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Why is the Burger King my coach? March 2, 2006

 

For those of you that have played a video game in the past couple of years, ie. just about every single person under 30, you might have noticed the increase in advertising in games.

Anyone else that has gotten their hands on an Xbox 360 will have probably played Need for Speed: Most Wanted or the newly released Fight Night Round 3. Both of these games seem to have struck it rich in the ad world. Whether you’re driving by a Burger King or being walked to the ring by the Burger King, it’s pretty damn tough to avoid this in your face advertising.

The Washington post shares their knowledge and opinion on in game advertising too.

So what do I think about it? We’ll having studied at ad school and working in the ad industry, I somewhat have a biased opinion towards it. But I have two feelings about them.

1) I’m sick of seeing an ad in every single thing I set my eyes upon. How do these ads or placements benefit me, instead of just the pockets of EA Sports and other publishers?

2) As games get more and more photo realistic in each gaming generation, video game publishers try to bridge the gap between reality and virtual reality, which is something we all want. One way of doing this is incorporating items we see or use in our everyday lives. This is why we see so many product placements in movies and television. They create an object that we can relate to having used, and this only helps in making a movie or game’s story seem even more real.

But the one issue I have with this reality bridging is that 10 years ago, games, movies, tv shows, all had to get permission from the company that made a product to use it. In fact, a small fee had to be paid to Burger King, or whoever, to mention or use their product in the movie. The tables have turned nowadays, and companies are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to get their product integrated into the storyline of a movie or a game.

There are many entertainment companies that serve as middlemen between brands and publishers to work out ways to integrate these products. And ad agencies are also a part of this process.

So I’ll ask again. What’s in it for us? I pay you money to watch your movies, play your games, look at all of the product placements, yet I don’t get anything for doing that. You’re the only one getting something from it, other than the brand impressions I get.

This is where the opportunity exists for us entrepreneurs. I think a rewarding system should be developed where people can sign up, much like BzzAgent has done, and are rewarded for listing ads they’ve seen in certain shows or games that we say are part of the program. For advertisers, this would be great. People would actually be looking for your ads, not just ignoring them like they normally do. And by keeping their eyes open they get something in return too; maybe credits or dollars for each noted ad viewed. It’s just an idea. Do with it what you wish. Or just ignore it like the thousands of ads you did today.

NOTE: I just saw this discussion on in-game advertising too.

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