Advergaming
Advergaming is the use of video games to advertise a product or service or to promote a viewpoint.
First seen in the early years of the last decade, advergaming is becoming increasing popular with companies and organisations of all sizes. Games are often the most visited aspect of large brand websites (e.g. Campbell’s Soup – http://www.mysoup.com/games.aspx) and have become an increasing important part of media planning.
For examples, see:
www.pepsi.com
http://kids.discovery.com/games/games.html
http://www.chevroncars.com/
http://pressokentertainment.com/ games on mobiles
Advergames, if done well and with a viral element or lucrative cash prize, can result in high volumes of (repeat) traffic to websites and potentially valuable customer data being collected (e.g. email addresses with opt-in) if incentivised registration is offered.
With the popularity of iPhones, Blackberries and other 3G phones, we predict that the popularity of advergames will soar over the next few years, with visitors playing the games on their phones.
We’ve recently been developing iPhone applications so if you are interested in creating an advergame, give us a call on 0845 890 2992.
Blog in your car
Last March Cadillac announced the availability of an in-car wireless internet option on its CTS sport sedan.
And three days ago (at the major Las Vegas gadget and tech show) Ford proudly launched the addition of Twitter messaging and Internet radio to its in-car entertainment and communication service, known as Sync, overcoming potential objections by suggesting that their voice-activated system is safer for drivers than trying to use applications on their mobiles.
Ford executives are talking with Google about bringing its services to their cars and will roll out a new LCD dashboard for cars later this year called MyFord Touch. The company plans to have MyFord Touch on 80 per cent of its vehicles in the next five years.
Meanwhile internet car radio is coming. Last year Blaupunkt announced the world’s first internet car radio that delivers thousands of internet stations integrated with a standard AM/FM/CD dashboard.
This new technology is now reaching the UK and will mean that – in the very near future – you will be able to dictate your blog, listen to music from websites such as Spotify or read a Twitter feed while stuck in traffic on the M25!
Our guess is that these technologies will become standard in many cars within three years, opening the door to many new low-cost marketing tools. So if you are in a service industry and want to reach your customers in their car, start planning now!
Meanwhile, if you want advance information on what we will be reading/doing/playing in five years time, take a look at www.cesweb.org
SmartPhone applications
What are SmartPhones? Well, a Blackberry, iPhone, Google Android or anything running Windows Mobile. SmartPhones have built in internet and email capability and high quality browser capabilities.
If you think the iPhone is just a fancy new phone from Apple that has a few gimmicks and clever apps, think again.
Just take a look at the iStore to see for yourself how many leading brands, as well as small alike are starting to develop iPhone applications that connect your phone straight through to your website.
Our first iPhone app for the newly launched Papture was downloaded and installed on nearly 300 people’s iPhone’s within the first 5 weeks!
So why is that a good thing?
Well, how about if you needed to get real-time information or product updates straight to your customer’s phone? What if you wanted your customer to be able to browse your content on their phone and then get in touch with you?
You heard it here first!