dean Middlebrook, Sohu.com's corporate communications manager, </p><p>said both chat rooms and online games "have very high labour costs", but </p><p>- depending on the age of the user -advergames offer a more compelling </p><p>experience. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"The older the user becomes, the less likely they are to play games. So, </p><p>product chat rooms are great for niche users, for example, car buyers, </p><p>who use the platform as part of the information search and evaluation </p><p>phase of the consumer decision-making process," observes </p><p>Middlebrook. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Marketers can also track or monitor internet users to obtain general </p><p>information, such as how long consumers play a game and the decisions </p><p>they make when pitting their skills in an advergame. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"It is possible to use games as questionnaires to find out the </p><p>preferences of players. It depends on the aim and the mechanism used, </p><p>but marketers can drive the selling point to make a game more </p><p>reaction-focused," says Chan. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Although many consumers have learned to ignore pushy e-marketing </p><p>messages on the billboard-strewn digital superhighway, most web surfers </p><p>are likely to be more protective of their online leisure choices. This </p><p>online behaviour trait could easily extend to digital games, which in </p><p>the past was more about entertainment than marketing or branding. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Middlebrook said there was a fine line separating the two. He said the </p><p>majority of Sohu.com's clients used advergaming to gather information on </p><p>clients, but cautioned that monitoring or tracking user experiences </p><p>could end up alienating consumers. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"Tracking is possible once the experience gets more sophisticated. But </p><p>there is the potential of alienating the user. Even with chat rooms, </p><p>once users discover a marketing company has infiltrated a discussion, it </p><p>can be very damaging to a brand." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Advergames are often part of a larger integrated advertising campaign, </p><p>involving other media in an effort to encourage consumers to go </p><p>online. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>But more importantly for marketers, users generally spend longer periods </p><p>of time interacting with games than with advertising. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"Advergames not only focus the minds of consumers on brands longer than </p><p>traditional advertising mediums such as television and newspapers, but </p><p>it also provides marketers with a rich database of information that </p><p>tracks consumer tastes and buying preferences," adds Zhang. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Most clients using advergames said they were well received by consumers </p><p>and had effectively raised branding levels or sales. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>For portals and online agencies seeking additional revenue, advergames </p><p>also offered opportunities to secure advertising assignments, while </p><p>making clients more confident about online advertising's potential, said </p><p>Middlebrook. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"As there's so much competition and we really need to close advertising </p><p>deals, advergames help us demonstrate more substantial results to </p><p>clients as they generally show a higher click through rate than other </p><p>forms of advertising and marketing." </p><p><BR><BR> </p>