This blog is interesting for Brand managers and Marketing managers. It shows you how games can help to achieve marketing objectives and includes postings about digital interactive branding, like branded utilities and social media for organizations & brands. Check out www.brandnewgame.nl for more information what digital interactive concepts can do for your brand.
Or visit www.brandnewplayground.com for more information about my book!
After writing my book 'Laat met je merk spelen' - soon to be published in English (end of 2010, called A Brand New Playground), I have started to become more philosophical and keep thinking why games are so special to me and to hundreds of millions of people around the globe...
Today I had an insight why games are so cool and the reason is that in games 'heroes never die'... comparable to most books, comics and films. We love heroic creatures and wished they live forever, protecting the world from harm.
It is only in real life that our life is so precious (we have only one). Still - our best friends, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters die even though they've done nothing wrong. In epic films like Lord of the Rings, some heroes die (Boromir), but the real heroes (Frodo and his friends, Aragorn and Gandalf) fortunately don't. I wonder how we would feel if they would all die and we would have to start to get to know new 'heroes' in part 2 and part 3 of the book / film...
How would you feel if you buy a RPG or action game and after playing it for ten minutes, your hero dies and the game is truly 'game-over'? Would you be angry? Or would you accept it and buy the game again (or choose a new / different hero)? I guess you would be really disappointed and angry. How much is a virtual life worth? Wouldn't you be much more cautious playing Call of Duty if you would have to pay a dollar for each life you spoil? It would make the gameplay much more interesting I guess, because the 'stakes are higher'. Maybe it would even be interesting if you gain 50 cents for each kill you make, compensating the costs you make for each life you spoil... ? And the more kills you get, the harder it would be for people to kill you (a build-in experience/skill-model, like in Fallout 3 for instance).
It would be interesting to see if a game-developer would take the chances of developing a game with these mechanics in it!
Game for iPhone and iPad to promote the new Gorillaz album. Basically the cool characters always looked like game heroes, so no surprise there. The only thing I don't get is why we can't play with the music?
Why not use your multitrack and facilitate consumers to create remixes bases on the beats, basslines, chords and vocals!?
Why don't you use the brandessence of what you are? A cool innovative brand.
My associations with this band are merely graffiti, art, urban style... and not a hang-gliding guy that shoots on flying targets above the sea....?
A small introduction of Mr. Iwatani, he has been working for Bandai/Namco (we always say Namco/Bandai?) for 30 years as producer of more than 50 different games from Arcade games to Nintendo and PlayStation. He started teaching game-design at the University in 2007.
The first question I dared to ask to the God that created Pac-Man (and many more games at Namco like Time Crisis and Ridge Racer), was: "What makes a good game a great game?"
His first reply was: "Did you analyze Pac-Man"? With a big smile on his face. I told him I did, but I would rather hear the arguments from the creator of Pac-Man, than from myself, a guy that 'just' wrote a book about games as a marketing tool. He laughed and replied...
A good game needs to be really, really easy to understand.
If the goal of the game is not clear instantly, people will not play it. If you have to explain the rules through a demo or tutorial, people will be likely not to play it. If someone has to explain the rules to you, you will not want to play it...
Pac-Man is easy to understand, you know what to do as soon as the countdown hits 'GO!'
The game also contains many psychological elements in one environment. The labyrinth is always easy to comprehend and not too complex. Eating the cookies (the big dots) enables the player to eat the ghosts instead of the other way around, which makes the players feel good. Being able to escape through the side-doors gives a feeling of 'being able to escape'.
And finally, when Pac-Man gets caught by the ghosts, the game will be slightly easier for a short period of time. This encourages the player after 'failing'.
It surprised me that so many psychological elements were deliberately put in the game already 30 years ago when games were just emerging.
My second question was 'what IS the Pac-Man' character actually? Is he a moon, a pizza missing a slice or what? The answer to that question was: he is a nice - happy -guy that likes to eat. There were also variations in games where he could eat bad things like nuclear weapons.
The third question I asked was how Mr. Iwatani sees games as a marketing tool and he strongly believes that games will be around us in the future like water. It will be a common way of learning and interacting with appliances around us, without even noticing that we are playing games. Games will be applicable more and more in everyday life.
I was also happy that he believes that serious games are not a genre. There are just games and whether you think it's fun or serious depends on the user and purpose. But serious purposes can be achieved in a fun-way e.g. using games....
About the future of gaming, Mr. Iwatani notices that mobile phones will be the future platforms especially when they interact with real-life, for instance in Arcade halls where you could play a game on a big iPad kind of table using your iPhone, while meeting friends and playing with them. When you leave, you should still be able to influence on critical issues within the game (keeping your character alive, defending your base, managing your resources / cutting wood, or whatever), but when you come back after a week you can benefit from the efforts and activities you undertook while away from the Arcade hall using your iPhone.
I hope this all makes sense, because it is difficult to explain in plain text... I will elaborate on the future of gaming shortly!
We are currently working on a real cool project for Air Cargo Netherlands, Schiphol Airport and Dutch Customs.
To support an undisturbed flow of goods and speed up delivery times, the three parties mentioned above came up with a concept called 'SmartGate'.
It basically comes down to a combination of a central database containing all digital data necessary to accompany cargo from A to Z and an integrated process in which all parties work together and provide information upfront (in-time) and complete.
If shippers (like Philips or ASML for instance) send all the information necessary to inform Customs in-time and complete, the risk analysis can be done upfront and cargo can be cleared and marked 'green' before it even arrives to the airport. Some cargo (explosives for instance) need to be checked anyhow, but sharing information within the logistic chain is the first step towards an integrated process.
Together with GameWise, BrandNewGame has analyzed the logistic process and defined a game concept to increase awareness of SmartGate and internalize the required future working method.
The plan is to create a central game-dashboard where players login (check screen dump) through their web-browser. After they are logged in, they can play through the logistic process on a virtual airfield where they encounter various mini-games at each step in the process. These games will give insight in specific challenges and dilemma's. Eventually the games will train the players which information is essential for specific cargo shipments, how completeness and sharing of information will improve the flow of the process.
Hope to inform you soon about more cases, BrandNewGame and GameWise are also working for a large international bank and the port of Amsterdam.
Check out this interactive thriller about the future of our politics around energy. It's a nice conspiracy story - if you have all Sunday (and enough interest in the future of the world's existence ;-)
It's quite intriguing and technically well done! There are some mini-games you can play, but as with most of these 'interactive films' the mini-games do not add great value to the experience and are not all that relevant - unfortunately.
Submarine must have gotten a decent budget to build this - it looks amazing, behaves really well and the sounds design is great.
It has finally been proven by scientific research that games are not addictive.
The addiction that some people suffer come from deeper - underlying - problems, amongst specific groups that play games. This has been researched by Jeroen Lemmens of the University of Amsterdam. He researched 851 gamers during six months.
The most important conclusion according to the professor is that games in general are not necessarily addictive, however lonely young people with limited social capabilities and low self-esteem are more likely to become addictive of games.
Of all gamers, two percent seems to show addictive behaviour, which - by estimate - is 20.000 people in The Netherlands.
It has been noted that gamers that play obsessively (and for long periods) will be likely to become aggressive. But this is not determined by aggression in games. Even Mario cart could fire kids up, if played too long and without parental guidance.
The lesson we learn is that children under 16 should be playing games for a restricted period of time while in the vicinity of parents I guess... just like drinking alcohol in the Netherlands in my opinion... In my opinion: Parents - take your responsibility.
Although I find the term 'social games' not really appropriate, since all multiplayer games have a social function, I decided to copy the term anyway. Social media is another term I don't really like, but it's a quite common expression for social networks and digital community media like Youtube. I would rather speak of community-based games and digital communities as such.
London, (March 19th 2010) – The rising popularity of games played on social networking sites is well documented, but findings from the Global Web Index www.globalwebindex.net, a collaboration between online market research provider Lightspeed Research and Trendstream, have identified the most addicted players. The stereotype of ‘geeky’ teenage boys obsessed with computer games certainly doesn’t fit social gaming which appeals to people with large families, women and divorcees- all embracing the new ‘geek chic’. By engaging with a more diverse and larger audience, social gaming is revolutionising the gaming market and having a big impact on the types of games produced. This new way of playing games promises to deliver mass market appeal, as well as fresh opportunities for brands to engage with consumers.
Women take the lead
The large majority of UK respondents (54%) claim that playing games is one of the main reasons they use the internet. Online games are competing head-on with PC games: 28% of users play online games and 24% of respondents play short/casual games on a social network.
The survey shows that at 27%, women are more likely to play online games and social games than their male counterparts (22%). Tom Smith, Managing Director of Trendstream who led the research says “Women are particularly attracted to short, casual games involving an active community like Farmville, Cafe Wars or Pet Society. Women also spend more time on social networks in general. Social games are accessible, free and they don’t take up much time. Plus they are distributed through the network, which is a key factor driving their take up.”
Social game developer Zynga announced that its prepaid game cards for titles like FarmVille and Mafia Wars are now available at several major U.S. retailers, including 7-Eleven, Inc., Best Buy, GameStop and Target.
The $10 and $25 cards, which offer an alternative way of buying in-game goods (e.g. virtual furniture, power-ups) to consumers who don't have access to credit cards or bank accounts, will work with Zynga's free-to-play titles on Facebook, as well as on standalone sites such as FarmVille.com, MafiaWars.com and YoVille.com.
Zynga's titles attract over 235 million monthly active users and 67 million daily users. FarmVille alone, which is easily the most popular application on Facebook, has more than 82 million monthly active users on the social network. The company's other well-known games include Cafe World, Texas HoldEm Poker, Fishville, and dozens of others.
The purpose of a game like FarmVille is to seed and harvest crops to make money to buy other gamecontent like a nice farm or lifestock. You can also invite vriends to become your neighbours and fertilize each others crops. Instead of having to wait weeks and weeks and harvest loads of crops you can also choose to buy extra content using Paypall, a credit card or... PRE PAID CARDS sold in retail (US Only for now).
"Social gaming is going mainstream and consumers around the world are connecting with people through games like FarmVille and Mafia Wars," says Zynga's senior vice president Vish Makhijani. "By partnering with 7-Eleven, Best Buy, GameStop and Target, our games can be accessed by a broader audience of new and existing players."
I watched the short film 'I am here' by Spike Jontze (sponsored by Absolut Wodka) yesterday evening and must say I was somewhat disappointed. Sure it's a great and innovative way to show how consumers related to the internet might end up (uploading data in our heads through a socket in the wall) and of course there was the 'love-story' part between computer-people, but was it just that? A sort of Romeo and Juliet robotic love story?
I guess I expected more from the relations people would have with computers in the future and how much they already mean to us in our daily lives, since we have become so reliant on them (and our cell phones...).
If you want to form an opinion of your own (which you should) be sure to check it out here:
The past three days I kind of hosted a three day masterclass about Social Media. Although I think most of the content on the internet is in some way social (diaologue = interactive), it gave great insights to the options we have these days for Digital Interactive Branding.
Speakers were Ralph Beuker (Design Management), John Meulemans (Some like it social), Yme Bosma (Hyves), Ingmar de Lange (Hyves), Rene Jansen (Winkwaves), Pieter Waller (Bacardi), Jeroen de Bakker (2010 Amsterdam), Paul Blok internet Guru and myself as host and kick-off speaker.
Things that stayed top of mind most are the following conclusions.
Although the largest communities (another word for social media) may vary per country. The largest worldwide are Facebook, Youtube and LinkedIn. Twitter is upcoming champion. The largest community in The Netherlands is Hyves. An overview per country can be found here
Most cases, where social media was used as a branding tool, were about Hyves, Youtube, Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook. I guess the biggest networks rule.
Good targeting is key by the way, so in most cases specific consumers or communities within the social networks were targeted. For Bacardi the target group was always older than 18 for Dutch campaigns. They presented an impressive case, promoting cocktails in general and Mochito specifically through the Hyves network in 2008. The latest example of innovative use of social media was Martine & Youtube. If you're over eighteen, you can see it below.
Other cases (branded utilities / widgets / apps) came from Amstel (Teamlink) and Wieckse Witte (zonneradar), which I also describe in my book.
The three days were divided in three categories: short, middle-long and long-term. It was interesting to see that according to some speakers, using social media didn't need a strategy, you just need to do it. Others said it was good to define your objective, get a clear vision of your target consumer/community and think about your relevance within the community to add value in order to start and build a relationship.
I always compare acting within social media as going to a birthday party where you don't know anyone. If you behave too remarkable you might be ignored, if you are coming on too strong, you will scare people away. There should be a good balance between giving attention and asking for it.
The whole social media model is based on PULL instead of PUSH anyway. By being remarkable (a good product, a funny campaign or a great game) people will notice you and start talking about you. Brands can become friends!
The most important thing that the crowd ('students') where looking for was a model or structure how to place things in the right context and helping them to make the right choices.
Therefore I kicked-off with my CoCha model which is based on the belief that internet is not a medium itself (it's more a multi-medium since you can watch TV and listen to the radio on it, etc. etc.), but merely a connector of all digital data (content).
The mode is stated below. A presentation and explanation of the model can be found on www.brandnewgame.nl or anywhere else on the web, just search for Cocha-Model or BrandNewGame.
Apart from my own model, two speakers referred to Forrister's POST model, which comes down to the same in a way. The POST model stands for:
People (consumer / crowd / community in a certain context)
Objective (what goal do you have in mind) - This is the starting point for all our actions I believe.
Strategy (how will you accomplish your goals - in other words: what content will you create and which channels will you use to achieve your goals)
Technology (choose your engine / platform / device)
General goals that were heard and are 'critical for branding' are:
1. Be REMARKABLE - otherwise you will not be noticed and will not be considered different from any competition
2. Be RELEVANT - add value to the consumer's life, the crowd or community you are visiting. Respecting the set of rules (culture) within that circle of play.
3. Build a RELATIONSHIP - to ensure long lasting commercial potential. A focus on quick wins will not get you loyal customers. According to Forrester there are three ways to achieve your goals:
Through Paid media, Earned media and Owned media (Brand Broadcasting). The first two forms will generate short term effect with short lasting results. The latter can have long lasting effect on emotions if you succeed to be remarkable and relevant!
I was playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 the other day (like approximately 70 million people worldwide) and noticed that the Burger Town logo looked just like Burger King! ;-) This happens a lot in games, but I still don't understand why brands should not want their logo on this building? If you can reach 70 million people and add an extra element to the game (eating a burger for extra health for instance), this should create positive energy right?
The first day of sales brought Activision (Publisher of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2) over 310.000.000 dollar. In comparison, the latest Harry Potter film delivered one third of that revenue on day one... (104 million dollar)
It's strange that companies and brands still seem scared to get involved with these types of games. When it's completely normal to advertise before and after films about war, or on Discovery Channel before and after documentaries about the second World War and Hitler's horror.
The Call of Duty series (not Modern Warfare) about the second World War has always been historically accurate and deals with great battles between the allies and German/Italian/Japanese legions. They were all historical important events and playing games opens new ways for people to become familiar with history.
One of the first advergames I can remember was programmed ten years ago and was called 'Moorhuhn', a game to promote a Whiskey label.
Know Moorhuhn?
Was it one of the winners who received a CD with the game or even a member of the promotions team – up to today it is unclear how the Moorhuhn escaped. Fact is that it wasn't planned.
Whether by Email or as download from private websites the Moorhuhn started its conquest of a growing fan community. Even on floppy discs the chicken got multiplied – for the benefit of those people that weren't part of this phenomenon called internet yet.
Like a virus...
Like a virus the little game spread on German PC's and also beyond the country's borders (in The Netherlands it was a huge success). The advertising industry cites the Moorhuhn as the most successful example of viral marketing; some even claim it was the first viral marketing campaign ever.
The media quickly adopted the game and spun competitions and events around it which resulted in groaning or even collapsing download servers.
The downloads hosted by well known providers numbered in the millions, the unknown number of privately passed on games most likely ranges far higher and the number of killed virtual fowl is certainly beyond count.
The success of the game was in fact so profound that in 2002 research showed that 84% of all Germans knew the Moorhuhn. A representative market research in 2008 with focus on gamers determined that 98% of all German gamers know the chicken.
Right now the Moorhuhn franchise has grown to over 35 titles in ten years. If people still doubt whether advergaming is interesting... have them call me!
More information about the history of the game can be found here
America’s Army Extremely Effective Recruitment Tool - Technology: "'30 percent of all Americans age 16 to 24 had a more positive impression of the Army because of the game and, even more amazingly, the game had more impact on recruits than all other forms of Army advertising combined'."
Below some more screenshots to show you what the game is about.
Just got back from two days of Marketing Information at the event in Rotterdam.
My presentation was about gaming as a marketing tool - of course, but the session after mine was about product development through consumer involvement. Something I believe in and will have elaborate cases in my book (check Lego Factory on the search engine below). It was amazing to hear that from the six groups that took part in the workshop, four of them came back predicting an imaginative concept for Bol.com would be something with gaming.... I am not making this up!
My presentation was about the future of branding, which comes basically down to:
1. Be remarkable to be noticed
2. Continuously evolve your brands and products
3. Invest in your relationship with consumers
Apart from that I described the gaming industry and the 'gamer' - sharing three slides from Today's Gamer research by TNS-NIPO.
Microsoft has announced it has signed a deal with PUMA to ensure “prominent PUMA branding” in Forza Motorsport 3.
What seems like a strange partnership actually makes sense – PUMA makes motorsport footwear and accessories as well as sponsoring racing teams from F1 and MotoGP, including Red Bull and Ducati Corse.
The deal includes a number of cross promotional initiatives including exclusive Forza preview nights in selected PUMA Concept stores and regular Forza 3 content for PUMAMotorsport.com. Oh, and there’s the limited edition Forza branded shoe. Which we expect will be popular.
“The Forza Motorsport association is the perfect fit for our brand,” said PUMA’s Antonio Bertone.
“This partnership enables us to capitalize on the energy and excitement that accompanies a huge release such as Forza, and push the PUMA Motorsport brand into a new and exciting arena. We’re delighted to be working with Microsoft on this.”
This is not the first instance of in-game branding – last year’s Mercenaries 2 features real world ads on in-game billboards while, more recently, the PS3 version of Fight Night Round 4 contained prominent ads for the film Bronson.
Below an example how Puma should NOT do ingame advertising...
