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Billions of dollars are spent on a wide variation of holiday-specific marketing. This piece from James Draper, CEO of Bidstack, explores why brands should shift spends to dynamic in-game advertising during this timely and critical season for exposure and sales.
2020 is the year of the gamer. Gaming is the most expansive and lucrative entertainment industry by more than $100 billion, blowing global box office earnings and worldwide music revenues combined out of the water.
From Travis ScottOpens a new window to Louis VuittonOpens a new window , hundreds of industry-leading, major consumer brands, artists, and events have jumped into the unique marketing opportunities on offer within gaming environments. And for a good reason — for one, “gamers†are now the anti-stereotype, with data supporting their wide range of interests, demographics, and behavioral traits. Secondly, gaming dominates how people spend their time — people now game for up to an average of 8.6 hoursOpens a new window every week across mobile, PC, and consoles. Gaming is so widespread that there is no one-size-fits-all definition of who gamers are anymore — they are you, your kids, teachers, and even members of congress.
All that considered, gaming could be a better fit for marketers looking to engage with consumers, particularly in the face of the pandemic and a possible second wave of closures and quarantine.
Many traditional ad channels are not producing the same results with people at home, and this political season mixed with the pandemic, has left other channels oversaturated and pricey. But not gaming — with the impending release of next-gen consoles, an increasingly powerful role in culture, and endless creative possibilities, ‘tis the season to demystify in-game advertising and let 2020 be the last year it is seen as a relatively small part of the holiday marketing stack and its multi-billion-dollar seasonal spendOpens a new window .
New Consoles = New Opportunities
The anticipation around the Sony PS5 and Xbox Series X and S has injected a lot of excitement into the market, as demonstratedOpens a new window by the recent record-breaking numbers of pre-orders. With winter weather approaching and expected lockdowns signaling a move back towards at-home entertainment, it could not be a better time for brands to be involved in the titles and campaigns surrounding these new console releases.
Suppose a household has pre-ordered one of the next-gen consoles. In that case, anything that enhances that experience — from TVs and headsets to specific clothes or food & beverages — can find opportunities with in-game advertising. And brand campaigns can be driven by the sale of new consoles via campaigns delivered in-game that fit seamlessly into a game’s virtual world.
The rush to get next-gen consoles also means that those who missed out on pre-orders will be looking for deals on existing consoles, particularly those newer to the gaming space. Inventory and targeting options continue to grow, and capturing that excited, engaged player at the moment is crucial to a marketing effort that will drive the sales of products positioned towards gamers.
Gaming Is the Ultimate Unifier of Audiences
Gaming culture used to be its own stereotype. Now, gaming is a driving force of social engagement and influence, so much so that brands like Louis VuittonOpens a new window and GucciOpens a new window are capitalizing on in-game advertising options and esports sponsorships to tap into a more diverse audience base setting the standard for culture worldwide. Music has also found its way into gamingOpens a new window and is defying technical barriers like never before.
As we get into the last stretch of the year and the pressure is on to move product, brands are realizing that they need to adapt their marketing tactics to environments that do not just push product advertisements but that allow their products and messages to be seamlessly integrated into them, and seen within a dedicated time span, as opposed to being scrolled past on newsfeeds.
The holidays represent a pivotal moment for brands to appeal directly to gamers, their interests, and the worlds that engage them by immersing themselves within that experience versus layering a traditional ad over an existing environment with a pop-up or unskippable content, for example. Instead of annoyance, you can create immediate interest across multiple demographics and drive the urgency to buy now. If it is in the game, itis likely just as worth exploring as the game itself.
Brimming With Creative Opportunities
The gaming experience does not just favor creativity; it demands it. Artistic integrity might appear to be a barrier for brands, especially with short deployment times. But the vast library of games and new innovative technology allows for dynamic advertising to be deployed in a timely fashion. This is not to say that many in-game campaigns do not require months of planning to execute. However, over one million games already exist, and brands have easier access to deploying campaigns for the holidays than they might assume. The key is choosing a technology partner trusted by game creators who can immediately ad placement opportunities aligned with your campaign from their inventory.
There is a multitude of game types, from first-person shooters to open-world, and popular titles in racing and sports as well. These are best approached by asking: who do you want to target, what are their interests, and where do they live. Football games can host adverts throughout the stadium or on jerseys; racing games can display in-game ads along the track or on billboards as cars are rocketing through a city simulation. Characters in open-world games can earn branded rewards, decor, character enhancements, and more.
The beauty of these dynamic placements is that once you have found a game with the right advertising inventory for your brand and you have pinpointed the most effective yet subtle way to integrate your campaign, the ad itself can take on so many variations and be easily switched out for a new creative, making it ideal for deploying holiday-centric messages specific to the exact date, real-time deals, country or geographic area brands are targeting. In-game advertising is one of the most nimble and dynamic efforts you can add to holiday and post-holiday campaigns.
Fits Well With the Bigger Picture
Not only are there creative opportunities and many outlets to apply them to in gaming, but in-game is the perfect addition to the holiday marketing mix because it is an effective and relatively easy add-on to an existing campaign. No rewriting major briefs or sending art and digital departments into a frenzy; in fact, it can be more effective when part of a bigger campaign.
With in-game, yes, you are going to reach engaged audiences, but it can be part of a synced-up campaign, which goes beyond just in-game. Part of this is the dynamic of what audiences can do in-game. For example, audiences cannot click an ad in a football stadium and be directed to a product page. Instead, in-game ads can encompass the product or brand messaging and creative, and bring top-of and middle-funnel awareness to a holiday campaign as they would in a real-life stadium. It is especially effective when there is a story being told, and it has social components, like tying into a campaign on Twitter, Twitch, or Reddit, for example.
Gaming is going to guarantee you an exceptional amount of time exposed to an ad. It opens up opportunities for products and brands to be naturally integrated into the world of the game. It gives brands access to communities with shared interests and behaviors. Therefore, unifying advertising efforts to appeal to those communities will result in the most effective in-game campaigns.
In-game advertising does not imply spoiling the experience of any game. Not every game is suitable for brand partnerships, either. The point is that in-game advertising has to be approached differently from the digital media stacks most are accustomed to. But in a time where engaging audiences with timely, creative messaging is more important than ever, gaming offers brands an opportunity to target the fastest-growing, most diverse audience base out there, and that can help make an impact this holiday season and beyond.