And awaaaaaaaay we go:
Obama Breaks Out The In-Game Advertising
The Obama presidential campaign has been nothing short of ground breaking in its use of technology to help marshal support for the Democratic nominee. But with the start of early voting, the Dems decided to spread their message into uncharted waters. And since I'm writing about it here, you can probably guess what those waters are =)For the low low cost of $44 grand, the Obama campaign has placed in game advertising in 17 different video games (including Burnout: Paradise, shown) in 10 different battleground states, courtesy of Massive Inc. Massive reportedly also attempted to contact the McCain campaign to make a similar offer, but did not receive a response.
All effectiveness arguments aside, the move is brilliant in my opinion. The age range that encompasses the majority of gamers is also an age range with which Obama is experiencing extraordinary popularity. But this same group is also historically notorious for poor voter turnout. Speaking the language of your target audience. Brilliant. And as I'm sure you can guess, this is the first time a presidential candidate has ever advertised in a video game.
Though it does beg asking 1) will it work and 2) is there any risk of a negative response?
As a footnote, its also worth mentioning that Rock the Votes partnered with Xbox Live to try and inspire the youth vote. In the first two weeks of the effort, more than 55,000 voter registration forms were downloaded (though how many of those forms were turned into completed voter registrations is impossible to tell).
New Nissan Z Feels the "New For Speed"
Speaking of advertising firsts, for the first time ever, a car model will be premiered, not in the showroom, but in a video game. Nissan's 2009 370Z, a souped up version of the Z model sports coupe (now with more numbers!) will make its debut in Need for Speed: Undercover on November 18th, a day before its first appearance at an auto show, and 8 weeks before the car is released to dealers.
"Our relationship with EA has been instrumental
in bringing the Nissan brand to a passionate and unique audience,"
added Christian Meunier, Nissan's Vice President of Marketing. "By
launching the all-new 2009 Nissan Z first through Need For Speed Undercover,
we also gain the spirit and energy that EA gamers experience so
strongly. Together with EA, we have truly integrated the all-new 370Z
in the overall game experience in a meaningful, multi-layered and
profound way."I'm very curious to see what exactly "meaningful, multi-layered and profound" integration of the Z into the Need for Speed experience means, but regardless its yet another example of a company using games as a means of making their message stand out in an increasingly saturated media market. Making their message stand out... if only educators were interested in something like that... wink wink...
Marketing Madden
For the more marketing inclined members of our studio audience, an interesting little writeup/ case study on the EA Sports Madden game franchise was recently pushed out by the fine folks at Nielson. Well worth the read for anyone interested in this stuff, but 3 quotes in particular I wanted to highlight.
- "And the NFL benefits from Madden’s realism. By educating its fan base
on everything from each team’s 53-man roster to the often complex
salary cap, the video game turns gamers into savvy NFL fans."
- "In addition, Madden offers official NFL sponsors a unique advertising opportunity to reach the often elusive young male demographic. Sprint, Snickers, and Under Armour—all league sponsors—have a significant presence in the video game."
- "According to EA Sports, the new campaign includes nearly two dozen television spots and more than 50 web vignettes. According to Nielsen, Electronic Arts spent over $10 million the past year and a half advertising across network, cable, and Spanish-language television, along with web banner ads, many of which were placed on ESPN.com"
A Little Creativity Can Go A Long (like 60 Stories) Way
Over the past few months, there is been a real glut in video game releases - most of which have been pretty high profile titles. Resistance 2, a "go shoot them aliens" game for the PS3 is one such title. Resistance 2 contains a highly publicized encounter with a 60 story tall Leviathan, which is running rampant through one of the game's cities obliterating everything in its path. Well what better way to earn a little buzz than to have a 60 story tall leviathan smash through real buildings. Sadly its just a screen (it would have been much cooler if someone could have figured out a way to get a 3D monster to hang off the side of a building) but even still, its a pretty slick way to get people talking.
Free Gas From Mercenaries
This PR stunt earns a gold star on the Stub wall of awesome. Covering a 60 story building is one way to get noticed. But there is nothing like free stuff to really make people pay attention to you. And when the free stuff is gasoline, you've just managed to earn yourself a whole lot of ears.
At the end of August, right before the game Mercenaries 2 hit store shelves, they decided to run a promotion which they called "Petrol to the People". Though I have not yet played Mercs 2 myself, the stunt apparently ties strongly to a conflict in game, that revolves around Venezuelan oil being used to support a revolution against the government. The stunt itself involved offered free gasoline at gas stations in Los Angeles and London - gas stations which were tricked in in a Merc 2 theme, complete with actors dressed up as characters from the game.
Absolutely brilliant. Though at the time, the folks at EA may have forgotten to take into consideration the cost of gas, and the frenzy such a promotion has the potential to cause. All was well in the city of angels, but in London, police eventually had to shut down the event due to the municipal chaos it caused.
Images from gamepolitics.com, kotaku.com, playstation.com, 1up.com, and g4tv.com (x2)
At the end of August, right before the game Mercenaries 2 hit store shelves, they decided to run a promotion which they called "Petrol to the People". Though I have not yet played Mercs 2 myself, the stunt apparently ties strongly to a conflict in game, that revolves around Venezuelan oil being used to support a revolution against the government. The stunt itself involved offered free gasoline at gas stations in Los Angeles and London - gas stations which were tricked in in a Merc 2 theme, complete with actors dressed up as characters from the game.
Absolutely brilliant. Though at the time, the folks at EA may have forgotten to take into consideration the cost of gas, and the frenzy such a promotion has the potential to cause. All was well in the city of angels, but in London, police eventually had to shut down the event due to the municipal chaos it caused.
Images from gamepolitics.com, kotaku.com, playstation.com, 1up.com, and g4tv.com (x2)
According to the Wall Street Journal, MTV-EA-Harmonix is set to announce later today that they've negotiated a deal which will allow them to offer Beatles music in their Rock Band games.
In a year ripe with major video game releases, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed had achieved the coveted third spot in Stub's "ZOMG I NEEDS 2 BE OWNING THAT GAME" list of 2008. Big deal, I know. And so Monday night, at 11:55 pm, there I was at Gamestop, not so patiently waiting for its midnight release. Some people say I'm getting too old for that sort of thing. I just squirt those people with my Ecto Cooler juice box. 
