Gaming should be treated like any other media channel, according to Claire Nance, Activision Blizzard’s head of global gaming business success strategy, instead of being held as a separate and slightly aloof channel.
Advertising in and around games has long been a slight enigma for agencies and brands more used to playing with traditional media formats such as OOH, print and linear TV.
However, changing customer demands — driven largely by a rise in interest from millennials and younger generations — might be forcing advertisers and their agencies to change tack.
A recent Bain & Co report found that global revenue from video games is expected to climb by 6 per cent annually to reach $257 billion by 2028. Gaming would also be stealing spend from other channels. In fact, The global market for video game revenue reached $196 billion in 2023, more than the combined revenue from streaming video ($114 billion), streaming music ($38 billion), and global box-office receipts ($34 billion).
However, while the money might seem to be moving inexorably towards gaming as a channel, Nance, speaking virtually at the recent IHAC Connect Summit in Melbourne, said that agency and advertiser understanding of the medium is still lagging.
“You really need to think about how the audience interacts with [gaming] and that’s where the key difference comes in. There’s a fear of getting it wrong with gaming,” she said.
Nance explained that contrary to popular belief, gaming audiences are receptive to adverts. But they expect adverts to be seamless and not disrupt their experience.
“The brands that really get it right, they understand the gaming space and the gaming audiences. They understand the audience that they are trying to reach because there are so many different channels and ways that you can reach people in gaming, not just in terms of platforms, but different tiles and games,” the former News Corp, IPG Mediabrands and SBS staffer said.
She explained that the best advertisers in the gaming space build experiences that fit within the gaming environment and are “additive” to the “player experience” through rewards.
Chris Maxwell, founder and CEO of Lution, a business specialising in equipping marketers with the tools to in-house their agencies, commented that his kids enjoy spending on ‘skins’ in Fortnite and Minecraft — essentially different outfits for their characters.
“One of the things that game players want, and this is almost universal, they want an engaging, entertaining, immersive experience and they want to look good while they’re doing it. If you can unlock an avatar or some kind of modification for your character or your player, people are motivated by that, because the players are creating an expression of themselves in-game,” said Nance.
These avatars, skins and modifications could be an easy way for brands to get involved in gaming, without “disrupting” the experience too much.
One member of the audience posed a question about brand safety and suitability concerns, particularly around violent video games such as Call of Duty — Activision Blizzard’s largest title.
Nance explained that gaming, despite concerns, is no more violent than movies or TV. Instead, brands need to think about their suitability to different types of games, not the other way around.
“Not every brand is going to be right for every game. Some brands are going to have a greater comfort level than others. The piece to remember is that with movies, TV and other forms of entertainment, there are similar albeit more explicit levels of violence. Brands [need to] make decisions about whether it is the right place for them to be,” she said.
One attendee from the Cancer Council challenged Nance on whether gaming was right for some brands at all, saying that he saw “synergies” between “gaming and burgers and soft drink brands”.
“Again, it really comes to do the audience that you’re trying to reach and identifying the gaming experience and type of game that is going to make the most sense,” she said.
Nance then posed Candy Crush as an alternative, with audiences looking to “relax” with a “moment to themselves” and some “escapism”, giving a recent campaign with Prada as an example of a good brand tie-in. Within Activision Blizzard sits the Stockade Studios team that seeks to guide and help clients build in-game and game-related advertising experiences.
“Recently we partnered with the Prada Candy fragrance to create a bespoke mini-game experience… The Studio team was able to take the Prada Candy bottle, put it in the Candy Crush look and feel and incorporate it with the Candy Crush IP into a fun mini-game. As you’re playing this between a [regular] game level, you’re able to unlock a free sample of the fragrance… In the first 24 hours of this campaign running, we gave away 40,000 samples. It also drove 1,800 per cent increase in website traffic and there was no other media activity happening,” she said.
