Advergames promote a product, service, or organization. Some of the first advergames promoted Buick cars using 3D simulations of engines and games designed to illustrate superior braking power. These Macintosh-based games allowed the player to rev the engine and watch a cutaway of the engine block to view the reciprocating pistons, firing sparkplugs, and a rotating crankshaft. Players could test their reaction time with a braking game. A more recent example of an advergame for the automobile industry is Ford’s No Boundaries game that pits the player against a series of obstacles in a race against the clock. The game was bundled with owner’s manuals for 2003 Ford trucks.
Online games are particularly attractive as advergames because of the low cost of mass distribution. One of the early adopters of online advergames, Chrysler, offers a branded, downloadable golf game, Chrysler World Tours Golf. Registered users can play either on a realistic course or in a fantasy world. Other advergames include Chrysler West Coast Rally, in which players race somewhat recklessly through an urban jungle, and its antithesis, Road Steady Streetwise, which, paradoxically, promotes public safety. In 2003 Chrysler gave visitors to their site the option of obtaining vehicle information in the form of a game or brochure. More chose the game format, suggesting either acceptance of advergaming or simply that potential customers surfing the Internet were a self-selected group comfortable with video games. Regardless of the underlying reason, Chrysler placed Laura Croft, Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life online the same year. A quarter million people registered to play the game, which has a tie-in with Jeep, during the first six months. Chrysler also secured product placements in the entertainment video game MidNightClub 3 for the Playstation 2, Xbox, and PSP and worked with Microsoft to design a version of Project Gotham Racing 2 to include the 2005 Chrysler 300 and Dodge Magnum. One of the attractive features of games is that use is more measurable than with traditional media.
Coca-Cola’s presence in the advergaming space is obvious in NCAA Championship Run 2005 The arcade-style basketball game places the Coca-Cola brand in the center-stage logo, on the scoreboard, and in the signage. During gameplay, power-ups, in the form of Coke cans, float above the floor. Players who run over a can are able to run and slam-dunk faster.
Nike Europe built a loyal online following by offering a soccer game every year since 2003. The 2005 release, Gooooooal!, is a real-time multi-player game that pits thousands of participants from around the world against each other. Dial Corporation, which markets Coast soap, released Coast BMX Full Grind, a biking game targeting 18–34-year-old active males with an interest in games and active sports. The publisher, WildTangent, reports that the game resulted in a 300 percent increase in traffic on the Dial Web site.
BMW and Cadbury Schweppes are among the other companies using advergames to reach potential customers. The BMW X3 Adventure games features three different driving experiences combined with mountain biking, snowboarding, and a kayaking adventure. A follow-up game for mobile phones, Formula BMW, pits the player against five opponents on a series of Formula One tracks.
Cadbury’s approach to advergaming is unique in that it brands existing titles, such as a simple board game of checkers, instead of inventing new games. The downside of this approach is the number of equally compelling and freely available games competing for mindshare.
The concept of providing virtual control over real devices as a component of advertisement is largely untapped. There would likely be a market for players eager to telecontrol a real wrecker ball or earth mover, push the button to detonate the real explosives placed to take down an old building, or turn on the sprinkler system at the local professional ball park. The challenge is tying in an appropriate advertisement with the game.
