In-Game Advertising Reaching Audiences

Via Joystiq, a report that in-game advertising works quite well. From the article: "A new study released on Monday found that in-game ad campaigns resulted in a 60 percent increase in awareness of new brands. The study, commissioned by in-game ad creators Double Fusion and carried out by Nielsen Interactive Entertainment, tested various forms of ads in the PC game 'Metro3D.' And while the study reported some differences in the effectiveness of animated and static ads, Double Fusion's co-founder, Guy Bendov, said the results weren't what he had expected."

Comments

But

[Primotech]

What about all the hardcore gamers who have sinced boycotted those brands found in their games? Don't think for a minute that it's not happening.

Maybe

[ShadowMarth]

Maybe it works, but I sure won't have it. There should be an option to turn it off, or the like. At least I won't have to worry about Nintendo advertising anything but its other games.

Re:Maybe

[Alcimedes]

HA HA HHAHAAHHAAH

Never played super monkey ball then? Giant friggin japanese bananna company commercial.

Re:Maybe

[Luigi30]

Dole isn't a Japanese banana company. They're an American banana company.

Re:Maybe

[Anonymous Coward]

Anarchy Online lets you turn the (real world) ads off if you're a subscriber (but not if you're playing for free, which makes sense). I think game world ads remain, though, but I'm not sure since I play for free. I actually like most of the ads, save for one or two they fit rather well. OF course AO is an easier setting for ads, WoW and other fantasy worlds don't get along with that stuff.

Re:Maybe

[Khuffie]

Play Pikmin II then. Half the stuff you hd to pickup was an advertisement of some sort.

Re:Maybe

[Anonymous Coward]

Super Monkey Ball was a game by SEGA.

Yes nintendo had product placement in Pikmin - but that made sense, and increased the comedy of the "alien planet." At least we know they will keep making Zeldas and Metroids and other games that wouldn't work with product placement - so wont have it.

Re:Maybe

[Caldeso]

I'm not the biggest fan of the in-game ads in AO, but I will admit that they're mostly non-obtrusive; relatively small in-game billboards that rotate fairly frequently with game-world ads (mostly orgs or in-game businesses). The exceptions are the ones with sound, but those get shut off with game sounds when listening to mp3s.

All you need to read...

[SoCalChris]

The study, commissioned by in-game ad creators Double Fusion

An advertiser releases a report stating that their method works, and it gets picked up by slashdot?

Re:All you need to read...

[E10Reads]

"An advertiser releases a report stating that their method works" I see your point, but I'd hope my cousin's business practices are a little more honest than that. And in all honesty if you had only read "The study, commissioned by in-game ad creators Double Fusion" you didn't get to the part where it says Nielsen Interactive was involved. Nielsen interactive might ring bells as one of the Industry's leading tabulators, as in A.C. Nielsen, the people who brought you TV show nightly rankings.

This is terrifying...

[Errandboy of Doom]

I use TiVo, AdBlocker, I even show up to the movies 10 minutes late.

Why do they keep finding me, wherever I hide?

What's next, my DM beginning with: "By the way, before we get started, I'd like you all to know that this dungeon crawl is sponsored by Jolt Cola and Lays Potato Chips?"

Re:This is terrifying...

[Ayaress]

I'd love it if a snack company would sponsor my D&D or LAN parties. When you have a group of people who will live on one meal a day for three days when they know somebody else is paying for the potato chips on Friday, it gets rediculous. We used to draw straws to see who had to be stuck as the cleric, now we have two short straws. One is the cleric, one has to drive to the party store every thirty goddamn minutes.

Re:This is terrifying...

[Anonymous Coward]

party store?
dude the 80's called they want their hobbies back

For now..

[pureseth]

I think it may work because people aren't used to seeing ads in games, and IMO they shouldn't. It was probably the same case online, when people weren't used to seeing ads on webpages, they may have noticed them more, but now most people are used to seeing ads on the net and usually disregard them.

If ads are put in games, people will most likely get more used to them after awhile and start to disregard them as they do now with website ads.

Re:For now..

[joystickgenie]

Oh god I hope not. Originally online advertising wasn't bad. A banner may ruin the color scheme of a website or something like that but nothing that was actually in your way of getting to the content of the webpage. As time went on online advertisement has gotten more and more annoying. Then the advertisers have had to start resorting to what they are doing now. How many websites have you been to that have a large flash image in the middle of your screen with moving pieces and audio that you must let animate to completion before you can close it and view the page you were trying to get to? Pop ups, spyware, and information collection is possible to implement on a console if they really wanted to.

I don't want games to follow suit with the internet as far as advertising goes. I would rather games take commercial breaks between chapters like TV does. Have it bring up ads while trying to play the game would completely ruin the game. Imagine trying to complete a jumping puzzle in an action game and having one of those flash pop up come up while you're in mid air. Of course most designers should know this and hopefully will keep advertising under control.

One thing that is for certain is that it will hurt immersion into the game world. As soon as you notice an advertisement in a game it will momentarily take you out of the game and you will have to re-immerse yourself.

Re:For now..

[mnmn]

I strongly support ads in games. They can really make games cheaper. In time I think they'll make games free. Think of most yahoo and google services. Google isnt posting satellite pictures and petabytes of data storage for the sake of philanthropy. Their ad jobs really pay off, see how big google is now?

Re:For now..

[Anonymous Coward]

> after awhile and start to disregard them as they do now with website

I have adverts disabled in my browser. The fact the adverts were so annoying and distracting from what I was actually trying to read.

Just because your desensitized to them doesn't mean everyone else is.

Online next?

[lcde]

I've always thought this was a good solution to commercials. Its more subliminal but I think it would work better.

This might be the key to online sitcoms. I'd rather see someone drinking a pepsi or driving a VW than sit and watch new low rates commercials.

Starbucks in the 30s

[Castar]

I think the picture next to the Joystiq article says it all, really. A 30s mobster car driving past a Starbucks - just what I want to see if I'm trying to immerse myself in the world of Al Capone. Starbucks is everywhere in the present, now they're colonizing the past as well...

I don't mind ads in videogames, but there are two rules: I have to benefit somehow by seeing the ads (like a lower price for the game) and the ads have to avoid breaking the illusion. Anything else will just end up ruining the game, and making it worthless to both the player and the advertiser.

Of course, in practice this means advertising will only really be viable in modern games (unless you could cleverly work in some dystopian future where Coke-Glaxxo-Lockheed oppresses citizens. Does that still count as marketing?)

Re:Starbucks in the 30s

[Anonymous Coward]

"...like a lower price for the game..."

I've heard this one a lot before. I'm not saying this is your particular standpoint on it, it doesn't sound like it, but I have heard other's support in-game advertising for this reason.
I think people are really fooling themselves by assuming that in-game advertising, something that solely exists to support the producer's pursuit of more money in the first place, will every give value back to them.
People don't put advertising in games so the player can save on the development costs, that would be a selfless act, and our beloved industry is widely known to be supported by greed. In-game advertising is simply another revenue source for the people publishing the game, plain and simple. Why offset development cost and have a lower price point when you can pocket all that money yourself?

Re:Starbucks in the 30s

[joystickgenie]

There is already proof of this actually. When EA made need for speed underground 2 they sold ad space in the game world, sold the space for music titles, and made deals with car companies for what vehicles would be included. The game still came out for $50 just like every other title even with that extra revenue.

Re:Starbucks in the 30s

[jonwil]

I second the "It must fit with the game" rule.

If I am playing a sports or racing game and I am at a real-world track, stadium etc, I expect to see the same ads as you see at the real world track.

Also, for ads like the ones in this article (i.e. ads that actually make money for the developer/publisher) the ads should be for brands that are known around the world and not for "US" brands that the rest of the world doesnt know about (for example, in the new expansion pack for Rollercoaster Tycoon 3, they have this downloadable ads stuff and they have shown an ad for some new show on a US TV station). The acceptable alternative to that would be to have geographically specific advertising and detect location somehow.

Re:Starbucks in the 30s

[superpulpsicle]

As long as they have real product ads in Gran Turismo, it feels real. I don't care if it's Dominos pizza instead of Dunlop tires. Try playing old 8/16bit racing games like Radracer and Super Hangon with no advertisements. The environment doesn't feel quite right.

Re:Starbucks in the 30s

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, I just sold my copy of Burnout: Revenge because it was so caked with ads. Not to mention how much EA keeps you from avoiding them (like defaulting back to their craptacular soundtrack every time the game is reset, even when you have your own set up on the XBox).

Re:Starbucks in the 30s

[kyojin the clown]

A 30s mobster car

Alternatively, A London Taxi.

Re:Starbucks in the 30s

[Luigi30]

Yeah, but that just enhances the realism in a game like that. Racing around a city in a "Crapula POS" isn't as cool or realistic as racing around a city in an Acura RSX, for example.

Re:Starbucks in the 30s

[vadim_t]

You could have a Coca Cola product that'd fit nicely in a medieval MMORPG. But it'd have to be tailored to the environment.

For instance, I don't think there's any reason why Coca Cola couldn't come up with an energy drink sold in potion flasks and use a font matching for the period. Of course, that'd require considerable effort, and I doubt they'd bother just to make something that doesn't look out of place next to the wizard's shop.

But it's certainly possible. Now the question is whether such a thing wouldn't look too out of place in a supermarket and would actually sell :-)

Re:Starbucks in the 30s

[KozmoStevnNaut]

Speak for yourself!

It just so happens that I drive around in a Crapula POS, you insensitive clod!

(1988 Corolla... It's basically the same thing)

Re:Starbucks in the 30s

[someoneelsegotmyname]

The wee yellow light thing on the top tends to give this away as a Black Taxi, usually found in London but also may be sighted in Glasgow and various other UK cities. manufacutered by http://www.manganese.com/company_lti.php/

We've been through this song and dance...

[hackwrench]

several times here on slashdot, but the editors never seem to learn.

Puh-leeze!

[RM6f9]

I'll believe their ads work when I can see increases in sales independently measured and metered by the companies doing the advertising - "Brand Awareness" doesn't add one red cent to the bottom line.

Re:Puh-leeze!

[Red Flayer]

"I'll believe their ads work when I can see increases in sales independently measured and metered by the companies doing the advertising - "Brand Awareness" doesn't add one red cent to the bottom line. "

OK, so you want more measurable proof. Fine, I understand that, but brand awareness makes a huge difference to the bottom line for retail products, especially emerging brands, which is what the article is referring to.

Re:Puh-leeze!

[RM6f9]

Thousands of slashdot participants (okay, maybe only hundreds) are aware, via my sig, that I run an online publishing website: Zero, zilch, zip, nada, no commerce to date has resulted therefrom.
You may counter that the reason may have something to do with the site not being to their liking, or that the intersecting group of authors and slashdot participants who've seen my site is zero, but none of that obviates my point: "Brand Awareness" does NOT equal sales.
          You want my advertising dollars? Show me independently gathered metrics that *prove* positive ROI (that's "Return On Investment" in this case).
          The world would be a much cleaner place if people only advertised in ways that actually measurably generated sales.

Re:Puh-leeze!

[Red Flayer]

In your situation, brand awareness != sales. As you said, maybe you aren't increasing your brand awareness among your market. Furthermore, a /. sig isn't going to increase brand awareness nearly as much as a colorful logo or something like that.

"but none of that obviates my point: "Brand Awareness" does NOT equal sales."

I did not say that brand awareness = sales. My point is that brand awareness affects sales, Especially when the product is a retail product of an emerging brand (which yours is not -- not retail, that is).

So, what you want is an independent study showing that placement spot X in media Y has a positive ROI? Who is paying for that study? I mean really, who do you think pays for the ROI studies for print publications, or television? I'll give you a hint: it's not the advertisers, it's not the consumer, and it's not the government. Even if it is an "independent agency," it is funded by the publishing/broadcasting companies.

Also, you can have different advertisements that are exactly the same in terms of placement, but have different effects on sales (and brand awareness). So it is impossible to prove that placement spot X in media Y will have a positive ROI, since it depends on the content of X.

What CAN be proven (and has been, to a reasonable certainty, many times over) is that advertising of your retail brand (which has not reached awareness saturation) directed to your target market increases brand awareness in that market. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated over and over again, to the point of being a foregone conclusion, that brand awareness among the market of a brand will tend to increase retail sales of that brand.

The question, of course, is whether profit on the increased sales offset the cost of the advertising over the period specified for the study... which often depends on short-term vs. long-term vision.

Of course, never mind the fact that if your business model sucks (I can think of several .com Superbowl advertisers to whom this applies), you're not going to realize a good ROI anyway, since your profits on those increases sales are negligible.

Boycott, Charles C.

[HTH NE1]

A boycott is a very strong indicator of brand awareness.

Re:Boycott, Charles C.

[Shads]

Not really, first time I hear about ads in a game without an option to disable them 100%, from any company (I don't care who) just means I won't buy that game at all. It's not about shoes, drinks, or car insurance. Shrug. These advertising companies just need to fsck off... we're in a well connected world we don't need marketed to.

Re:Boycott, Charles C.

[HTH NE1]

Sure, it depends on what you're boycotting: the products advertised or the game itself. But you've missed the point.

If you aren't aware of who is advertising in the game and boycott them, you aren't going to hurt them for doing the advertising. You may end up purchasing their products anwyay. You're only going to hurt the game publisher for providing an advertising medium and the advertisers will still buy ad space in other games.

My point would have been clearer if someone had bothered to mod the posting Funny as it was intended to be: a measurement of "brand awareness" isn't useful if you can't differentiate between fame and infamy.

Metro3D?

[eLDeR_MMHS]

Has anyone actually seen "Metro3D?" Some quick google searches just turn up a developer company (one that doesn't even appear to make PC games) and not an actual game.

Re:Metro3D?

[iainl]

Like you, I can find precisely zero evidence that Metro3D the game actually exists - they're a publisher of PS2 budget titles in the UK.

Odd.

But this is slashdot.

[game kid]

Slashdot EeziPost (TM) MK 1.0.001[game kid-0xC2-thewhitenoise] (beta with patch es)

#NB: For obvious reasons, the first option is ENABLED by default - remember to turn off if you are NOT responding to a dupe

[X] Another: [ ] Dupe [X] Slashvertisment [X] WTF [X] $editor is a dork [ ] dupe trifecta is now in operation

[ ] Frist psot [ ] $link_to_GNAA [ ] $link_to_goatse [ ] $random_drivel

[ ] I Haven't RTFA, but... $random_opinionated_comment

[ ] Slashdotted already!. I bet their server runs on $topic_item too

[X] Soul_sucking registration required

[X] Mod Parent [X] up [ ] Down

[X] Fsck: [ ] SCO [ ] Micro$oft [X] Double Fusion [ ] DMCA [ ] DRM [ ] MPAA [ ] RIAA [ ] Google [ ] Bush [ ] You all

[ ] I for one welcome our new $topic_item overlords

[ ] Imagine a beowulf cluster of those

[X] In Soviet Russia, $topic_item owns you!

[ ] Meh!

[ ] You must be new here!

[ ] Netcraft confirms $topic_item is: [ ] dead [ ] dying

[ ] But have the inventors thought of what will happen if $random_amateur_insight

[ ] Once again the USA is clamping down on my [ ] Amendment rights.

[ ] You insensitive clod

[ ] But people who download music from P2P networks are more likely to buy the
album

[ ] Cue DVD Jon-type crack in 3..2..1

[ ] Torrent, anyone?

[ ] Here's a link to a patch: $random_linux_distro_url

[ ] "Yeah, but does it run Linux?"; if($summary has 'linux') add "Oh, wait..."

[X] Profit!!

[ ] Tinfoil hat at the ready

[ ] Still no cure for cancer

[ ] "()*%£^" No Carrier

[ ] Coralized!

[ ] But this is slashdot. slashdotter.builtOwnComputer == (Jedi.builtOwnLightsaber == false)

Re:But this is slashdot.

[Lil-Bondy]

that was just stolen off a person who stole it off a person who stole it off someone good... :(

AHEM...

[Anonymous Coward]

[ ] But this is slashdot. (slashdotter.builtOwnComputer == false) == (Jedi.builtOwnLightsaber == false)

--gk

Sega did it right

[Stormwatch]

Every time the "ad on games" topic comes up, I mention two games that got ads and product placement right: Sega's Shenmue and Sonic Adventure 2.

Re:Sega did it right

[KillShill]

the only games that got ad advertising right are games that have zero ads in them.

if a game has ads in it, i will assume it's available for free, since nothing else could offset the utter anger and disgust that will come out of gamers.

if game = ads, then game = free.

there's no middle ground for me. if i pay 50 bucks, i expect no ads whatsoever.

Re:Sega did it right

[yRabbit]

I kind of like looking at the ads in Sonic Adventure 2. Heh.
There are just some posters on some walls in some levels, which you can blow right past without even generally noticing.
They're not "AND NOW A BLINKING ANIMATED MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSORS!!" things. And they were either real or made up ads for Sega things. (The only real one I can think of right now was some ISP or webpage service or something..)
Grand Theft Auto 3, and Vice City, have ads in them - but they're all for made-up in-game things.

I know what you mean, though. I wouldn't want to be forced to sit through a real ad in a game.. I see enough awful, annoying, loud ads on TV.
I guess that's the thing. Sonic Adventure 2 had mostly made-up ads as I recall, GTA had made-up ads.
If they had actual billboards/posters all over for various actual brands/products, it'd be... a little unsettling somehow.

Re:Sega did it right

[Stormwatch]

(The only real one I can think of right now was some ISP or webpage service or something..)

Actually the "Emerald Notwork" ad was fake. Only the Soap Shoes ad was real - and it made perfect sense!

Re:Sega did it right

[Anonymous Coward]

The Soap ads were the only real ones, but, then again, Sonic sported Soap brand shoes himself. How else would one go from running top speed to grinding intergalactic rails?

Re:Sega did it right

[yRabbit]

Thanks for the replies, you and AC. :)

I somehow forgot all about the soap shoes. And if I knew that about the Emerald Network, I forgot.

Coming soon to World of Warcraft!

[Rakarra]

After a long hard battle, come in to Starbucks (now with locations in Undercity and Stormwind! Every other small town will have one within the month), put up your axe, and trade war stories over a latte!

Re:Coming soon to World of Warcraft!

[aka_big_wurm]

I am not much for coffie so I will just get a coke from the mechine outside the inn. And will it cost more for the Ford Mustang Mount?

Ads could be a good thing

[ultra.nj]

I think that the games should be cheaper, now that there are going to be ads in games...

Re:Ads could be a good thing

[El_Muerte_TDS]

You'd think, but why make the games cheaper when you're getting the money anyway.

Tournaments, sponsorship

[Anonymous Coward]

Sponsorship for more e-sports tourneys are one reason (dynamic) in-game advertising should have been factored into game development years ago...

Game companies are well behind the 8 ball on this one.

Coca Cola in day of defeat.

[mnmn]

It'd be fun to see ads of Coca Cola and even stuff like Marlboro in Counterstrike and WarcraftIII. Maybe travel insurance billboards in Flight sim games, and NRA in GTA3 and counterstrike.

They COULD release 2 versions of games, a cheaper one with ads and expensive without ads, just like cable TV. Slashdotters will stop complaining and everyone will just buy the cheaper one.

Also questionable statistics

[cgenman]

in-game ad campaigns resulted in a 60 percent increase in awareness of new brands.

Hmm... are you aware of this brand you've never heard of? Ok, now play this game. Now are you aware of it? No? $%&#ing 40% jerkoffs.

50 percent of study participants said they found that in-game ads make the experience more realistic, while just 21 percent disagreed. Similarly, 54 percent said in-game advertising "catches your attention." Just 17 percent disagreed, the company said.

82% agreed that the ads were "bloody annoying." Oh wait, they didn't release that statistic. I'm sure tons of people would agree that Nike signs in a baseball stadium are realistic. And that they really do grab your attention away from the game that you're playing. Neither of these things is necessarily positive, nor does it imply a sale.

If you go to Double Fusion's home page, notice how all of the pictures in the bottom-left hand corner say "fictional advertisers" in tiny text that is almost entirely cut off?

At least Massive doesn't have to lie to people about its advertisers.

Even in the FAQ things sound a little dodgy.
Does DoubleFusion gather personally identifiable information about game users?
DoubleFusion conforms to the game publisher's policy.

Which is a nice way of saying, "as much as we can get away with."

And as a final nail in the coffin, would you trust your game to an unproven israeli company whose only managed to get into one game that nobody can find? And that game has a copycat name to a legitimate game developer?

Great for MMO's

[jessecurry]

I think that this new advertising medium holds a great deal of promise for some MMO's. For example, in CoH I would be just as happy seeing a subway as I would seeing the City of Gyros ad. Now it wouldn't have a place in World of Warcraft, but any time that it is unobtrusive I welcome it, especially if the revenue goes towards future enhancement or eliminates subscriber fees.

In other news...

[Guppy06]

Audiences reaching for game publisher's competitors.

Seriously, even if in-game product placement went towards lowering game prices (and I won't hold my breath), this is nothing less than pandering for the quick buck at the expense of long-term value. In other words, the Hollywood formula. It's only a matter of time before these publishers have to start looking for a P2P scapegoat to explain away slumping game profits.

What kind of advertising do slashdotters want?

[rayblueline]

IANAAE (I am not an ad executive) but I have been working in the ad industry for a few months, so I read the comments on this thread with great interest because I'm always wondering what the future of advertising is going to be like. I mean, like most people here, I block every intrusive online ad that I see and if I had TiVO you can bet I would skip past the commercials, so given that the number one issue in my industry is ad advoidance, I'm wondering what kind of advertising slashdotters are okay with? Certainly companies require advertising to keep the wheels of the economy moving, but the challenge is to come up with advertising that people want to spend time with. I think this means that more advertising has to become opt-in but I also think it means that the distinction between 'advertising' and 'content' as two seperate things has got to go. Ultimately, I think that there's got to be no qualatiative distinction between those two things, but I'm curious what y'all think.

Re:What kind of advertising do slashdotters want?

[Dachannien]

There are a few things that can go into advertising that people will watch. I speak mostly from my own opinion as a consumer of entertainment products, so YMMV depending on who else you ask. But please, if there's anyone out there in a position of power that you can convert into a believer in the principle of Not Annoying Potential Customers, please do so :)

One is humor. People watch the Super Bowl to see two things: the game (and the associated cheerleaders, hehe) and the hilarious commercials that come out each year. Admittedly, I don't drink Budweiser, because their product sucks, but at least they make some damn funny commercials.

Two is informativeness. By this, I mean true informativeness. People are far less likely to mind a quick ad showing what's on TV next weekend, because it provides factual information about the show (excerpts are shown) and when it's on. Likewise, people don't mind actual trailers before movies (though sometimes the sheer vast quantity bothers people), because it gives them a chance to find out what's coming out next summer or holiday season, and gives them the feedback of one's peers as people mutter things like, "Yeah, that's gonna suck," between trailers.

Three, related to informativeness, is tailored interest. Here, I mean a matching of the interests of the viewer with the information provided in the ad. Channels that are already tailored for certain types of customer are great for this sort of thing - for example, an ad for history-related books or DVDs would do well on the History Channel, or an ad for a feminine hygiene product would work well on Lifetime (Television for Victims).

But the more narrowly-tailored the interest category is, the more likely it is that the viewer will take interest. This is why Amazon.com's product suggestions work so well, at least when their system's recommendations aren't thrown off by those gifts you recently bought your niece for her birthday. Also take Planetside for example, which recently started placing ads in-game. An ad for a new graphics card would garner a lot of attention there. Everyone playing that game is at least in the market for new graphics hardware (whether they can afford it or not). Unfortunately, SOE got suckered into running a bunch of Fanta ads, which is one step above running ads for feminine hygiene products there (which, afaik, they haven't done... yet).

One caveat here is that if customers feel like they're being spied upon, they will complain - Amazon gets away with it because when people surf Amazon, they're interested in buying something. The information Amazon provides makes shopping easier and more productive. But when people surf their favorite news website and get tailored ads, it feels like Big Brother is watching. That's why cookies are so often blocked, especially from Doubleclick.

Four is unobtrusiveness. This is the one that Intarweb ad execs really don't get (except for Google). The hallowed days of Punching the Monkey and Winning $20 are long gone, and people hate ads with a passion these days because they get more annoying instead of less. More and more people filter out ads because they blink and move and pop up/under and make noise and generally ruin a pleasant websurfing experience. Viewing an ad that gets past such filters may garner brand recognition, but it's in the context of "Fuck me if I'm gonna buy their product!" (This is the main reason I refuse to use Orbitz, and their TV ads don't help matters either.) On the other hand, most people don't bother filtering Google ads, because they're text, they don't blink/move/make noise, and frequently, they are related (if sometimes only tangentially) to the websurfing topic of interest.

The same thing applies to TV ads. Placing a gigantic ad for a channel's next show after every commercial break right on top of the show you're trying to watch and then making sound effects to boot pisses people off.

Re:What kind of advertising do slashdotters want?

[rayblueline]

Extremely informative and insightful, thank you for posting.

Re:What kind of advertising do slashdotters want?

[dommer2029]

I know "Me too" posts are frowned on, but this analysis is right on.

Mod it to +6, eh? ;)

Re:What kind of advertising do slashdotters want?

[trmcdougle]

One extra I would note, If you sponser a show then get a number of DIFFERENT (preferably funny) tag clips to put at the start and end of the ad breaks, seeing/hearing the same thing (twice!) at each and every ad break gets old really fast.

Re:What kind of advertising do slashdotters want?

[Shaper_pmp]

A truly superb analysis of advertising, and where it often goes horribly wrong these days. Well done that man.

One final point to add, regarding advertising in games: Make sure not to break the immersion of the player.

Nothing's going to piss me off more than playing Deserted-Future-Alien-Spacestation-Blasting-Romp 2067 Part III and seeing an advert for this year's high-end graphics card, or an ad for a current promotion at Burger-King.

Playing something modern-day like GTA? Fine - have all the ads for soft drinks, tampons, cars, etc you like. Playing a sci-fi/fantasy title? Then advertise things appropriate to those scenarios, or don't do it at all.

Comments

[gj2005]

Hey guys
Guess who from your friendly executive dept...
I'd reference you to the full PR. Better yet, I'd love to hear all suggestions to info@doublefusion.com
Next time Zonk, please quote the full sentence ;)

Game not Metro3D - London Taxi!

[fixmyship]

It seems that the game they used in the study is not a game called "Metro3D" but a game BY Metro3D called "London Taxi" (warning - babelfish translation), a Crazy Taxi-style game. More information in this blog.

Am I the only one who just doesn't care?

[hal2814]

As long as the ads don't get in the way of the game (ex. the 30's Strarbucks sighting mentioned earlier), I really don't care. It's not that big a deal to me if a guy is drinking a generic cola or a Pepsi. It also doesn't matter if a cityscape has billboards with -gasp- real products on them.

There is also the argument that sports games should have in-game advertisering. I really think in-game advertising helped legitimize Jet Moto as a concept (If only they had a team Rad).

Anarchy online

[mixtape5]

About six months ago Anarchy online actually started in game advertising on billboards. It worked nice and they DID use it to eliminate subsciber fees. I think its an awesome idea and it definately benefits everyone

TV is what it is because of advertising.

[Anonymous Coward]

Everyone complaining that there are advertisments out there. You have to keep in mind that your favorite TV show is on the air because of the ads that are displayed during that show. If we keep developing ways to circumvent the advertisments, then they have to find other ways to get their products known. How many TV stations do you know of that don't run ads? PBS doesn't, hence why they have those "telethons" for people to contribute to their broadcasting costs.

When your playing your favorite racing game and you see a jetta or a corvette, if you think that isn't PAID advertising, then your fooling yourself. Advertising in games and movies helps pay for them and in most cases helps make them better.

Keep skipping the ads and we'll soon have spots in shows and movies where the actors turn to the camera and say "I love my Ford, and my coke! Lets enjoy both right now!" Oh wait..I've already seen it.

Re:TV is what it is because of advertising.

[phxbadash]

I thought the $40-$80 a month you pay for cable paid for all those shows.

Don't fool yourself, all that extra ad revenue goes towards some exec's new yacht

Re:TV is what it is because of advertising.

[Catnapster]

If we keep developing ways to circumvent the advertisments, then they have to find other ways to get their products known.

Why do advertisers think that they can brute-force people into watching their shit? People generally skip commercials not because they don't like the commercials but because they don't like the advertising. They don't want to hear about your product. They want to watch their show. Moving the ads into the show will not help you, because they'll still be ads, and the people will still not want to watch them.

Is it really that hard to figure out? I see it everywhere: obfuscated spam to get past filters, Flash ads to get at people who block banners, and all that shit. The medium isn't the problem, the message is. Putting the message in a new medium will not suddenly make the message any more palatable.

As for ruining shows and movies, they can try it and see if I care. Until the day when they can force me to pay attention to their bullshit, they will always lose. The very fact that they have to do shit like this is just a sign that their business model is collapsing. Once they saturate the world with advertising to the point where everybody is so inured to it that no ad even registers in their mind - a point they're very rapidly reaching - they're screwed. And they will have nobody to blame but themselves.

Just to look at this differently...

[tiraid]

Don't lynch me all at once... but could this actually be good? If in-game advertising works well, and main-stream products are advertised in games, might this not make games more main-stream? Just a thought.

can't a mod remove the ads via new graphics?

[SpecialAgentXXX]

Most of the hottest games today come with tools to make mods. Isn't it simple enough to just make a "No Ad" mod that replaces the advertising with a brick wall or crate or whatever else is supposed to be there? Personally, I like the fake ads and fake product placements in video games - it allows the creators to add some humor in an otherwise dark game. i.e. in FarCry, the mercenaries' bunkers have copies of PlayMerc lying around. Doom 3 has SuperKnockout(?) Chicken. Space Quest IV had Radio Shock, etc.

I play video games to escape from reality for a couple of hours. Now I'm going to get bombarded with ads in my "free time" as well? Since the average game is in his 20's to 30's, I will say that having ads in a game just to save a few bucks ain't worth it. We can afford the full (regular) price.

FWIW - I also don't watch TV because I hate advertising (18 minutes in a 1-hour episode), and instead buy the DVDs of that season the following fall. Smallville, 24, Battlestar Galactica, etc.